Has Apple Really Ever Invented Anything?

[mober]

First off... I have a bunch of apple products that I really like! I think they're awesome and i totally enjoy using them, but...

It just gets ridiculous of how this entire patent thing goes on and in particular HOW apple fanboys think apple came up with pretty much everything on their own... like curved edges, laptops that look like laptops and ****.

go and watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFeC25BM9E0

 

[Intell]

Laptops with trackpads and the general laptop design of keyboard, palm rest, and central pointing device. The Powerbook 100 was the first laptop with that layout.

 

[entatlrg]

No. They just sat around waiting and wondering what everyone else would do. Then copied it.

 

[basesloaded190]

There's obviously a select group of people that think that Apple invented everything.

For the most part, people realize that it was Apple to took ideas to make things that hadn't been seen before or thought of.

 

[appleguy123]

Did they invent the backlit keyboard? I don't remember any computers having it before the PowerBook.

 

[Seamaster]

First off... I have a bunch of apple products that I really like! I think they're awesome and i totally enjoy using them, but... It just gets ridiculous of how this entire patent thing goes on and in particular HOW apple fanboys think apple came up with pretty much everything on their own... like curved edges, laptops that look like laptops and ****.

Where were the great versions of Windows before OSX?

Where were the great consumer PCs before the iMac?

Where were the great laptops before the PowerBook?

Where were the great ultrabooks before the MacBook Air?

Where were the great MP3 players before the iPod?

Where were the great smartphones before the iPhone?

Where were the great tablets before the iPad?

Yes, there are are good, compelling and cheaper alternatives to Apple now. But we have Apple to thank for them. Bottom line and end of story.

 

[Carl Sagan]

I'm not sure it matters. Would you like something original that's crap or a copy that's great?

 

[notjustjay]

Where were the great versions of Windows before OSX?

Where were the great consumer PCs before the iMac?

Where were the great laptops before the PowerBook?

Where were the great ultrabooks before the MacBook Air?

Where were the great MP3 players before the iPod?

Where were the great smartphones before the iPhone?

Where were the great tablets before the iPad?

Yes, there are are good, compelling and cheaper alternatives to Apple now. But we have Apple to thank for them. Bottom line and end of story.

Well, let's not be disingenuous here. "Great" is a subjective term, and while I see where you are going with your post, it would be a little one-sided to imply that NOBODY had "great" versions of those products before Apple.

For example, there were lots of great smartphones before the iPhone. The Blackberry, most obviously.

Apple didn't invent any of those things, but what they did do was take a product and made a version that everyone wanted. To use the smartphone example again -- Blackberries were pretty much exclusively for businesspeople and executives -- your average Joe didn't need one or really even want one. Certainly it would be silly to see teenagers walking around with them. The iPhone took the concept of a smartphone and packaged it up and marketed it so that everyone wanted one -- businesspeople, average Joes, and teenagers alike.

 

[Seamaster]

I had Blackberrys before the iPhone.

They were rubbish.

 

[G51989]

I had Blackberrys before the iPhone.

They were rubbish.

I had a Windows Mobile Phone, and it kicked the **** out of the original iPhone, and the 3G for that matter.

 

[elppa]

There are many examples since, but let us go back to 1984:

These all came from the original Mac group at Apple:

• Drag-and-drop file manipulation
• types and creators for files
• direct manipulation editing of document, disk, and application names
• multiple views of the file system
• desk accessories
• control panels

These came from the lisa group at Apple:

• pull down menus
• the clipboard

Credit: folklore.org

I'm pretty sure you can find most of that list on any desktop operating system today, be it Mac, Windows or Linux based.

So yes, Apple has really invented things.

 

[iAppl3Fan]

They don't need to be the first to invent something. They are just the first to refine a product and then everyone else whats to measure up and compare against them. Simple as that.

 

[mober]

They don't need to be the first to invent something. They are just the first to refine a product and then everyone else whats to measure up and compare against them. Simple as that.

agree and fair enough... but what about taking those $INVETORS to court and sue the **** out of them? like...

you brought the part, I refined it, so right now the WHOLE THING is mine and you gotta pay for your own invention... This attitude just doesn't fell right

 

[boss.king]

I had a Windows Mobile Phone, and it kicked the **** out of the original iPhone, and the 3G for that matter.

I had a Sony Ericsson camera phone and even that was better than the original iPhone at nearly every task.

 

[Melrose]

The argument isn't whether Apple invented these devices - the argument is how much influence their refinements to these devices have had on their industries. It's telling that for the diminutive number of sales Apple has in relation to the rest of the industry (Personal computers, phone, printers - when they did printers) and yet the influence is still there.

Without Apple we would be years behind where we currently are. It seems excessive in retrospect, but that's the way it is. Did we have touchscreen devices before the iPhone? Yes. And yet how many people reviled Apple before they released it, and now... every phone that is a phone is a touch screen smartphone

We have desktop publishing. Could people print from their home computers before? Yes. And yet, due to the LaserWriter the industry was again forced to catch up and we are where we are today.

Were there laptops before Apple's? Yes. And due to the changes Apple introduced in the PowerBook 100 and PowerBook 500, we have laptop layout where it is today.

Was there a mobile MP3 player before the iPod? Yes. And yet, because of that, we now take it for granted that we can haul our 50GB music collection around in a pocket without being seen as complete dorks.

But the same can be said of numerous other products, and due respect goes their makers as well.

 

[stchman]

Apple is very good at improving upon existing designs.

Has Apple really invented anything, not really, but they have definitely improved upon many things.

 

[elppa]

Has Apple really invented anything, not really

Oh dear.

Clearly not the case.

 

[filmbuff]

Apple didn't actually invent a lot of the things that people give it credit for. What Apple does all the time is take existing technology that no-one cares about and turn it into a product selling tens of millions per quarter. For instance, most of the technology in the iphone already existed at the time (capacitive touch screens, accelerometers, etc) but Apple managed to fit all of that tech into a phone that worked great and seemed way more refined than anything else on the market. They did the same thing with the iPad. As for actual computers, Macs are great but they are a little "late to the game". There have been tons of great PCs and Macs have only surpassed them in the last ~5 years.

 

[stchman]

Oh dear.

Clearly not the case.

Then take the guys' challenge on the YouTube video and win some free stuff.

 

[smoledman]

There are many examples since, but let us go back to 1984:

These all came from the original Mac group at Apple:

• Drag-and-drop file manipulation
• types and creators for files
• direct manipulation editing of document, disk, and application names
• multiple views of the file system
• desk accessories
• control panels

These came from the lisa group at Apple:

• pull down menus
• the clipboard

Credit: folklore.org

I'm pretty sure you can find most of that list on any desktop operating system today, be it Mac, Windows or Linux based.

So yes, Apple has really invented things.

This should be a thread-ender.

 

[Hugh]

Apple invented the PDA with the Newton, Palm came after Apple and won the PDA war, although if Apple improved more I think they could hold their own.

Hugh

 

[turtle777]

No, nothing, ever. Even the eleventy billion patents were not invented.

What a silly question.

-t

 

[simsaladimbamba]

For those people, that only use or know of Apple products since 2007, Apple existed long before that, it was founded in the late 70s and did some ground breaking work in the 80s.

As for what inventions can be attributed to them or not, one has to look at the definition of invent:

invent |inˈvent|
verb [ trans. ]
create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of : he invented an improved form of the steam engine.
• make up (an idea, name, story, etc.), esp. so as to deceive : I did not have to invent any tales about my past.
ORIGIN late 15th cent. (in the sense [find out, discover] ): from Latin invent- ‘contrived, discovered,’ from the verb invenire, from in- ‘into’ + venire ‘come.’​

Inventing something is not limited to a specific component (like capacitive touchscreen and such), but to an actual thing or device. The Mac, the GUI*, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad are inventions. And Apple did those.

* Yes, I know, Xerox.

 

[smoledman]

The real question has anyone besides Apple invented anything? Last I heard Microsoft had something like 10K patents.

http://www.latestpatents.com/category/microsoft/

Microsoft had 118 patents granted just yesterday.

 

[jav6454]

First off... I have a bunch of apple products that I really like! I think they're awesome and i totally enjoy using them, but...

It just gets ridiculous of how this entire patent thing goes on and in particular HOW apple fanboys think apple came up with pretty much everything on their own... like curved edges, laptops that look like laptops and ****.

go and watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFeC25BM9E0

Yes, they came up with a clever way to stabilize PSU power supply when the computer doesn't need high power draws. The design was first implemented in the Apple II and it subsequently went into licensing with all major PSU manufacturers to this day. This tidbit is found in Steve Job's biography by Issacson.