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Apr 12, 2001
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Today marks the seventh anniversary of the introduction of the iPhone, a presentation that took place as part of the keynote of Macworld Expo 2007 in San Francisco. While the device would not launch until over six months later, that presentation offered the public the first glimpse of what Steve Jobs introduced as three devices in one: a touchscreen iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator.
Today, we're introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and 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.
Late last year, former Apple engineer Andy Grignon, who was in charge of the radios on the original iPhone, gave behind-the-scenes look at how Apple patched together demos for the introduction, with Steve Jobs showing off developmental devices full of buggy software and hardware issues. The iPhone team knew that everything had to go just right for the live iPhone demos to succeed, and they did, turning the smartphone industry on its head even as Apple continue to scramble to finish work on the iPhone.

Apple had actually been interested first in developing a tablet known as "Safari Pad", but as noted by a number of sources including Steve Jobs himself, the company shifted gears once it became clear how revolutionary the multi-touch interface developed for the tablet could be for a smartphone. Apple's tablet wouldn't surface until the launch of the iPad in 2010, three years after the introduction of the iPhone.

Seven years after the famous Macworld 2007 keynote, the iPhone has seen significant enhancements in every area, but the original iPhone remains recognizable as Apple has maintained the overall look of a sleek design with a larger touchscreen and a single round home button on the face of the device.

Article Link: Seven Years Ago Today, Steve Jobs Introduced the iPhone
 

pk7

macrumors 6502
Sep 27, 2011
441
64
Still brings me the same excitement to watch it as it did seven years ago.

Whether people like to admit it or not, iPhone truly changed mobile phones forever.
 

saxon48

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2010
882
109
Barad-dûr
I've never watched this keynote in its entirety. But today seems like the perfect day for such a thing! Here's to many more years, iPhone! <3
 

Jschultz

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2005
880
13
Chicago, IL
I still watch this keynote from time to time. What really gets me is the looks on the faces of people in the audience. What you're seeing is MIND = BLOWN.
 

kenypowa

macrumors 6502a
Oct 16, 2008
705
53
somewhere
Most influential keynote of our time. Absolutely a turning point in human history. And it was an outstanding presentation at its best. Steve Jobs at his best.
 

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2011
711
1,664
I read an interview where they were talking about how the phone was so incredibly buggy it would crash constantly, but Steve insisted on doing a live demo, so the engineers managed to find one specific way the phone could demo all the features he showed without crashing. Such an incredible showman and perfectionist. I miss that guy...
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,026
7,868
Indeed an awesome day! It changed the smartphone world!

That it did. And it's funny how a lot of "experts" claimed it wasn't really a smartphone since it didn't run any applications like Symbian or Palm devices, plus it was 2G when other phones were 3G. That all changed a year later.

I also remember the remarks at how "big" the 3.5" screen was. :D
 

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
There was a very interesting article published into too long ago that covered this presentation. It spoke about the unstable iPhone OS software that was so bad when being tested prior to the keynote it was crashing every few minutes or so. Everyone behind the scenes at Apple held their breath for that keynote, crossing their fingers, praying that it wouldn't crash, because they just knew it was inevitable.

Somehow, it went off without a hitch. So, so lucky. The gods were on their side that day.

RIP Steve. We miss you.
 

lincolntran

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2010
843
471
History

Now I can tell my children and grandchildren that I was there when they introduced the iPhone. :cool:
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,922
3,800
Seattle
Still brings me the same excitement to watch it as it did seven years ago.

Whether people like to admit it or not, iPhone truly changed mobile phones forever.

It's pretty great to watch that introduction again now. You can just see how proud Jobs was of the iPhone. More proud of it than any other Apple device before or since. Just... awesome.
 
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