That is the big question on the day the world awoke with a technolust-at-first-sight hangover. How did Apple create a device so utterly cool and innovative that geeks, hipsters, and soccer mom’s alike are now counting the days until they can buy one?
The New York Times’ David Pogue suggests that Steve Jobs has kidnapped Cinderella’s fairy godmother and locked her away in some backroom at Apple. A colleague of mine still thinks that Jobs has a team of Oompa-Loompa’s wandering about the campus.
The reality, however, is a little less mystical:
200+ patents and jaw-dropping good looks.
The Apple iPhone is the result of tens of millions of dollars in research and development by some of the smartest minds in computing. The investment necessary to develop a radically new interface like Multi-touch requires that Apple have a way to protect that investment. If Nokia, Sony, and Motorola could all simply copy it in their new phones, why would Apple even bother? Besides, I’m sure Apple has had enough of playing R&D Lab for the rest of the industry.
That’s why Mr. Jobs declared, "Boy, have we patented it!" There are a lot of bad software patents out there, but devices like the iPhone make us all realize why we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are some things so cool, so innovative, they deserve patent protection.