This is an old post that I somehow didn’t get to finish, originally written partially on 2013/4/5. Text in italics was added today.

Firstly, a bit of background. I did own the original iPhone. This was back in the days when the iPhone (the 2G-only model) was a US exclusive device. I actually ordered two when friends went to the US on a business trip. I think it was around US$6xx per unit or something and I had to go through unlock/jailbreak just to get the phones to work with Singapore SIM cards. My guess is that there were probably no more than 50 such phones in Singapore at the time. Those were the days!

I still miss the simplicity and beautiful design of iPhone – not so much the 3G(s) lines but the post-4G series. Despite improvements in Android, perhaps a change in iOS was sore needed, but the smartphone revolution really began with the iPhone and I have no doubt that iPhone is still the barometer that manufacturers are benchmarking against. Wait till when no one is talking about the iPhone/iPad family, then maybe we can start talking about death knells for Apple.

But before that, don’t kid yourself!

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/04/03/on-its-third-birthday-apples-ipad-looks-back-at-years-of-comical-criticism

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/04/03/a-look-back-at-the-ipad-naysayers/