it's hard to undersell how big a deal the ipod was 15 years ago. the iphone was introduced as an ipod first, a phone second, and an internet communicator third. until the app store launched, most of the ads were "it's an ipod that makes phone calls". and people expected the touch to be good because the click wheel was good
This. This is something that has been interesting to see sort of get mixed up in memory.
The struggling computer company first got into people's pockets with a device that played music (a key insight - people make emotional contact with media). That position then bought them the time to finance development of know-how around pocket computers in plain sight. And then finally when the timing was just right and nobody expected it, they basically leveraged that position to deliver that pocket computer to the masses.
I won’t try to convince you, but go watch the Motorola ROKR introduction from Steve Jobs on YouTube, then watch his introduction of the iPhone at MacWorld 2007.
You can tell when he’s not just selling something, but believes that what he says he is selling is what he is selling.
This is the same Steve Jobs that said on stage Samsung's original Galaxy Tab 7" defeated the purpose of a tablet because he needed to file his fingers down to use it.
He knew full well an iPad Mini was coming the year after. He just had to sell what was on the shelves now.
Ha! I remember that. But if you recall, the first iPad mini was 7.9” and subsequent iPads mini stayed close to the 8” watermark. A decade later my iPhone is a lot closer to 7” at 6.7”.
I think it's the opinion of many, even if they don't realise it. The term "iPod-killer" just dropped out of usage overnight - the iPhone was the iPod-killer, an accomplishment which turned out to be so far down its CV that it was never mentioned.
