Also had WinMo phones prior to the iPhone (and after one Palm Treo).  I definitely appreciated the things the first iPhone(s) got right because they were things that always <i>seemed</i> like they should work better on my WinMo devices but were always somehow screwed up (on-chip GPU without the necessary software to use it for graphic acceleration was a big one).<p>At the same time, it was still a choice between finally getting a more responsive interface or giving up front&#x2F;rear cameras, GPS, 3G cell radio, third party apps, multitasking, copy&#x2F;paste, an actual file system I could browse, streaming audio (anyone remember Shoutcast stations?  They&#x27;re still around!), streaming video, hell...even changing my wallpaper or ringtone to something that didn&#x27;t come with the phone.<p>I totally get why Apple succeeded and in many ways they deserved to:  they didn&#x27;t try to out-WinMo WinMo.  They looked at the things that Microsoft, RIM, Palm, and the rest <i>weren&#x27;t</i> doing and targeted those things.  They saw who wasn&#x27;t interested in having a miniature version of a laptop but loved simple and responsive electronics (thousands and thousands of regular consumers).  That business savvy put them in a really strong position that continues to this day.<p>Granted it didn&#x27;t help that you needed to switch carriers to AT&amp;T and spend even more than the cost of existing smart phones to get one but clearly they improved that along with all the rest.<p>I&#x27;m still far from an Apple fanboy and I find using iOS on my iPad to be frustrating at least once every week or two but business&#x2F;market success isn&#x27;t about pleasing me.  It&#x27;s about pleasing enough people to make a good profit and clearly they&#x27;ve got that part down.