Steve Ballmer was making sales projection claims. His biggest objection was cost of the phone, and apple overcame that with carrier financing. He never claimed that was Apple was trying was not physically possible according to our understanding of technology, just that it was too expensive and too different to be popular.

Professionals panning Theranos were not doing so because they thought it could not sell, or the cost, or other market-based concerns. They had "what you're saying is not possible based on my understanding of the physical world" concerns, and those questions were never answered at any point because it was a fraud and there was no answer.

The difference seems to be that Ballmer definitely was an expert for all things commercial/enterprisey (he made MS quite a bit of money during his reign), but not an expert for consumer products.

> The difference seems to be that Ballmer definitely was an expert for all things commercial...

That's exactly what Ballmer was commenting on - the iPhone's $500 price (IIRC) was going to cause sticker shock, had it not been spread over a 24-month contract period. When Job's announced the price, he didn't mention carrier financing.

I dunno, the PC itself has probably had more overall impact, but on a consumer level, smartphones are probably bigger I guess.

Smartphones have more impact. Smartphones are shipped in the billions each year and for most people on the planet it's their first and primary computer. PCs only ship in the 150 million per year range.

Again, agreed on consumer. On society, definitely the PC as they've transformed pretty much every business and almost every home in the world. Like PC's have been shipping my entire life (approx 40 years), while smartphones (touch screen iPhone like etc) have only been around for the last 14.

And how are all smartphone apps developed?