Quote: Timothy D. Cook Of Apple
From the Seeking Alpha transcript (which is so good I must go back for another snippet):
[M]any people really didn’t have a full view of what a phone could do until we announced the iPhone.
This is what Apple does: Dispels the mystery.
When the Macintosh debuted in 1984, it allowed people who never used a computer before to actually want to use one. And, because it was a Mac with a real-people-friendly interface, those novices could immediately do more on their machines than the millions sitting in front of their MS-DOS command-line interface boxes.
When the iPhone debuted last year, it allowed people who could never, ever figure out how to do email, the Internet, SMS, music, and video on their phones to see that it could be done on a phone. They weren’t stupid people. They just had stupid software in their hardware. For all the sneers about the iPhone being a “feature phone,” it seems to me that the phone that allows people to do more things easily is the true smartphone.
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Mike Cane 2008 
July 26, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Yes… but…
One can look at the iPhone and say, “[M]any people really didn’t have a full view of what a phone could do until we announced the iPhone.” and while they won’t be wrong, I think that is an example of old thinking applied to a new paradyme.
I think the more accurate statement might be:
“Many people didn’t understand that a phone could become then next computing platform until the iPhone”.
Ahhhhhh but when your iPod Air is unveiled they will!!!
July 26, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Did you pay attention at the iPhone original announcement? Even I voiced doubts as to what we were seeing was real or a carefully crafted demo that might not live up to its actual release. One “A-lister” wondered if the wire leading out of the iPhone actually meant the big-screen demo was a pre-recorded video. (It was feeding the iPhone video to a projection system.)
It wasn’t until people got their hands on the iPhone and *experienced* it that it was such a huge shift in thinking. It actually worked just like the demo.
The iPod Air will have surprises even I haven’t envisioned — and I’ve given it much thought (obviously!).
July 26, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I did indeed pay attention to the iPhone original announcement and, when I revisited it last month, commented, “I think Stevo did this device a disservice by calling it a phone first- it is a handheld computer that is also a phone.”
What has become clear to me is that Steve is smarter than me (no surprise) in that he slipped a handheld computer to people who would have been TERRIFIED by that kind of device but were totally comfortable with the concept of “a cool Apple cellphone”.
I, for one, am truly hoping you are right about the iPodAir- and, if it does indeed come to pass, will be hitting that “Buy” button as quickly as possible.