It’s not uncommon that tech-buddies always end up in unusual debates in the middle of nowhere. Last night me and a friend of mine were talking about how technology has changed in the past decade and I don’t know why but out of the blue he said “Apple invented touch screen phones” (SHOCKER). And after 15 minutes of clarification, we started discussing who invented what. This article is result of that discussion.
In this article I am going to shed some light on a few myths about Apple and Google that “not-so-techie” guys think are true.
1. Apple Invented Touch Screen Phones
Apple has a huge fan following and I guess that is the reason such rumours occur in the first place. I mean no offence but Apple fans just don’t stop bragging about their iPhones. Anyway, back to the topic now. Apple did not invented touch screen phones. Years before the first iPhone was launched, Palm was the king of smartphone world. Its smartphone T5 which ran on Windows mobile OS is an example of touch screen phone. Although Apple made it more functional and easy to use but it did not invented it.
Fun fact: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a third partner in the earliest days of Apple. Ronald Wayne sold his 10 per cent stake in the company for $800 in 1976.
2. Apple Invented Video Calling
Another myth that circulates the internet is that Apple invented video calling through its FaceTime. But it didn’t. Video calling was available long before Apple introduced FaceTime. Take Skype for example. Skype was founded in 2003 and that is long before FaceTime made its debut.
To be honest I don’t even understand what the fuss about FaceTime is. I mean it does not have much feature as compared to other video calling services and it is limited to “Apple-Apple” conversation only. It is not cross-platform.
Fun fact: The first video call was made in 1956.
3. Apple Invented GUI And Computer Mouse
Apple is often credited with inventing computer mouse and GUI but both mouse and GUI were created by Xerox at its Palo Alto Research Centre. Once Jobs visited Xerox and liked the idea so much that he implemented it in Apple.
Fun fact: Although Jobs “copied” the idea of GUI from Xerox he accused Bill Gates of stealing the idea of GUI from Apple. Author Walter Isaacson has written about this event in the autobiography of Steve Jobs : “You’re ripping us off!” Jobs shouted. “I trusted you, and now you’re stealing from us!” Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbour named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”
4. Google Invented Android
Time for some Google myths now. Who invented Android? In 2003, Andy Rubin, Nick Sears, Chris White, and Rich Miner founded Android, Inc. to develop smarter mobile devices that are aware of what is happening around them. In 2005, Google acquired Android, Inc. for $50 million (assumed amount) to enter in mobile market.
Fun fact: HTC Dream was the first commercially released Android phone and was released in 2008. It was a sliding QWERTY phone with 3.2 inch screen, 192 MB of RAM, and 256 MB of internal storage.
5. Google Invented YouTube
YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim in 2005. As per a story, the idea for YouTube was developed because Hurely and Chen had faced difficulty in sharing a dinner party video. In 2006, Google announced that it has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Fun fact: The first YouTube video was of Jawed Karim, co-founder of YouTube. The video shows him at the San Diego Zoo and was titled “Me at the zoo“.
