1> MS will build market share regardless, I'm currently using Android but will switch to WP7 when the Lumia 900 gets released. 1st gen Xbox was written off when it entered a market dominated by major players (Sony, Nintendo), 2nd gen Xbox is now a market leader. WP7 seems to be following the same route.
2> First time I've seen C mentioned as being "portable" for mobile devices, C# on the other hand is available on all 3 major platforms (MonoTouch for iOS, MonoDroid for Android).
3> Most devs I know w/ Macs dual-boot Windows anyway. I run OSX in a VM to develop iOS apps. It's not really that big an issue.
4> What? PhoneGap (http://phonegap.com/about/features), RhoMobile, etc, fully support WP7. Not sure where you're getting your info on this stuff but it discredits all your other points when you make incorrect statements like this.
Reality distortion field in effect? I dare say Gates should be higher on the list than Jobs.
Influential products results are just ridiculous also. PS2 for me, 150 million consoles and 1.5 billion games sold over 10+ years. Pong, Atari 2600 and SNES deserve honorable mentions.
At no point when using Android do I hit the back button and go "hmm, that's not what I expected", or "I wish it did something else".
Fact is, it just works. Not having a back button in iOS after following a link is such a jarring experience. Sure you can double tap the home button or 4/5 finger swipe and select the most recent app, that's way simpler and more intuitive...
Why claim it has several problems if you've only "seen" a Galaxy S.
"1. They are capacitive, so there is no tactile feedback ever"
Wrong - You can enable haptic feedback for the menu/back buttons
"2. They are made to be near invisible, so you can't see them in dim light"
Wrong - They are backlit, making them easier to see in dim light
"3. The icons on the buttons are not immediately crystal clear to me"
Personal experience varies, I would say they are pretty self explanatory, if not, takes about 2 seconds to learn.
The bulge on the back/bottom of the Galaxy S allows you to instantly know which way your holding it, thus you always know exactly where the capacitive buttons are, regardless of whether it's dark or in your pocket.
Don't worry, you'll love the Galaxy Nexus, Samsung are producing top quality phones atm. Don't be put off by all the naysayers "cheap and plasticky" comments.
Hang on, iPhone 3G was released July 11, 2008 and iOS4 was released 710 days later (Jun 21, 2010).
Many people found the 3G to be completely unusable with iOS4 installed and had to rollback to a previous version. On top of this, the 3G didn't receive the FULL iOS4 update, apple left out Multitasking, homescreen backgrounds, etc.
You really need to update your diagram to show that iPhone 3G WAS NOT on the current major release after 2 years due to the fact that it didn't have many of the features of that release and that it couldn't handle what it WAS given properly anyway.
Why do you find it strange (iPhone inspired by PalmOS) and then make the same claim (PalmOS inpired by Newton)?
Most people accept that ALL mobile OS platforms gained inspiration from others. The only exception are Apple followers who seem to think Apple invented everything and now everyone just blindly copies them :S
So you agree with me then? The iPhone was far from the first smartphone to have these features. Thank you. Not sure you could throw the Newton series into the smartphone category though :S
Apple got a lot of inspiration from existing platforms, who in turn got inspiration from other platforms. I was amazed when I first held Palm and WinMo devices, they were the dawning of an era for me. But I don't go writing completely uninformed posts all over the interwebs about it. These articles about Steve Jobs' rant against android makes him look like a complete fool and a hypocrite.
Why was it a model of what not to do? So much of what I see in todays' android/iphone/WP7 features remind me of the power of WinMo of yesteryear. WinMo was a superb system, and seeing that it went barely unchanged for nearly a decade proves this. This was simultaneously it's biggest downfall and Microsoft left it to late to update and they got left behind.
What does microsoft abandoning WinMo tell me? That they're just like every other company and drop support for legacy systems to produce newer, better platforms. Thanks, but I already knew that.
Bit hypocritcal of you though, considering your beloved apple did the same thing with Newton...
Typical ifanboi response:
1) Completely ignore post being replied to
2) Diatribe of rubbish about how apple invented everything
3) Oh, i'm not a fanboi btw lulz
Honestly, you seem to be selecting the worst examples of dumbphone design and then saying, "Look how great the iphone is cos it isn't the worst at this particular feature". If you're going to criticize people about reinventing history, at least learn some yourself. This list of "Stuff that mattmanser didn't know about Smartphones before the iPhone came along" is almost trollish.
Both Palm and WinMo had most of the features you seem to think first materialized on the iphone: Rows of Apps ie "Home Screen" (WinMo even had widgets, etc), web browsers, contacts, emails, texting, media players, cameras, third party apps, syncing, on screen keyboards, notifications, etc, etc, etc.
If anything apple BLATANTLY copied WinMo, but made it look nicer.
2> First time I've seen C mentioned as being "portable" for mobile devices, C# on the other hand is available on all 3 major platforms (MonoTouch for iOS, MonoDroid for Android).
3> Most devs I know w/ Macs dual-boot Windows anyway. I run OSX in a VM to develop iOS apps. It's not really that big an issue.
4> What? PhoneGap (http://phonegap.com/about/features), RhoMobile, etc, fully support WP7. Not sure where you're getting your info on this stuff but it discredits all your other points when you make incorrect statements like this.