jonbwfc wrote: See the post I made elsewhere. Every product cateogory has an initial spurt of innovation, followed by a period of consolidation (then followed by commoditisation, but we're not quite there yet with smartphones). We're now in in that second phase, probably have been for a year or so. Add that to the incessant legal action currently gripping the industry and there's little chance of anything very innovative from anyone from now on, at least as far as smartphones go. We may get chance for changes sake but I doubt we'll get anything that spectacularly better than what we now have in the full range of devices available.
The next 'innovation' in this case will actually be an invention, it will be something entirely or at least significantly new, which the majority of people won't even be able to guess at before it happens. I don't know who is going to do that (if I did, I'd sink my life savings into shares in that company, today) but there's no actual reason to expect it to be one the companies that have been leading the way until now. if anything, it's more likely to be someone new - another step in the IBM - Microsoft - Apple line.
Are Apple 'done' as company? Certainly not. They probably won't be the 'next big thing' but they might be, if they get lucky again. But there's as much chance of us looking at Apple in 10 years the way we now look at IBM as there is of them still being top of the pile.
Nothing lasts forever. We've had what 8 years of a continual waterfall of new things. Eventually, you just run out of new things for there to be in any limited category. | 
