This post focuses on hardware which is a limited view, Apple certainly made very bold moves with respect to business. One reason I let go of my (very nice) Android phone and got an iPhone6 was that I was sick and tired of being at Verizon&#x27;s whim for software updates and always had to use slightly older versions (while my friends with AT&amp;T enjoyed a newer version of KitKat). I&#x27;d much rather deal with Apple, at least everyone&#x27;s on same footing.<p>For me the biggest innovation that Apple did was to break the stronghold that wireless carriers had on phone innovation. Note that some others couldn&#x27;t even think of this possibility (Moto, which killed it) or tried it in a half-assed way (Google).<p>I never agreed with idea in this passage:<p>&quot;In the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Morn! Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!&quot;<p>If it&#x27;s a necessary evil I, for one, would want to deal with a terrible Queen rather than the Dark Lord. And I sure hope that Apple aims cable companies next.