[GREQ]

I'm amazed at how many people believe Apple created the smartphone. 
All they did was build upon existing ideas that were produced by other companies, but with an improved system, better style and much higher price tag.
 
All they've really done is dominate an existing market some of the best marketing the world has ever seen.

 

[TripBitShooter]

+1.

 

[Byrnie]

I'm amazed at how many people believe Apple created the smartphone. 
All they did was build upon existing ideas that were produced by other companies, but with an improved system, better style and much higher price tag.

All they've really done is dominate an existing market some of the best marketing the world has ever seen.

For the record, I know they didn't create the smartphone and if I implied otherwise, it was unintentional.

 

[GREQ]

The record has been amended. Let it be known henceforth that any mistakenly implied ignorance was unintentional and untrue.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

The fact that Apple took the phone and combined it with a media player then added the capability of apps to be developed, making it the central hub for ones' portable needs then I yes I think they did make a much larger contribution. If the iPhone hadn't of been created I don't Beats would have been anywhere near as successful which is why I think Apple should given more credit than Beats amd definitely Bose. That's my oponion though.

I still think the Sony Walkmans. All apple did was change what people listen to music on.

 

[Byrnie]

All apple did was change what people listen to music on.

Yup and I'm saying that had a huge impact on people who previously didn't want to carry multiple devices like a phone and an mp3 player.  Now people who didn't even own (or want to own) an mp3 player before can just use their phone.  Again just my opinion.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

Yup and I'm saying that had a huge impact on people who previously didn't want to carry multiple devices like a phone and an mp3 player.  Now people who didn't even own (or want to own) an mp3 player before can just use their phone.  Again just my opinion.

dude. Your phone would be a flip phone in your pocket in the early 2000's, and you probably wouldn't have one in the 80's-90's. Walkmans made music portable. IPhone didn't... My opinion too... Except the Walkmans making music portable. That's a true statement.

 

[GREQ]

 
I still think the Sony Walkmans. All apple did was change what people listen to music on.

Not at all.
There were plenty of phones before iPhones that had simple mp3 players.
All you had to do was upgrade the memory size. The software was already embedded in the OS.
 
I used to use my Sony Ericsson K750 (2005) as an mp3 player.
This was a year and a half before the first iPhone (2007), and my K750 certainly wasn't the first phone that could do this.

 

[Byrnie]

dude. Your phone would be a flip phone in your pocket in the early 2000's, and you probably wouldn't have one in the 80's-90's. Walkmans made music portable. IPhone didn't... My opinion too... Except the Walkmans making music portable. That's a true statement.

No where have I stated that the iPhone made music portable so I'm not sure where you're trying to take this argument.  In fact, the argument was Beats vs iPhone...  I'm also not sure why you are bringing up flip phones given you didn't explain why...

 

[jude]

  I'm amazed at how many people believe Apple created the smartphone...

 
This discussion is off-topic, I know, but I wanted to comment about this (and similar sentiments).
 
The iPhone was not the first smartphone, agreed. To the best of my knowledge, it was, however, the first of its type, and it changed the direction smartphones were going in. Who wasn't blown away after seeing the iPhone press conference? It's easy in the years since to forget that day. The first iPhone was far from perfect (no copy-paste, slow connectivity, etc.), but it was amazing for its time.
 
A friend of mine was able to buy the first-gen iPhone early on, and the first thing I did was ask him if I could do a pinch-in / pinch-out photo re-size, as I thought perhaps the smooth demo of that function that Jobs was showing in the press conference was a pre-rigged animation, and it turns out it was real. Big deal in a phone now? No. Big deal in a phone then? Yes, absolutely. The things we take for granted now--the Minority-Report-type swiping and pinching of windows, objects, and text--was smooth and impressively done with that very first iPhone, despite its other issues. Again, this was new stuff in a phone then, and pushed future phones from others to also move in that direction.
 

  ...All they did was build upon existing ideas that were produced by other companies, but with an improved system, better style and much higher price tag.
 
All they've really done is dominate an existing market some of the best marketing the world has ever seen.

 
There was certainly more than marketing that day. I don't know which companies' ideas they built on, but I do know there was no other phone like the iPhone that I'd ever seen before the day it was unveiled.
 
My point is not to debate where phones have gone since, or argue what's better now, only to say that the iPhone was beyond merely novel on the day of its announcement.
 
(I currently own and use an iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and iPads.)

 

[GREQ]

There was certainly more than marketing that day. I don't know which companies' ideas they built on,.....

My point was more in reference to other existing technologies 
The tech was there, other companies were already producing simple touch screens for cash registers etc... Apple took the ideas, made their own tech and bundled it with incredibly intuitive controls.
 
But yeah, generally I agree with your points.
But did Apple revolutionize portable music? No. Just another stepping stone across the decades.

 

[cb3723]

I actually hope that this ends quickly and cleanly for all involved. Firstly because it costs us, the taxpayers, money.

Secondly, because Bose and Beats have done more for the current popularity of headphones (and I would argue loudspeakers) than any company in the last 1-2 decades. Beats started the current headphone renaissance. Whether we like it or not, that's a big part of the reason head-fi is as big as it is today. Now, I'm no fan of beats, BUT, I will say that I know dozens of kids who bought a pair of beats, and later strolled over to head-fi or best buys Magnus headphone section, and had their eyes opened. And the same people who then bought their first pair of Audioengines. Then Klipsch. Before you know it, they're looking at full blown loudspeakers and bookshelves, hanging around in high-end shops.
I was introduced to headphones by skull candy (a gift from as relative) then progressed to B&W, and now I'm on Grados and Beyers. Of course, I was into loudspeakers before that, but you can see the progression.
Getting headphone brands mainstream recognition is incredible, and I'm grateful for that. Beats newest headphones aren't half bad IMO. I wouldn't but them, and I still think they're overpriced, but they don't sound godawful like the older ones. Bosedoes not sound particularly good to my ears, but neither does it sound awful. And the ANC Bose has developed is truly above all other options. Again, I wouldn't buy it, and it's overpriced, but look what it's done for the industry. I don't know that we'd have things like the HD800, Audeze headphones, and He-6 without the headphone crazy introducing so many new members to head-fidom. And I seriously doubt we'd have the array of great value, mid-low-fi selections we currently have.

So instead of bashing, and hating, let's hope there are more converts from this publicity, because that helps our side of the industry.

Happy Listening!

News Flash: Beats sound good - same league as v-moda - only difference is perception bias due to perpetual beats bashing

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

No where have I stated that the iPhone made music portable so I'm not sure where you're trying to take this argument.  In fact, the argument was Beats vs iPhone...  I'm also not sure why you are bringing up flip phones given you didn't explain why...

I mean you wouldn't be really using multiple devices. The flip phone stays in your pocket unless you need to make a call. And when they didn't have cell phones, they had the walkman as their only device to carry. I'm saying that the companies making portable tape players back in the 70's-90's made portable headphones a thing. Then beats changed the perception of the public on headphones by having expensive good looking headphones that you can use everyday, everywhere. That made it so that spending $$$ on headphones wasn't so odd in the publics view. Sorry lol for keeping it derailed... Back on topic shall we?

 

[thatBeatsguy]

News Flash: Beats sound good - same league as v-moda - only difference is perception bias due to perpetual beats bashing

Same league as V-Moda? Don't know about you, but Studio 2 > M-100, hands down.

 

[TripBitShooter]

i only like the V-moda XS as it is not as bassy as the other V-modas. However it only has mediocre isolation and treble is still lacking in extension despite an improvement over the M80