The Phones Everyone Laughed At (Until They Couldn't Live Without Them)

If you’d been sitting in a tech conference in 2007 and listened to the standing ovation for the iPhone, you might assume smartphones were an instant hit. They weren't. For years, the earliest smartphones were clunky, expensive, and widely mocked by critics who called them "overpriced toys for gadget freaks." The irony? Those same critics just read this article on a phone that fits in their pocket and does 100x more than their desktop did.

Here’s how the world laughed at smartphones—until they quietly conquered it.

The "Brick Phone" Era: Ubiquity Without Charm

Before the iPhone, "smartphones" existed—but they were ugly, heavy, and baffling. Think of the Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996): it unfolded into a tiny laptop with a monochrome screen, cost $900, and weighed as much as a small sandwich. Critics called it "a brick with a keyboard" and complained it was too bulky to carry.

Then came the BlackBerry (2003). It was a hit with businesspeople, but tech reviewers snickered at its "tragic" web browser, tiny screen, and obsessive focus on email. "Who needs to check email on the go?" was a serious question in tech forums. The BlackBerry was mocked as "the crackBerry"—a device for workaholics, not normal people.

Windows Mobile: The Desktop Trap

Microsoft’s Windows Mobile (2000–2007) was the most visible attempt at a "real" smartphone. It ran a stripped-down Windows with a stylus, a start menu, and a taskbar. Critics gave it a 7/10 for being "innovative but frustrating." Reviewers wrote that tapping tiny icons with a stylus felt "like trying to play chess with chopsticks." The UI was clearly a desktop OS crammed into a pocket; it crashed, froze, and required constant restarts.

One 2005 review from a major tech site concluded: "Windows Mobile is a powerful tool for power users. Most people will hate it." That was polite. Forums were filled with comments like: "Why would I want a computer in my pocket? My phone is for calls."

The iPhone: The First Mocked Revolutionary

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007, the audience gasped. But the critics? They sharpened their knives.

• No keyboard? "Typing on glass is a nightmare." (CNET, 2007)
• No removable battery? "This device is doomed." (PC World, 2007)
• No copy-paste? "A toy for kids." (The Register)
• Expensive at $499? "Probably a flop." (Fortune)

The New York Times’ David Pogue famously mocked the iPhone’s touch keyboard, calling it "a disaster" and predicting it would "never catch on."

Behind the scenes, Apple engineers were terrified. They’d spent months patching bugs, and Jobs himself worried the keyboard would be a dealbreaker. But the critics missed the key point: the iPhone didn’t try to be a desktop replacement. It focused on three things done well—browsing, music, and calling—and made everything else optional.

Android’s Slow Grind: Quietly Eating the World

Android’s early phones were also mocked. The HTC Dream (2008) had a slide-out keyboard, a chunky design, and a weird trackball. Reviewers called it "clunky" and "undecided." Critics said Android 1.0 was "unfinished" and "confusing" compared to the iPhone.

But Android’s killer feature— openness —was invisible to reviewers. It ran on any hardware, from $99 budget phones to flagship beasts. Carriers loved it because they could customize it. Developers loved it because they could build anything. By 2012, Android phones were making up 70% of the global market, and the critics had gone silent.

Why The Mocking Backfired

Critics laughed because they evaluated smartphones against old standards: - “Phones should be for calls.” (They were also for apps, maps, GPS, cameras, and games.) - “Keyboards shouldn’t be glass.” (Touchscreens got better—fast.) - “People don’t want computers in their pockets.” (Turns out they did.)

The real revolution wasn’t the hardware—it was the ecosystem. Once you could download endless apps, replace your alarm clock, GPS, camera, and music player with one device, the idea of carrying separate devices seemed utterly ridiculous.

Today’s Quiet Dominance

Now, no one mocks smartphones. They’re the single most ubiquitous tech device in history. Over 6.8 billion people carry them. They’ve replaced maps, cash, cameras, compasses, calculators, and even doctors’ appointments. The critics who once laughed are now writing articles about themselves—on their phones.

The lesson? Next time you hear a confident critic say "this will never work," remember: they’re probably the same people who thought a glass keyboard was a bad idea.