> Ah but then you admit, it's "the whole package" that is the real innovation
Actually I would say scrolling by itself was an amazing innovation. Every phone/tablet/pda out there had to implement a scrolling interface for lists, whether it be for contacts, todo items, or call logs, however nobody has created a scrolling interface as usable as Apple's first scrolling interface on the iphone. Their flick scrolling with inertia was probably the first time I wasn't in pain scrolling through a thousand entries.
How can anyone disagree about scrolling being novel? If it was not a novel idea, Nokia should have implemented this on their phones so it wouldn't take a thousand button presses to get to the bottom of my contact list.
When something is novel, every instance prior to the invention would implement it (scrolling) in various different ways, and after the invention it would all be implemented in the same way that emulates the invention. I can't think of an instance where someone implements scrolling without a flick + inertia nowadays.
Hence, the invention brought something new to the table that was never used prior to its existence, and everyone now copies because they feel it is the proper way to do something.
Here's a simplistic straw-man: Prior to the transistor, everyone used vacuum tubes. After the transistor invention, everyone uses transistors.
Everyone used standard scrollbars on handhelds before Apple's invention, however they now use flick/inertia scrolling and nobody goes back to standard scrollbars.
Actually I would say scrolling by itself was an amazing innovation. Every phone/tablet/pda out there had to implement a scrolling interface for lists, whether it be for contacts, todo items, or call logs, however nobody has created a scrolling interface as usable as Apple's first scrolling interface on the iphone. Their flick scrolling with inertia was probably the first time I wasn't in pain scrolling through a thousand entries.
How can anyone disagree about scrolling being novel? If it was not a novel idea, Nokia should have implemented this on their phones so it wouldn't take a thousand button presses to get to the bottom of my contact list.
When something is novel, every instance prior to the invention would implement it (scrolling) in various different ways, and after the invention it would all be implemented in the same way that emulates the invention. I can't think of an instance where someone implements scrolling without a flick + inertia nowadays.
Hence, the invention brought something new to the table that was never used prior to its existence, and everyone now copies because they feel it is the proper way to do something.
Here's a simplistic straw-man: Prior to the transistor, everyone used vacuum tubes. After the transistor invention, everyone uses transistors.
Everyone used standard scrollbars on handhelds before Apple's invention, however they now use flick/inertia scrolling and nobody goes back to standard scrollbars.