There Are No iPhone Killers
Pretty obvious points about Apple’s success, but sometimes you need someone to just say it:

But if you can reach back in your mind to the pre-iPhone time, you’ll remember that four main icons for navigation and several rows of icons for applications is not some universal navigation standard for smartphones. Apple engineers created it, and it already seems so natural that other companies have more or less “adopted” it for their own products.

The Employable Web Designer
We can all tweak and argue Mr. Rutledge’s list of requirements, but overall, his right on point.
Designers who also develop have more power
Yes. This is true.