Hardware-wise, yeah, all of the components were easily predictable.
But I'd wager the vast majority of people would have still expected a new device using those components to have software full of "computery" things such as scroll bars (probably operated via a stylus) and a task manager instead of the iPhone OS's fluid, natural, free-of-computer-administrative-debris interface.
That's what made the iPhone appeal to people who would have never even considered any other smartphone that was available before it and that's what seemed to come out of nowhere.
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted, I agree with you that the touch interface is probably the largest leap technologically that the iPhone presented to the market.
Modal interface, nothing that needed a stylus, intelligent button centering, usable gestures. It all added up to a very usable package. The stylus-based phones were just so unusable to me.
But I'd wager the vast majority of people would have still expected a new device using those components to have software full of "computery" things such as scroll bars (probably operated via a stylus) and a task manager instead of the iPhone OS's fluid, natural, free-of-computer-administrative-debris interface.
That's what made the iPhone appeal to people who would have never even considered any other smartphone that was available before it and that's what seemed to come out of nowhere.