What Apple did with the iPod and iPhone is basically the same thing the Japanese automakers did in the 1970s. They looked at all the ways the existing players were failing and came out with cars which didn’t have those failings.
Yes, graphical interfaces using mouses existed before the Macintosh, desktop computers with internet access existed before the iMac, laptop computers existed before the iBook, MP3 players existed before the iPod, smartphones existed before the iPhone, tablets existed before the iPod, wearable devices existed before the Apple Watch, etc., BUT, Apple’s introduction of their entrants in the field made the products mainstream.
They made those things something that everyone suddenly knew about and wanted. And only after the success of Apple’s premium devices in those fields did people who didn’t want to pay premium prices start looking for alternatives, like the Samsung Galaxy. So, yeah, Apple basically created the markets for the classes of devices they introduced.
You can deride them for not being the “real innovators” or you can give Apple credit for choosing the perfect time and the perfect product with the right features—including aesthetic features—to bring those classes of products into the mainstream.
It’s similar to Starbucks. Before that company went national, the only kind of coffee I knew about was shitty, scorched, bitter coffee served at every restaurant and diner. Starbucks didn’t invent coffee, and they didn’t invent good coffee—but they created the idea of better coffee, even if it was only marginally better—and because of what Starbucks did to establish the market, I can enjoy truly fantastic coffee almost everywhere I go in the country.
What Apple and Starbucks did was introduce something in a way that made people realize that this is something that they actually wanted to have. That’s no mean feat.
Fine, I’ll back off from your religion. All Praise Jobs, Inventor Of Everything.
Easy. There is a sucker born every minute, and Apple is a master at parting them from their money.
Just before the bigger iPhones came out, my boss, a true Apple fan, had a cardboard template Apple gave him when he pre-ordered the phone. He held it up proudly. I pulled out my Galaxy S4, which was actually in my pocket not in a Samsung factory and said “Oh, about this size, huh?”