Apple's iPhone turns 7 years old
When Steve Jobs bounded on stage at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco seven years ago, few in attendance could have realized the presentation they were about to see would mark the beginning of a new technological era.
"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything."
This was the standard Jobs set for Apple's newest creation. The iPhone's success would be judged, he implied, by no less a yardstick than the Macintosh --?the computer whose 1984 introduction literally changed the way the world worked, enabling entirely new industries and minting countless fortunes in the process.
The handset Jobs famously pulled from his pocket that January morning was far from perfect. Critics said it wasn't fast enough, it wasn't cheap enough, and it wasn't open enough.
They were wrong.
Apple brought smartphones to the masses, upending the mobile phone industry in what seemed like an afternoon. The shift was so fast and violent that?even Motorola and Nokia, old warhorses who laid the foundation for the entire business, fell to their knees and were picked through like spoils of battle.
In the iPhone's shadow grew an ancillary economy, one that now supports hundreds of thousands of workers around the world. Apple has paid out more than $15 billion to developers on its App Store and untold billions more have been fished from the iPhone's vast ocean of accessories.
Once on the brink of bankruptcy, Apple is now the biggest technology company on earth. The iPhone unit, which rakes in more than 90 percent of the mobile phone industry's profits, is itself larger by revenue than blue chips like Boeing and Coca-Cola.
The iPhone's greatest legacy, though, is this: no matter what the future holds for Apple, there is now an entire generation that will never know life without "the internet in your pocket." In just seven years, Apple has again changed the way the world works.
Revolutionary, indeed.
"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything."
This was the standard Jobs set for Apple's newest creation. The iPhone's success would be judged, he implied, by no less a yardstick than the Macintosh --?the computer whose 1984 introduction literally changed the way the world worked, enabling entirely new industries and minting countless fortunes in the process.
The handset Jobs famously pulled from his pocket that January morning was far from perfect. Critics said it wasn't fast enough, it wasn't cheap enough, and it wasn't open enough.
They were wrong.
Apple brought smartphones to the masses, upending the mobile phone industry in what seemed like an afternoon. The shift was so fast and violent that?even Motorola and Nokia, old warhorses who laid the foundation for the entire business, fell to their knees and were picked through like spoils of battle.
In the iPhone's shadow grew an ancillary economy, one that now supports hundreds of thousands of workers around the world. Apple has paid out more than $15 billion to developers on its App Store and untold billions more have been fished from the iPhone's vast ocean of accessories.
Once on the brink of bankruptcy, Apple is now the biggest technology company on earth. The iPhone unit, which rakes in more than 90 percent of the mobile phone industry's profits, is itself larger by revenue than blue chips like Boeing and Coca-Cola.
The iPhone's greatest legacy, though, is this: no matter what the future holds for Apple, there is now an entire generation that will never know life without "the internet in your pocket." In just seven years, Apple has again changed the way the world works.
Revolutionary, indeed.
Comments
Pure Steve Jobs.
Apple sold a fair few at the original price, but it wasn't the runaway success that it later became.
There's decent arguments in the fast enough (assuming this means 3G rather than processor) and open enough (no third party apps at launch)
All rectified of course, to Apple's credit and benefit, but not perfect at launch.
The best product presentation....ever.
Pure Steve Jobs.
It was electrifying, wasn't it?
He's using a little artistic license.. he's just saying the iPhone wasn't doomed like many said for those reasons.
I remember first coming to AI to see that keynote. 7 years already!
I know you are out there Ric.
They were a little bit right about not cheap enough. Apple dropped the price pretty quickly, then moved to a more normal carrier subsidised business model for the 3G.
Apple sold a fair few at the original price, but it wasn't the runaway success that it later became.
There's decent arguments in the fast enough (assuming this means 3G rather than processor) and open enough (no third party apps at launch)
All rectified of course, to Apple's credit and benefit, but not perfect at launch.
I remember. I bought two! And then with the rebates I bought....Leopard? I think! And that BT earpiece that only lasted 3 hours.
"A stylus! We are going to use a stylus, right?.. No."
Others could have thought of the touchscreen. Jobs realized that they couldn't use a stylus. It would have made the iPhone a little like many other phones. Multitouch is truly the one thing that made it successful, if we oversimplify everything to a minimum.
still is!
Also I've always wondered why Steve's first phone call was to Ive (and Schiller) and not Forstall. If he was really the father of the iPhone it seems odd that he wouldn't have been the one Steve called first.
This presentation contains the world's greatest use of the pregnant pause.
....
"This is a day..."
Well, I wasn't there but I certainly believed that the presentation marked the beginning of a new technological era.
What does that make me? Nothing more than a brilliant Monday morning quarterback. Mwa ha ha ha!
What I think makes this presentation all the more remarkable is knowing how much the engineers were sweating it out in the front row. They knew how fragile it was, how buggy, how very much NOT ready for prime time it was ... and yet, they managed to hold it together long enough for the presentation, and then they managed to get it ready for actual sale within months. Fantastic!
That said, for this shining day, he was that same kid who priced his computer at 666.66$, introduced us to the GUI and to a shiny blue plastic all-in-one.
iPhone began development long after 2004 and long before 2010.
I loved watching the presentation. And knowing about the drinking game the engineers were having as the presentation went on makes it more enjoyable!
7 years later, I have 7 iPhones (haven't gotten the 5c yet!). The first iPhone was purchased in the grey market since it was never launched in India. But the magic of opening the box and pulling out the phone was something that can never be expressed fully in words.
Even now, when I travel to UK, I use a PAYG SIM with the 1G iPhone. And it still works!