FJP writes:

The Newton was a double-edged sword for Apple. On one hand, it had a big "wow" factor and reminded the world of Apple's innovative DNA. On the other hand, it was expensive and Apple had to spend considerable time and energy explaining why a "portable digital assistant" was necessary. It failed.

Now Apple waits for markets to mature a bit before they enter. They've de-emphasized "first" in favor of "best". Facetime is just video chat. Retina Displays are just higher resolution. Siri is just voice recognition. But in all three cases, they grabbed a tremendous amount of mindshare in a short time.

Amen.

Fanboys and haters like to get caught up in the 'ol "We did it first! You guys copied us!" argument. But really, that's just pointless.

It's not about who does it first; it's about who takes it to the next level.