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15 Years Ago Today, the iPhone Went On Sale
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Yay...15 years of the device that caused the annoying phone wars I'm subjected to everyday and also caused the mess that is mobile gaming.
At least it took a lot of the Mac vs PC toxicity to it so I don't get as much flack for using a Mac...because now I get flack for using an iPhone.
At least it took a lot of the Mac vs PC toxicity to it so I don't get as much flack for using a Mac...because now I get flack for using an iPhone.
OMG time flies I can't believe its been that long. My experience was an All night Drive to SF. Press Pass access, backstage. 4:15am arrival to be let in. Schiller and Steve eating back stage eggs, alone at a small table oof a small buffet table. John Mayer comes in gives them a hug. lots of small talk. Steve pacing back and forth, Phil handing right with him the whole time. the whole back stage was eerily empty. so few people. the buzz when they let people in rumbled the walls. didn't get to see the presentation from the from the side, then to see the iPhone in the glass case. one of those experience that was cool then, and super cool memory now. I have the experience of behind the scenes of a technological world changing event. I had just come back from India. no one had phones. went back this year. even the guy selling coconuts takes digital payment. it really changed the world.
Late September of 07. I remember sitting at the computer surfing the net and spontaneously navigated to apple website to the refurbished department. And there it was Apple iPhone $299 4GB model. Instant Checkout )). It came the next day. Retail wrapped and packed. My Nokia N90 within a seconds became obsolete. I remembered handing it to my brother like "You may have this outdated peace of technology". My brother was like screw that I'm buying it too!!!
)). It came the next day. Retail wrapped and packed. My Nokia N90 within a seconds became obsolete. I remembered handing it to my brother like "You may have this outdated peace of technology". My brother was like screw that I'm buying it too!!!15 years later and you still can’t export phone call Recents which is capped at 100.
Nor can you block phone calls or SMS messages based on ‘wildcards’ or partial numbers.
Robocalls didn’t exist 15 years ago but now they’re responsible for no one answering their iPhone anymore.
Nor can you block phone calls or SMS messages based on ‘wildcards’ or partial numbers.
Robocalls didn’t exist 15 years ago but now they’re responsible for no one answering their iPhone anymore.
I really like Apple’s implementation of swiping, a lot of times I can type without even looking at my screen.
They do need to implement some new form of input that’s faster, I thought a Morse code but that’s a little slow, maybe chording, But something we can rapid input without looking or speaking.
I can see someday where the screen will have physical raised areas of the screen when you go to push a button, I know there’s been implementations with bubbles but something where the display is not only two dimensional but three dimensional. Then will be able to type or swipe without even looking.
Either that or a chip in the brain.
No it didn’t. It required a one year contract, but you still paid full price for the phone. AT&T didn’t start subsidizing the iPhone until the 3G which is why it had the new $199 price. The 3G did require a 2 year contract since they subsidized the phone. I started working at an AT&T store the week after the original iPhone launched.
Picked mine up July 9th. I forgot that it came with a dock!
Just fired it up. Works fine despite a cracked screen. I had also forgotten I was a jailbreaker - via Cydia. Looking through the installed apps, reviewing non-cloud synced or long since deleted emails, notes, voice mails a real blast from the past.
Just fired it up. Works fine despite a cracked screen. I had also forgotten I was a jailbreaker - via Cydia. Looking through the installed apps, reviewing non-cloud synced or long since deleted emails, notes, voice mails a real blast from the past.
Yes I remember paying full price, and then Apple knocked like $100 off after a few months, because they didn't know how popular it was going to be.
Bought my refurbished 8GB for $250 on Apple's website a few months after launch. I used a glitch on iTunes during activation to bypass the AT&T contract. Popped in my AT&T prepaid sim card from my Motorola Razr (R.I.P.) and I was in business. Next jailbreak w/ Cydia to get Copy & Paste, Video Recording and all of the features Apple wasn't ready for. Good times.
PS. This baby still holds a decent charge.
PS. This baby still holds a decent charge.
Man I would give anything to go back in time and relive this all over again. Was such an exciting time. I remember going to a networking event in San Francisco with my brother and everyone was talking up twitter and nearly everyone there had the iPhone. I was 19 that summer and felt hella intimidated haha.
At that time, I always felt that MS should have brought Blackberry back then. BB started to get leaks in their hull..
I remember being amazed at seeing the real internet on a phone for the first time. Not the crappy mobile browser version most has at the time. I knew that was a game changer. I had a Helio at the time and thought that was cutting edge until hearing about the iPhone. I was never the same after that.
Yep. They knocked $200 off and people that had already bought one at the old price were rightfully upset. Apple ended up giving the people who paid the higher price a $100 worth of credit on the Apple Store.
Real internet on a phone was done several years ealier, on PocketPC mobile phones, with Internet Explorer. As was music playing, videos, cameras and apps. People seem to think Apple invented the smartphone, when they didn't. They refined a lot of it, but Apple didn't invent it.
I would say it went beyond the first few years. Being able to take great pictures with the camera on the iphone 4, the sleekness of the iphone 5...
From the Apple website when the iPhone launched in 2007:
Minimum new 2-year wireless service plan and activation fee required to activate iPhone features, including iPod; plans are subject to AT&T credit approval.
From the AT&T website when the iPhone launched in 2007:
To use iPhone, you'll need to sign up for a 2-year service agreement.
Plans start at $59.99 and include Visual Voicemail and Unlimited Data—email and web—and 200 SMS text messages (you can add more text messages for a little more a month). You can browse the Internet and send emails as often as you like without being charged extra.
Please note: You'll choose your plan during the activation process. A credit or debit card and the latest version of iTunes are required for activation.
During this time, AT&T was giving at least $150 discounts when customers went with an optional 2 year contract plan on other smartphones like BlackBerry, Samsung, Palm, etc. As the iPhone required a 2 year contract (as stated above), the discount/savings was baked into the price.
The iPhone launched at $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB), were reduced $200 less than three months later, and then the 8GB (new 3G model) dropped to only $199 a year later. All with 2 year contracts.
Yeah I think the iPhone 5/5S/SE form factor was the apex of iPhone. The lozenge feel of the 6 onwards was nice but recently they've become giant, heavy, distended burdens with three beer cans glued to the back. Functionality and performance is now on another level but the handsets are nowhere near as cool. Not even close. All just my opinion of course.
I bought the 8GB model the day it was available. I later bought three more for my family. Still have it. Fired it up the other day, and it booted right up. I recall being seated on an airliner and another passenger walking by my seat turned to his friend and said, “look he has the Jesus phone.”