The First iPhone
On January 9, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a phone that forever changed the smartphone industry. On that day, Jobs said, "This is a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything." <!--more-->
"Well, today we're introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. The third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone -- are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. and we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone," said Steve Jobs
The original iPhone did not use a physical keyboard and also did not have a stylus. Jobs saying that almost all other phones "have these keyboards that are there, whether you need them or not to be there, and they all have these controls buttons that are fixed in plastic and are the same for every application." Instead, the device utilized brand new technology that we take for granted today called multi-touch. The device prompted other handset makers to abandon physical keyboards in favor of all-screen input and make thinner phones.
Before the iPhone, it was extremely common for people to have both a mobile phone and a separate music player. But, Apple built in the iPod functionally by adding a dedicated iPod app which would hold music synced with iTunes. This caused other manufactures to start building in a music player to their devices.
The iPhone become an all-in-one device. Replacing a music player, calculator, mobile phone, Internet communications device and many others. Now iPhones can be used for just about anything from professional video editing/recording, to drafting important emails, to mobile gaming. The Internet was placed in our palms.
For a great look at the evolution of the iPhone over the years, check out this article in FastCompany.
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The iPhone not only changed other products; it changed Apple itself. During the Macworld Expo where the iPhone was announced, Steve Jobs said, "The Mac, iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone. Only one of those is a computer. So we're changing the name." Today it is Apple, Inc., a company that used to specialize in desktop and laptop computers that now makes much more. Today's Apple has seen the release of the iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Cases, Keyboards, along with many updated versions and designs of pre-existing device names like the MacBook and Mac.
"The iPod changed everything in 2001, and we're going to do it again with the iPhone in 2007." Thus, history was made (again).
