> I can’t ever see a communist system coming up with an iPhone.
Soviets invented a lot of things, in terms of aviation, computers, celestial navigation in intercontinental missiles. There was also an article, which I read recently but failed to find it now, about how they revolutionized mechanical watches, and came out with their own quartz movements, without copying anyone.
Oh lastly, they did the "iPhone of sea going vehicles", the erkanoplan, and VLIW computing which led us to Itanium at some point [0].
Soviet citizens were always at the mercy of central planners deciding if they got to enjoy any innovations (mostly aped from the west). Toasters only started production in 1967 and were mostly unobtanium for the next 25 years.
While the title is provocatively titled, "How the Soviets revolutionized wristwatches", it seems to be more of a play on words around the Soviet revolution. The article is about how they bought watchmaking equipment from the US, looted machinery from Germany after WWII, and copied swiss designs.
Soviet watches were workhorses, but not revolutionary at all.
Soviets invented a lot of things, in terms of aviation, computers, celestial navigation in intercontinental missiles. There was also an article, which I read recently but failed to find it now, about how they revolutionized mechanical watches, and came out with their own quartz movements, without copying anyone.
Oh lastly, they did the "iPhone of sea going vehicles", the erkanoplan, and VLIW computing which led us to Itanium at some point [0].
[0]: https://www.abortretry.fail/p/the-itanic-saga