My first iPhone was a 3GS. I don't remember its predecessors as being especially compelling. In fact, I bought a Treo likely after the original iPhone was available. It's also worth noting that the iPod, for all its seeming inevitability in retrospect, was just another MP3 player until about the 4th generation. In general, the ecosystem aspect of Apple was underappreciated by most because the concept just didn't exist in mobile (or, for that matter, consumer) devices at the time.