Just as a slide-out keyboard is much quicker to input data on than an onscreen keyboard... the different types of touch screens each have their own advantages. With a small display the precision of a resistive touch screen vs. the sloppiness of a capacitive display makes it much more useful for a variety of tasks.
Calling the PPC-6700 a “feature phone” is a laugh. It came with a mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet Explorer. I preferred to use Opera as my Internet Browser. I purchased a tiny Bluetooth GPS sender that gave it several moving map options. It had numerous programs available for video and music playback of just about any format. this is not to mention a plethora of other apps for both gaming and productivity. The PPC-6700 was no “feature phone... you are full of it. By the time that Apple came out with the first I-phone, Windows Mobile had an impressive head start with the amount of software that was available.
I would not dispute that Apple had a superior marketing team and strategy and they sold far more I-phones. That is what Apple does. They mostly steal ideas from other companies and people. They smooth out the rough edges, have their legal department buy up a patent or two and then market the hell out of whatever device they come up with. I would dispute that the first i-phone had a revolutionary appearance, design or feature set. It was simply an evolution from previous devices that it “borrowed” its “features” from. The first I-phone was no more capable when it came out than many other devices that came before it. The I-phone had to go through several model changes before it had the feature set that people think of today.
Microsoft is the company that started using the term “smartphone” back in 2002, but Windows CE devices first came out in 1996 long before the I-phone was even a glimmer in Steve Job's eye. I had a pda in 2000, the Sony CLIÉ seven years before the first I-phone was released. It had more useful apps available when I bought it than the first i-phone did when it was released. I also had a Blackberry phone. These were all devices that Apple “borrowed” ideas from. And by the way... they basically all were rectangular with rounded corners. If common sense prevails, Samsung will eventually have the last laugh.
Whoopee. You had a PDA in 2000. The touch screen Apple Newton preceded that by NINE YEARS and was in development for three years prior to that.
A design patent is very specific for a look and feel. It has nothing to do with the fact that other designs are rectangular and have rounded corners; that is perfectly acceptable in design patents. Only ignorant idiots keep harping on that know-nothing meme. That is merely part of the textural description that was required. The IMAGES of the patent are what is important. YOU are falling for the propaganda that Samsung pushed out at the time of the trial to push public opinion.
Sloppiness of capacitance screens? Really? Talk about making it up as go. You do not know what you are talking about. Capacitance screens are far more accurate than resistance screen. As for speed of typing, multiple speed tests of people skilled in typing on their devices found that the touch screen typists were faster than anyone on a chiclet button keyboard.