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Nobody credits them for inventing the smartphone. They invented the iPhone. Nobody credits them for inventing the mp3 player. They invented the iPod.


Nobody? You don't read the popular press very much do you?


For a large percentage of the population, "mp3 player = ipod" and "smartphone = iphone".


An anecdotal example: a couple of years ago, I mentioned to my mother that I had bought an mp3 player. She sounded puzzled for a moment and asked 'is that like an iPod?'


Here's sort of the flipside of that anecdote:

Me and a group at my school are currently developing a mobile communication app for elderly for a interaction design-course, and we are in close cooperation with two local elderly homes for testing and feedback. During the initial phase we didn't settle on whether we should develop for iOS or Android but focused primarily on how the interaction should work. But after a while the local leader/our contact insisted that we develop for the iPad since the elderly at both homes had been to a iPad-workshop.

2 weeks later she tells us that she's bought two iPads for us that we could use for testing. When we get there, with our low-fi PowerPoint-prototype, it turns out that she's bought two Galaxy Tab's!


I'm sure many people think "mp3" means "digital audio file"


For an even larger percentage of the population, "tissue = kleenex."

That doesn't mean anything except that they made a damn good product and had A TON of marketing.




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