I bought an iPhone 2G for $400 refurbed. 8GB storage. I used it with no data for 18 months with my work sim in it.
On WiFi only at home, on the road it was for calls and texts. It was glorious.
In 2009, I finally got my own cell plan with data and bought a 3GS with GPS. It was fantastic. Google maps and being able to look up addresses on the th was a godsend.
We tale it al for granted today, in all smartphones.
Want to know what it was like? Leave the phone at home and go out into the wild. You won’t last 15 minutes before you start having withdrawal symptoms.
I did not predict the iPhone would be this huge, but I have enjoyed the ride very much. My APPL stock makes me happy.
I didn't switch over to an iPhone till the iPhone 5 was released. Till then my Samsung smart phone & later Palm Treo -- which was a combination of Palm Pilot and cell phone that could browse the internet actually met my functional needs far better than an iPhone: Not only could it store my medical manuals that I needed on the run but it could use GPS mapping to get me around the county from patient to patient.
It was mostly the demise of the Palm operating system that pushed me into switching to an iPhone -- and that was a mixed blessing blessing: I gained a better web browser with a bigger screen but lost the medical manuals and the mapping stunk.
While most focus on the UI, for me the question was: "What will it do for me?" And the answer to that was that Palm based phones did more.
My first iPhone was also the 5. I was stuck with a company-provided Blackberry Bold until that contract or whatever ended for them. In the meantime, I had flipped over my wife's and daughter's 4s and knew that my next phone would be the newest version of the iPhone. I waited for a 5 and got one close to release day.
The Palm Treo was one of the first viable smartphones. Most reviews I read on the Palm WebOS devices were positive, but I think the coffin was already in the ground at that point - the iphone was well established and Android was up and coming. I never used one, but my impression was that Apple did a better job of integration and UI, especially before WebOS. The other killer feature that they had was integration with iTunes. At that time, iPods and other music players were all the rage and having an iPod combined with your phone was killer. (Remember the LG Chocolate?)
The first iPhones were well-designed but still pretty limited. Opening up the OS for apps really accelerated things. That allowed things like Google Maps which continues to be the standard for mapping software.
I have to wonder how things would have been different if Apple had not locked themselves in to AT&T. AT&T was widely considered to be an inferior phone network and there were many people who absolutely refused to switch to AT&T. It wasn’t until the iPhone 4 that you could get an iPhone on Verizon but that was the point where Android devices were finally catching up. Had they had iPhones available on all networks from the beginning they may well have captured a larger market share. I’m sure AT&T paid a tidy sum to Apple for exclusivity and that Apple was counting on that as a guaranteed return on their development costs.
Loved the Jobs iPhone announcement. I was a Verizon customer since 1988 so was waiting for a Verizon model. I tried a 3G AT&T model. I could NOT receive service at my locations in Santa Fe, NM, East edge of Phoenix or east edge of Bloomington, IN. AT&T refunded my money. I have had every generation iPhone on Verizon ever since. When dual SIM capability came, I was able to ditch my UK based iPhone and use Verizon on the electronic sim and the UK on the actual sim or a local sim wherever I am currently. Really a slick system.
I recall that first iPhone announcement. My only Apple product was the 2005 iPod at the time tied to iTunes on Windows. I was no fan of iTunes as a music manager, I'm still not, but the announcement peeked my interest because I was in the market for a new phone at the time. In the end, version 1 wasn't my cup of tea... it couldn't replace my iPod (storage limit), my camera (I had a decent compact camera), or my phone (lacked SMS amongst other things), but I could clearly see that a future version would replace it all and more.
As it turns out my first iPhone was the 4S. But in the period between 2007 and 2011 I had shifted from Windows to my first MacBook (a 15" Pro in 2008), and an iPod touch (64GB in 2009). In 2011 the 4S was the iPhone that had advanced enough in hardware specifications and software for me to to a benefit as it was able to replace all three of my existing portable devices: mobile phone, compact camera, and iPod touch. As it happens, the AT&T network across my commute area was improving greatly at the time as an exchangeable SIM card was also a critical need as I travelled between the US and UK every few months.
I've since had an iPhone 4S, 5S, 6S, and 11 Pro as my path up to now, having sold my 6S 6 months ago for a surprising decent amount of money. There have been occasions where I've considered switching to Android at times, but the lack of long term software support on older devices has always given me pause for consideration as I expect it to increase my overall cost of ownership. Whilst cost isn't everything, my expectation is borne out by looking at my own company's asset records, where Android phones cost my company anywhere from 1.6-2.3 times more than the most expensive iPhone over their respective useful lives.
I also have a lot invested in the ecosystem but, frankly, it boils down to the simple fact that the iPhone has done everything I want or need it to do for me since I got the 4S back in 2011.
I didn't switch over to an iPhone till the iPhone 5 was released.
Same here. I liked the iPhone, but my iPod Touch and FeaturePhone combo worked well for me. Finally got a second hand 5c. Was impressed enough to update to an SE the following year. Then to an 11 last December.
Apple's first smartphone was far from a guaranteed success
Well I certainly disagree with that statement. Several core aspects of iPhone that they got right in the very beginning have remained core aspects to this day and have been stolen by every other product in the world.
They had a hit on their hands before it even left the lab, and as the saying goes, "a hit is a hit". There was no stopping the success of that product.
Apple's first smartphone was far from a guaranteed success
Well I certainly disagree with that statement. Several core aspects of iPhone that they got right in the very beginning have remained core aspects to this day and have been stolen by every other product in the world.
They had a hit on their hands before it even left the lab, and as the saying goes, "a hit is a hit". There was no stopping the success of that product.
No, the headline was right.
Because it ultimately succeeded does not mean that success inevitable.
Instead, they got there the old fashioned way under Steve's direction: Hard work, meticulous attention to detail and aggressively moving the boundaries of what was possible -- both from a technical as well as a business perspective. As many have commented here: They didn't switch to iPhones till the 4S or 5 (when the product had matured).
Apple's first smartphone was far from a guaranteed success
Well I certainly disagree with that statement. Several core aspects of iPhone that they got right in the very beginning have remained core aspects to this day and have been stolen by every other product in the world.
They had a hit on their hands before it even left the lab, and as the saying goes, "a hit is a hit". There was no stopping the success of that product.
No, the headline was right.
Because it ultimately succeeded does not mean that success inevitable.
Instead, they got there the old fashioned way under Steve's direction: Hard work, meticulous attention to detail and aggressively moving the boundaries of what was possible -- both from a technical as well as a business perspective. As many have commented here: They didn't switch to iPhones till the 4S or 5 (when the product had matured).
The product itself, that took shape prior to January 2007, was an inevitable success. It doesn't matter how hard it was. The headline is wrong.
Apple's first smartphone was far from a guaranteed success
Well I certainly disagree with that statement. Several core aspects of iPhone that they got right in the very beginning have remained core aspects to this day and have been stolen by every other product in the world.
They had a hit on their hands before it even left the lab, and as the saying goes, "a hit is a hit". There was no stopping the success of that product.
No, the headline was right.
Because it ultimately succeeded does not mean that success inevitable.
Instead, they got there the old fashioned way under Steve's direction: Hard work, meticulous attention to detail and aggressively moving the boundaries of what was possible -- both from a technical as well as a business perspective. As many have commented here: They didn't switch to iPhones till the 4S or 5 (when the product had matured).
The product itself, that took shape prior to January 2007, was an inevitable success. It doesn't matter how hard it was. The headline is wrong.
Comments
On WiFi only at home, on the road it was for calls and texts. It was glorious.
In 2009, I finally got my own cell plan with data and bought a 3GS with GPS. It was fantastic. Google maps and being able to look up addresses on the th was a godsend.
We tale it al for granted today, in all smartphones.
Want to know what it was like? Leave the phone at home and go out into the wild. You won’t last 15 minutes before you start having withdrawal symptoms.
I did not predict the iPhone would be this huge, but I have enjoyed the ride very much. My APPL stock makes me happy.
The first iPhones were well-designed but still pretty limited. Opening up the OS for apps really accelerated things. That allowed things like Google Maps which continues to be the standard for mapping software.
I have to wonder how things would have been different if Apple had not locked themselves in to AT&T. AT&T was widely considered to be an inferior phone network and there were many people who absolutely refused to switch to AT&T. It wasn’t until the iPhone 4 that you could get an iPhone on Verizon but that was the point where Android devices were finally catching up. Had they had iPhones available on all networks from the beginning they may well have captured a larger market share. I’m sure AT&T paid a tidy sum to Apple for exclusivity and that Apple was counting on that as a guaranteed return on their development costs.
As it turns out my first iPhone was the 4S. But in the period between 2007 and 2011 I had shifted from Windows to my first MacBook (a 15" Pro in 2008), and an iPod touch (64GB in 2009). In 2011 the 4S was the iPhone that had advanced enough in hardware specifications and software for me to to a benefit as it was able to replace all three of my existing portable devices: mobile phone, compact camera, and iPod touch. As it happens, the AT&T network across my commute area was improving greatly at the time as an exchangeable SIM card was also a critical need as I travelled between the US and UK every few months.
I've since had an iPhone 4S, 5S, 6S, and 11 Pro as my path up to now, having sold my 6S 6 months ago for a surprising decent amount of money. There have been occasions where I've considered switching to Android at times, but the lack of long term software support on older devices has always given me pause for consideration as I expect it to increase my overall cost of ownership. Whilst cost isn't everything, my expectation is borne out by looking at my own company's asset records, where Android phones cost my company anywhere from 1.6-2.3 times more than the most expensive iPhone over their respective useful lives.
I also have a lot invested in the ecosystem but, frankly, it boils down to the simple fact that the iPhone has done everything I want or need it to do for me since I got the 4S back in 2011.
Apple's first smartphone was far from a guaranteed success
Well I certainly disagree with that statement. Several core aspects of iPhone that they got right in the very beginning have remained core aspects to this day and have been stolen by every other product in the world.
They had a hit on their hands before it even left the lab, and as the saying goes, "a hit is a hit". There was no stopping the success of that product.
Only in retrospect