On June 29, 2007, the world of mobile technology shifted forever. While smartphones existed before that day, the release of the first-generation iPhone redefined what a phone could be and how we would interact with the digital world.
One of the most popular mobile phone brands was BlackBerry, the gold standard for business professionals. They were renowned for their physical QWERTY keyboards, which enabled fast, accurate email typing, and their reliable "push" email service.
Apple created the device in a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with Cingular Wireless, now part of AT&T. The development cost of the collaboration was estimated at $150 million over a 30-month period.
The initial price was $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model, both of which required a two-year AT&T contract. It featured a 3.5-inch multi-touch display, a 2-megapixel camera, and an aluminum-and-black-plastic body.
Six weeks prior to the iPhone's release, the plastic screen was replaced with glass. This was after Jobs was upset to find his keys had scratched the prototype in his pocket.
In its first week, Apple sold 270,000 iPhones domestically. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone 74 days after release. The convergence of media, communication, and connectivity was the core vision that set the iPhone apart from the competition.
A Radical Shift in Design
At the time, most phones relied on physical keyboards, bulky hardware buttons, or styluses. The iPhone broke the mold by:
- Eliminating physical buttons: It moved almost all interaction to a 3.5-inch multi-touch display.
- Removing the stylus: Jobs famously envisioned an interface where the user's fingers were the primary tool, making the experience more intuitive and "finger-friendly."
- Focusing on simplicity: The hardware was designed with a minimal approach—a power button, volume controls, a silent switch, and one single "home" button to bring users back to the start.
The iPhone's software, later named iPhone OS, was a massive leap forward. It featured a desktop-class web browser (Safari), threaded text messaging, Visual Voicemail, and a rich, fluid interface that made it feel more like a pocket-sized computer than a traditional handset.
iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.
iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.
While it famously lacked third-party apps at launch—something that wouldn't arrive until the App Store debuted in 2008 with the iPhone 3G—its ease of use and integrated services like Google Maps laid the groundwork for the modern smartphone ecosystem.
I didn't jump on the bandwagon until 2010 with my first iPhone. But I have to say that I was transfixed. I was astonished at how I could Google almost anything almost anywhere. It was really amazing. It also enabled the social media landscape we see today.
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