When the geniuses in Apple’s design department started thinking about how to make a phone, the first thing they came up with was the scroll wheel. This, after all, was the invention that had made the iPod great: you could swirl through long lists of songs or artists with a satisfying swipe of the thumb. Could there ever be a better user interface for a pocket-sized digital device?

The answer, of course, is: “Yes, there could.” With the iPhone, the company’s designers ended up with something entirely different. The rest is history. About 1bn smartphones and tablets sporting the kind of touchscreen interface that was invented for the iPhone are likely to be shipped this year, according to tech research firm IDC.

If only every new market was approached with such an open mind. But far from approaching them as virgin territory requiring new ideas, as Apple did with the iPhone, technology companies tend to view them as disputed territory waiting to be colonised. The result is gadgets that do not work as well as they should and confused consumers.