Just for fun, last week I had some friends over and we streamed that iPhone keynote where Steve Jobs first announces what the iPhone is capable of. The iPod controls, the iTunes syncing with Address Book support, the full web browsing of Safari, the multitouch, the photo support, the visual voicemail. Merging calls with a touch. It was pretty engrossing, even for friends who weren't huge techies, to see that keynote and remember that back then the Razr was considered a cutting-edge phone.

The original iPhone wasn't perfect, but it was leagues beyond anything else both in design concept and in actual performance. There are still no phones that come close to the iPod part of the software, and perhaps one or two phones can match any other part of the iPhone's functionality. It evolved, and it had to evolve because it was flawed, but that original design was mindblowing when I was a kid (a lot of people cut class to go to the library and look at the initial reports) and it still has that effect if you look at the original unveiling. The new stuff makes the original attempt look amateur, but the original attempt was pretty bitching as well.

> There are still no phones that come close to the iPod part of the software

I hate to reuse this comment yet again but:

Before the iPhone, some smartphone manufacturers (Microsoft) thought it was normal to wipe out the user's data with a mobile operating system upgrade.

The vintage iPhone (1.0) was a 3rd generation product.

Founder/principal of User Interface Engineering Jared Spool's definitions

1st generation - All about the technology. The 1 pound Motorola brick phones.

2nd generation - Features - camera/games/ringtones/contacts/SMS/mms/mp3/games/voice dial/speakerphone/etc

3rd generation - The experience (iPhone, arguably Facebook too)

Yes, don't we all have a short-term memory and forget that some people were criticizing and evaluating the v1 iPhone based on feature lists of other smartphones at the time (video, MMS, copy-and-paste). And the lack of 3G. Lack of multi-tasking (that's still WIP).

If Apple had not closed itself off and did it their way (ignoring the pundits talking about the missing features), the v1 iPhone might never have come out (or would have been delayed).

Maybe Apple is successful because it is not transparent. Because it understands that the consumer doesn't want complete control over their personal devices, but that the user wants a good experience. iTunes isn't perfect but it lets people buy music and go off on a run and listen to that music. Do you really think the average iPhone consumer cares that Cocoa is behind the scenes?

You can't compare Apple with any other company. They are unique. Yes, they have their flaws but no one company or product is perfect.

Apple is not just opaque from the outside:

“I was at the iPod launch,” said Edward Eigerman, who spent four years as a systems engineer at Apple and now runs his own technology consulting firm. “No one that I worked with saw that coming.”

Apple naikled every aspect though and sold it to the mass public. That is hard - but they had a foothold because of the Ipod market and years of experience in making "must have" products :)

I never said anything about transparency: I agree as it happens, secrecy IS one of Apple's biggest strengths.

Apple know what ticks customers boxes (as you say Itunes isnt the most perfect player in the world - but for many consumers it hits what they need perfectly).

Jeff specifically pointed out that the iPhone wasn't ready until the 3G so your latter point is moot.

Anyway, mostly his post just sounds like over-eager "they sold it to me" stuff :) just what I took away.

The Iphone is a fantastic product. That doesnt matter in the slightest (it really doesnt, welcome to sales :)). What does is that Apple knew their market, played the product into it and pushed all the right buttons in the right sequence. It's an exercise in how to launch and maintain a product :)

I've owned Apple products for 15 years now, and most of the time, when exploring other options (like those mentioned above) I end up coming back because their UX is good, not because "I drank the kool-aid."

Having AppStore turned out to be more important then having copy/paste, this is why it they appeared in this order on the device. A lot of smartphones out there were able to beat 1st and 2nd generations of iPhone in terms of built-in functionality (and 3GS will reconcile this), but no phone will ever beat iPhone in terms of the number of available applications (which is much more important).