Responses to Readings and Questions

1. The Geekapedia article gave me a lot of information and also some vocabulary that will help me with future discussions in this class. My vocabulary now has two new words, Sustaining Innovations and Disruptive Innovations, sustaining innovations are inventions that help to sustain the technological flow, such as the example in the reading which was a new version of Microsoft Word. Disruptive Innovations are little inventions that serve no real purpose such as text messaging replacing e-mails. I disagree with this because I think that text messaging is very useful for a number of reasons, but that is besides the point. The Geekapedia article also said that the iPhone is disruptive technology, and I think the answer to this is based on age, and generation. The iPhone is extremely creative, innovative, and useful. It has thousands of apps, and almost anything you could need is right there with a touch of your fingers. Now, that is from a teenage perspective, as with most of the youth of America who have iPhones. From the perspective of technological haters I would say that the iPhone is useless. The following is something my mother would say about the iPhone, "What is the point of spending all of that money on a phone? So what if it has the internet that is why I bought a computer!" I am disagreeing with the statement that the iPhone is disruptive technology 100%, the only time that the iPhone is disruptive is when it rings.

2. Winston would claim that the iPhone is "evolutionary, not revolutionary," and I could also agree with this statement. After reading the wired article about sustaining innovations and disruptive innovations, and in order to support Winston's point of view I would say that the iPhone is a sustaining innovation. It is a sustaining innovation because it is the upgraded version of the iPod, the upgraded version of a cell phone, and a mini-computer with WiFi all in one. It is a sustaining innovation because it will continue to get new apps, and upgrade to bigger and better things. As long as Apple keeps coming out with newer and newer iPhone ideas then the iPhone will only continue to sustain itself and grow. This relates back to Winston, the iPhone has evolved greatly since the year it was first released, it is an ever evolving machine with an ever evolving company behind it to back it up. I'm sure that people have said that the iPhone is a revolutionary form of technology, but what has it really changed that other phones don't have. If the iPhone was the only phone that had internet and apps then it would be revolutionary. Being that there are something like fifty other phones on the market right now that are just like the iPhone it is evolutionary not revolutionary.

3. I think that Winston would say that the iPad is innovative but not revolutionary because everything comes from something. The iPad is just like the iPod, iPhone, Kindle and Macbook all in one neat little flat screened square. It is nothing new, it is just a spin-off of other products. Yes it is all in one now, but if I already have a laptop, Blackberry, and iPod why do I need to get an iPad. I also see the iPad, yet again, as sustaining technology because it is an upgrade, or a better version of something else. I would be completely lost with technology, call it disruptive or not, I think that all technology is sustaining with each product that is a spin-off of another.