That's true but let's look at what the competition to the iPhone was mostly lacking:
-Fully functional modern web browser
-Good GUIs (some exceptions)
-High quality screen with good visual design and font rendering
-Intuitive multi-touch interface
-Good integration for media syncing/playback
-A lot of pre-iPhone SmartPhones (RIM specifically) didn't even have 802.11 wifi
-Good attachment viewer (All Office formats including 2k7)
As of 1 year ago:
-Full Exchange support
-VPN support
-Excellent SDK with a fully integrated distribution system and free development tools.
So while your point is valid that it did take Apple about 2 years to fully build iPhone OS into a mature OS I would say it's also absurd that other SmartPhone platforms were so far behind in the above areas. It works both ways doesn't it? I would never buy a phone without a fully functional modern web browser again. I don't care if it has the best copy & paste and voice memos ever. It's all about what features a large variety of people find the most important. Users did purchase their phones fully knowing they did not have copy & paste, MMS, voice memos, etc.
I modded you up because you make some good points. That the iPhone delivered features that the competition probably hadn't even thought of is beyond dispute. I think the fully functional web browser is the iPhone's biggest contribution. It's the only reason I have a decent browser on my non-iPhone.
I want to make it clear that I think the iPhone is great even though I choose to use something else. The iPhone isn't for me. I've tried it and I want to like it, but I just don't. It's impossible for me to type on the screen. There are some minor usability annoyances. I've grown accustomed to a few things that the iPhone doesn't do. Not to mention, I've been an ATT customer in the past and I don't think they provide particularly good service.
That said, I still want to see the iPhone succeed because it means I, and every other consumer, get to reap the benefits of healthy competition. There's no doubt that the iPhone kicked just about everybody in the ass when in came out, but while Apple has been feeding us excuses for why we don't need the features they don't provide, the competition has been busy implementing some of their best ideas. I've purchased 2 smartphones since the iPhone was released and both have fully functional browsers, app stores, good SDK's and acceptable multimedia capabilities. They've both been capable of doing things that the iPhone can't do-- either due to design or policy-- while the most obvious disadvantage compared to the iPhone has been the number of applications available. My point is it's a more level playing field than it was a couple years ago.
I'm not sure it's fair to say that customers bought iPhones knowing that they did not have MMS, voice memos, etc. It's not like it's written in big print somewhere that it doesn't do these things. Most early adopters probably found out after they bought the phone. I think it's easy to assume that the iPhone has these features when you're upgrading from a 3 or 4 year old subsidized POS that has them.
That's true but let's look at what the competition to the iPhone was mostly lacking:
-Fully functional modern web browser -Good GUIs (some exceptions) -High quality screen with good visual design and font rendering -Intuitive multi-touch interface -Good integration for media syncing/playback -A lot of pre-iPhone SmartPhones (RIM specifically) didn't even have 802.11 wifi -Good attachment viewer (All Office formats including 2k7)
As of 1 year ago: -Full Exchange support -VPN support -Excellent SDK with a fully integrated distribution system and free development tools.
So while your point is valid that it did take Apple about 2 years to fully build iPhone OS into a mature OS I would say it's also absurd that other SmartPhone platforms were so far behind in the above areas. It works both ways doesn't it? I would never buy a phone without a fully functional modern web browser again. I don't care if it has the best copy & paste and voice memos ever. It's all about what features a large variety of people find the most important. Users did purchase their phones fully knowing they did not have copy & paste, MMS, voice memos, etc.