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Regarding the price drop, Apple really did want the iPhone to be "more affordable," and a lower price was icing on an already sweet cake. A lower price doesn't mean desperation-- it's Apple doing what Apple does: breaking the mold and making things better for consumers.

Sorry, that is pure fantasy; Apple didn't discount a dime on anything in those days...
 
Smartphone, hah! Now we have smart watches, and to varying degrees, smart cars.


Well, watches are still kinda dumb. They rely on another device to be funcitonal. And until smart cars can't get into accidents they are no better than humans as drives, so not smart there either.

Now my iPhone, it's become my brain. I'm useless without it. I don't have anyone's phone number, email address, meeting times stored in my head like I used to. So it's smarter than me now for sure. Rise of the Machines as they say.
 
One of the funniest things I remember from 10 years ago was this article written by John C. Dvorak, a known "Apple-hater" dating at least back to 1984 when he referred to the mouse as a "newfangled device" no one would ever be interested in using with their computer. In March of 2007, after the Jobs keynote but before the iPhone went on sale, he famously (or infamously) wrote an article for MarketWatch entitled "Apple Should Pull the Plug on the iPhone." How does this guy continue to find work writing about technology? If I were him, I'd be embarrassed to show my face in public! If you want to laugh, check out the article:

Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone
 
Palm, Blackberry, Windows Mobile.

It's like Nokia didn't exist. The Iphone reveal didnt even mention them but they had decent cameras, internet browsing, and apps. Sure they didn't have touch at that stage but phones like the N95 were pretty damn good
 
got mine from the US 4 months before uk release, I had to jailbreak the phone to get it to work with T-Mobile witch was not easy in them days, no one else had one here, people would crowd round me and ask to hold it ;) the smiles on the peoples faces when I would switch to portrait mode while playing a song and be able to flick thru the cover art of all my music was incredible, for that 4 beautiful months I was know as "the man who brought so much joy to the people" good times
 
I didn't jump on board until the iPhone 3G as it didn't offer enough storage to replace my iPod and I was happy with my Nokia Communicator which was a pretty good if somewhat bulky device (at least by today's standards).

Undoubtedly one of the most influential products of the 21st Century and one that genuinely changed how we use technology yesterday, today and tomorrow....
 
Well, watches are still kinda dumb. They rely on another device to be funcitonal. And until smart cars can't get into accidents they are no better than humans as drives, so not smart there either.

Now my iPhone, it's become my brain. I'm useless without it. I don't have anyone's phone number, email address, meeting times stored in my head like I used to. So it's smarter than me now for sure. Rise of the Machines as they say.

Smarter NO, a storage center yes but your brain could do that if you wanted to put the effort. Will it plug itself in when power is low.. not without human intervention, will it turn itself on, same response, will it solve problems in complex situations, same response... and the list goes on.. problem is people have become lazy and want the easy way out. Lazy will be the downfall of generations to come.. not really sure what humans are looking for in life but it seems that the iPhone has changed Generations in less than one, for the better? Only time will tell!!!
 
Wish I could travel back to 2007 and stand in line to experience this revolution.
 
I remember deliberately skipping the original iPhone. It was a nice device but at the time didn't give me the bang-for-the-buck I was expecting. AT&T EDGE only data at dial-up speeds in an era of few mobile optimized websites made for a painful experience. Text messages only, no MMS. No cut-and-paste. The app store was still a dream. It had a ton of potential but the software and infrastructure held it back for my use and I stuck with the Motorola RAZR/KRZR lineup until the 3GS came out.

The original iPhone gave a vision of what could be done with an integrated device that had a full browser. It set things in motion for the mass adoption of smartphones by the average consumer. However, IMHO, the 3GS and the 4 were the first iPhones that were polished enough with an app ecosystem to really drive mass adoption of $500+ devices for the public.
 
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The first iphone wasn't a smartphone. Need installable programs for that. It was however a very cool feature phone. Multitouch, best looking browser up to that point. Music or camera wasn't a big deal as smartphones had that and did it much better Video was big on the iphone because of screen. But you could definitely see the potential the iphone had going forward. It was just a matter of getting native apps.
 
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Wish I could travel back to 2007 and stand in line to experience this revolution.

What I Find interesting, is the iPhone ten years ago still looks appealing to me. It just doesn't look completely dated, even though it is. It's the design and overall way it still stands out as something I would purchase. Ten years ago I would never have consider holding a 5.5 iPhone compared to a 3.5 inch iPhone. Now, I could never go back to anything smaller. Technology is amazing.
 
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The first Apple phone was the Rokr

In my opinion, it was this little guy:

403078.jpg


It was the first phone that synced out-of-the-box with Macs. And if I remember correctly, Apple made a great deal of it back then, because they helped development of that feature. I could be missing some facts, though.
 
I remember thinking that it all comes down to how well multi-touch works in practice. The resistive touch screens of the time were horrible to use, inaccurate and unresponsive. I was hooked as soon as I tried the phone in person.
 
In my opinion, it was this little guy:

403078.jpg


It was the first phone that synced out-of-the-box with Macs. And if I remember correctly, Apple made a great deal of it back then, because they helped development of that feature. I could be missing some facts, though.

The ROKR was the first Officially licensed Apple phone. While there were some phones that would connect to Apple devices, the Rokr was the only one that catually allowed for using iTunes to sync and control, similar to the iPod. Unfortunately, it had some disastrous limitations and wasn't a very good phone
 
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I remember criticizing it myself quite a bit after the keynote. At the time I was using different HTC and Windows Mobile phones (plastic resistive touch screens with touch targets that required a stylus). But the first time I walked into an Apple store and picked up an iPhone, and touched the screen a few times, I was instantly sold. Blew my mind that you could actually touch items on the screen so effortlessly.
 
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The iPhone launched 10 years ago today... but there's something even more important (to me) that happened on June 29 that you forgot to mention in the article, MR!

On this day, eighteen years ago - I came into the world! :p
Aww! Happy Birthday! And what did you, an eight year old at the time, think of the iPhone? :D
 
The ROKR was the first Officially licensed Apple phone. While there were some phones that would connect to Apple devices, the Rokr was the only one that catually allowed for using iTunes to sync and control, similar to the iPod. Unfortunately, it had some disastrous limitations and wasn't a very good phone

It was because of iSync that Apple touted the T68i so much. First phone to have it.
Here...
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2002/07/17Apple-Introduces-iSync/

EDIT: Not contradicting your info, though. It's just that I remember Steve making a great deal of it, similar to the promotion of a Canon Firewire video camera for iMovie direct video bouncing... Digital Lifestyle... iLife. That era. Also, I remember the ROKR to be music oriented (hence the name and its iTunes syncing), while the T68i was more of a regular phone with an add-on camera that synced with Macs.
 
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Still have my original! It replaced my ROKR, which was a joke. I should boot it up today but I'm really busy about to leave for a trip. It booted last year fine though. Kinda irritated that it got a small ding in the corner. Since then I've used a case, lol. I remember standing in line at AT&T and the line wrapped around the building multiple times. I had people offering to give me $100-200 to take my spot in line and I wasn't even that close to the front.

My MacRumors account is also 10 years old now! I made my account two days before the iPhone launch because I had some information to leak about stock at the local Apple Store because my friend worked there. I remember later in the day he called me all freaked out because they were questioning employees about my post, lol. I lurked here for a couple years when the rumors of the iPhone first started surfacing. Researching the rumors for the "iPod Phone" is what lead me here, haha.
 
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Now my iPhone, it's become my brain. I'm useless without it. I don't have anyone's phone number, email address, meeting times stored in my head like I used to. So it's smarter than me now for sure. Rise of the Machines as they say.
If you wrote down "anyone's phone number, email address, meeting times" on the back of a brown paper bag would that bag be smarter than you? No, you are always the smart one for utilising what's in your arsenal.
 
Smarter NO, a storage center yes but your brain could do that if you wanted to put the effort. Will it plug itself in when power is low.. not without human intervention, will it turn itself on, same response, will it solve problems in complex situations, same response... and the list goes on.. problem is people have become lazy and want the easy way out. Lazy will be the downfall of generations to come.. not really sure what humans are looking for in life but it seems that the iPhone has changed Generations in less than one, for the better? Only time will tell!!!

OK. But I wasn't being totally serious. Obviously the iPhone isn't my brain and can't doing any of thing things you say. However, Mr. Grumpy Old man -- from another "old man" -- human beings have always looked for the easy way out. That "laziness" gave us the spear, the wheel, the plowshare, the steam engine, the washing machine, the elevator, etc., etc. We'll evolve just fine as long as we don't blow ourselves to kingdom come or annihilate the ecosystem by less violent means.
 
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