[Sigia-l] Tog on iPhone

[Ziya Oz]

Manu Sharma:

> it's not really the first time a multi-touch interface has been incorporated
> in a cellphone

Yes, not just the multi-touch but virtually every single hw/sw component of
iPhone has been tried in other cellphones and gadgets before. Unfortunately,
people are stuck on that point. This is precisely the reason I sometimes use
the sig below. The point is not to "innovate" until/unless you have to. The
sum has to be greater than the DISJOINTED parts. That's what Apple excels
at. And that's what the essence of the iPhone is all about: fluid
integration.

Incidentally, this is also the reason why, for example, diehard Windows
users just have an impossible time appreciating Macs. Without logging
sufficient experience with it, they look for *disjointed* components and
readily form opinions about them (yes, Windows has had that; yes, I can do
that; yes, but mine is faster; yes, but look what else I can do, etc). They
miss the forest for the trees and can't see and feel the fluid integration.

This "disjointed parts = product" formula gave us UX abominations such as
Windows and Office, but, finally, even Microsoft has seen the light and has
tried to ameliorate it with Vista and Office 2008, and even Zune. It's a
start. Long ways away from satisfaction but a start.

The situation looks far worse for the phone industry in general. Motorola,
Nokia, Samsung, Sony, etc have collectively spent BILLIONS in design R&D
over the last decade. What have they got to show for it? With a single
product a brand new entrant, Apple, has exposed them for the shallowness of
their imagination.

----
Ziya

"Innovate as a last resort."