Apple introduces the iPhone

29th June 2007
Apple introduces the iPhone

On 9th January 2007, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the MacWorld conference in San Francisco. He started his speech by saying "We're going to make some history together today".

Before the iPhone, smartphones were awkward devices. Models such as the BlackBerry Pearl and Nokia Communicator combined impractically small physical keyboards with a non-touch-responsive screen. Full websites often didn't work on mobile phones, so companies built weaker, mobile versions of their sites. Even when sites did work, browsing was a cumbersome affair, using tiny buttons and analogue sticks to simulate mouse movements.

The iPhone changed all that, with a touchscreen-based interface providing a mobile Web experience that was as easy-to-use as a desktop computer.

The iPhone had a 320x480 resolution screen measuring 3.5 inches diagonally, which was much larger than most other phones of the time. It had just four physical controls: a power button, volume up & down buttons, a silent/ringer switch, and a home button. All other iPhone functions were controlled using the multi-gesture touchscreen. The iPhone also featured a 2 megapixel camera.

The iPhone was released in the US on June 29, 2007 with a 4GB model costing $499 and an 8GB model at $599. It quickly became Apple's most successful product.

Related information:

Image:

  • Steve Jobs announcing the iPhone at MacWorld.
    Credit: Apple. Images remain the copyright of the original copyright holder. Used under fair use policy for educational purposes only.


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