> (Remember the hue and cry when Apple initially said they wouldn't provide a market for third-party apps?)
No, I don't. But all my friends wanted an iPhone and they're not programmers.
I think most people didn't know or even consider one could develop apps for phones at the time. Or why would someone want apps on a phone. Or even what an "app" is. They only knew "programs" on Windows.
People bought what was available. There were starting to appear some apps for Nokia phones but it wasn't widely popular. It was also a hassle to download / update.
There was a huge outcry I remember it well, ironically Apple only wanted web apps which put it at a significant disadvantage to Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm OS, and Blackberry based phones.
The wow factor of the UI and interface design more than made up for it though, but there is a famous interview where Balmer laughs at the iPhone because it was expensive, had no keyboard, and no applications whereas Microsoft was selling millions of Windows phones a year with all of those.
Then I guess you don't remember it all that well - even at the introduction people made fun out of the lack of 3rd party apps and consistently criticized it. Symbian smartphones were already pretty popular (at least her in EU).
And to counter your anectode - pretty much none of my friends wanted an iPhone and they're not programmers either ;P
People very well knew what apps were and why they wanted them on a phone. Especially as phones were slow back in the day and had slow 2G networks (original iPhone), an app was a much more fluid experience than a touch-website.
In fact people wrote apps for rooted iPhones before iOS came out with official app support and an Appstore.
No, I don't. But all my friends wanted an iPhone and they're not programmers.
I think most people didn't know or even consider one could develop apps for phones at the time. Or why would someone want apps on a phone. Or even what an "app" is. They only knew "programs" on Windows.
People bought what was available. There were starting to appear some apps for Nokia phones but it wasn't widely popular. It was also a hassle to download / update.