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451 points imartin2k | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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mrob ◴[] No.44478895[source]
>Everybody wanted the Internet.

I don't think this is true. A lot of people had no interest until smartphones arrived. Doing anything on a smartphone is a miserable experience compared to using a desktop computer, but it's more convenient. "Worse but more convenient" is the same sales pitch as for AI, so I can only assume that AI will be accepted by the masses too.

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sagacity ◴[] No.44479756[source]
People didn't even want mobile phones. In The Netherlands, there's a famous video of an interviewer asking people on the street ca. 1997 whether they would want a mobile phone. So not even a smartphone, just a mobile phone. The answer was overwhelmingly negative.
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bacchusracine ◴[] No.44480348[source]
>there's a famous video of an interviewer asking people on the street ca. 1997 whether they would want a mobile phone. So not even a smartphone, just a mobile phone. The answer was overwhelmingly negative.

So people didn't want to be walking around with a tether that allowed the whole world to call them where ever they were? Le Shock!

Now if they'd asked people if they'd like a small portable computer they could keep in touch with friends and read books, play games, play music and movies on where ever they went which also made phone calls. I suspect the answer might have been different.

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1. nottorp ◴[] No.44482739[source]
Actually iirc cell phone service was still expensive back in 1997. It was nice but not worth paying that much for the average person on the street.