From an angle that approaches platforms through cars, IT (mobile, tablets, web OSes), and products…
The reason the iPhone was able to form an ecosystem is not the portability of mobile devices, nor the Internet environment, nor the presence of 3rd parties.
PDAs with similar functionality existed as models a full decade earlier.
All it did was shrink the distance between the user’s thinking (intent, desire, goal) and their action.
If you can shrink the gap between the moment a user feels a need and the moment they act on that need,
then even without a device called “mobile,” you can make yet another new interface.
