Lots of people are wondering what Apple will invent next. If it’s true to its own history, it won’t invent a new type of product but will improve on one someone else already brought to market.
I’ve never questioned that Apple is an innovator. Its iPod, iPhone and iPad were all very innovative products. But all of them were improvements of other companies’ products or concepts in the same categories.
The iPod, introduced in October 2001, was not the first digital music player. Diamond Multimedia announced the Rio PMP 300 in 1998, and the Creative Nomad Jukebox and Archos Jukebox came out in 2000. None of these products would have been possible were it not for innovations in storage, compression and battery life from scores of scientists and inventors.
