Back in 2007, much ado was still being made about desktop computer marketshare and how Apple only had a tiny fraction of the personal computer market. Windows-based PCs had about a 96% share of the personal computer market and Apple could never hope to be a major player in that arena again.
But with the iPhone, Apple found a way to put computers in our pockets. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the iPhone makes telephone calls because we are so busy checking our email on it, sending chat and text messages, opening spreadsheets and documents, playing games on it, watching videos, playing music and taking pictures with it, etc.
So basically the iPhone was like a Trojan Horse for the Microsoft-dominated computer industry. Within just a few years, Apple would be on equal terms with Microsoft with respect to computer market share (being that iPhones and later iPads are computers).
It's still a great phone, but now making and receiving phone calls is just another of the thousands of other things you can do with it.
The CEO of Palm (of PDA fame) put his foot in big time:
Weve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone, Ed Colligan (Palm) apparently laughed about with John Markoff last Thursday morning. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. Theyre not going to just walk in.
Didn’t the iPod lead the way for the iPhone?