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Happy 4th Birthday iPhone

A

andyx3x

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
1,349
137
With today being the 4th birthday of the iPhone(June 29,2007), I thought it would be pretty interesting to hear the stories from people who bought the first iPhone.

I don't even remember becoming aware of the iPhone until December 2007. In January 2008, I started giving some thought to getting one but really had to think about it for a few weeks. $400 was a lot of money to spend on a phone.

Eventually, I decided to bite the bullet and it's been one of the best decisions that I've ever made. I really wish that I had kept the first gen iPhone. I sold it on Craigslist in July 2008 when i picked up the iPhone 3g. It was in mint condition when I sold it and it would have been nice to keep around as a collector's item.
 
Umm, well...
I remember hearing about the iPhone before it was launched. I never ended up getting one because they were too expensive for me to justify, but they were the coolest thing I've ever seen. Haha, looking back, it was almost like a dumbphone without any third party apps.
 
I stood in line starting at 10:00 am for the 6:00 pm launch at an AT&T store in College Station, Texas. I was #7 in line. The two guys at the front of the line slept there the night before.I met some really interesting people and it was a neat experience. Got pretty sunburned too!! Good Times!!!! :D
 
I don't believe Canada got the first iPhone, although I could be mistaken. The first one I ever saw was the 3G a few years back and I thought it was pretty damn cool but I didn't have the cash. In the words of Chris Brown: "Look at me now."

Great platform, I don't think I'll ever switch.
 
I still have my 8GB iPhone that I paid a whopping $600 for. Anyone remember when Apple dropped the price a few months after and issued all the early adopters a $100 credit? That was very cool.

I've since purchased every iPhone, though, sold my 3G and 3GS for a profit in relationship to the price I've paid to upgrade. I'm hoping my original iPhone will be worth something someday. Its sitting in its original box, in the special launch day iPhone bag. Just finding a picture of this thing online was hard enough. Who knows, maybe it won't be worth anything. Still is a very neat piece of Apple history. I put iPhone OS 1.0 on it just for fun. Its crazy how far iPhone OS/iOS has come since then.

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Funny thing is I took $400 in cash to get the phone. I told the Apple rep I wanted the iPhone. He went back and got it and started to ring me up and then told me "we don't accept cash" for the iPhone. I was like WTF! I had psyched myself up for a few weeks to get the phone and this happened.

I was told the reason was that Apple didn't want foreign customers to come in and pay cash for a bunch of phones and then take them back to their country and sell them for a huge profit. I didn't really understand this because couldn't you do this with a credit card as well?

Anyway, I didn't have a credit card at the time and I didn't have enough in my checking account to cover it on my debit card. So I had to go to the bank the next day and deposit the $400 and then go back to the Apple Store and get the phone.

They worked the cash thing out when the iPhone 3g was released because they started letting customers buy an Apple gift card and then use that for the phone.
 
Only 4 years, 4 phones, conquered and revolutionized the mobile industry.

Apple you are amazing.
 
First iPhone

It never launched in Canada. But I remember a guy at work going to the States and getting one when the software unlock came out. He let me test it out and I was hooked. I scoured craigslist until i found a reasonably priced used one. I still have it and the box with all the cables. To me it is the best design they have had.
 
Hmmm let's see.. The iPhone released when I was in 7th grade, and I never even knew about it until I went to high school as a freshman. My friend had an iPhone 3g and we played with it in class almost every day. It was really cool. Then my brother gave me his unlocked iPhone 2g while he got himself a 3gs. It was so freaking slow and there was something wrong with the screen internally (a streak of lines) so I couldn't remove it. I honestly hated my iPhone 2g so much that I didn't even give a damn whenever I dropped it. I even used it as something to throw when I got really mad. Looking at all the Droid models and Blackberrys, I wanted one of those desperately. Heck, I didn't even mind owning a cute little "dumb" phone at that point.

Then my contract ended, and iPhone 4 released. Waited in line at an AT&T store, met a really funny guy to alleviate the boredom, and got my baby. I accidentally dropped it a few times (about 3 or 4) but there's never been any problems with it so I never got it replaced and I'm still using it since Day 1 :)
 
I didn't get my first iPhone until Sept, 2007 but have gotten them early in the process ever since! Great devices!

My wife just got her first iPhone, an iPhone 4 last week. I never thought I'd see that day. She teases me about my love for everything Apple. Slowly, one by one, the people in our circle of family and friends all have iPhones, except for one person. That one person will when she upgrades next. My wife has had an iPad for over a year so she decided to get the iPhone 4. She loves it.
 
mattdo93 said:
Hmmm let's see.. The iPhone released when I was in 7th grade, and I never even knew about it until I went to high school as a freshman. My friend had an iPhone 3g and we played with it in class almost every day. It was really cool. Then my brother gave me his unlocked iPhone 2g while he got himself a 3gs. It was so freaking slow and there was something wrong with the screen internally (a streak of lines) so I couldn't remove it. I honestly hated my iPhone 2g so much that I didn't even give a damn whenever I dropped it. I even used it as something to throw when I got really mad. Looking at all the Droid models and Blackberrys, I wanted one of those desperately. Heck, I didn't even mind owning a cute little "dumb" phone at that point.

Then my contract ended, and iPhone 4 released. Waited in line at an AT&T store, met a really funny guy to alleviate the boredom, and got my baby. I accidentally dropped it a few times (about 3 or 4) but there's never been any problems with it so I never got it replaced and I'm still using it since Day 1 :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for your life's story, you should write a book.
 
I heard about the iPhone a few weeks after it's launch and I remember how bad I wanted an iPhone.

It's unbelievable how far the iPhone has gone in only four years.
 
I've owned every iPhone. I sold my first one, but wish I didn't. It was the most beautiful phone I ever owned. Waiting in line for iPhones is quite fun, amd you meet a lot of cool people, many of them from here.
 
I own an iPhone since the 3G (here in Portugal were only launched sinced the 3G) and have bought every single one since then. Still use my 3GS when I can x)
 
I remeber the announcement and not being that excited. Not for the device itself, but I've been wary about combining devices to that degree; if the battery goes I have no music, no phone, etc. I also remeber going to the store and checking one out and being pretty impressed, but not willing to put down the money for it, especially with only 4GB (at the time) of capacity. I then remember my girlfriend, who is quite possibly the best person ever, handing me my birthday present...8GB iPhone. Haven't looked back, best present ever.
 
heard about the iPhone before launch. never came out in Canada...

ended up buying one from someone online on ModMyiPhone for $450 shipped in March 2008.

it had dust under the screen, so i went to the Apple Store in Buffalo (i live in Toronto) with my jailbroken+unlocked iPhone and had it replaced. i got myself an AT&T sim card and everything :D that was an experience to say the least.
 
Wow, 4 years already, really think about it. Before the iPhone launched in 2007, we were all still using crappy dumb phones and blackberrys as thick and bulky as a deck of cards. At the time the iPhone came out, I had little interest because I was obsessed with my midnight blue Sidekick LX; man that phone was sexy and amazing, haha.

Apple truly did dominate and revolutionize the mobile industry though. Without the iPhone, there would be no "iPhone killers" or Droids.

Maybe next year when the release the iPhone 5 or 6, I'll stand in line for hours just to get that "experience" :D. Would be fun.
 
I was really young and in highschool and I heard about it when I was in another state with my family. We happened to be in the mall that day and saw one of the few to get one. Some really artsy looking guy walked out with an iPhone back as the Apple store employees inside and out clapped as he awkwardly smiled and walked out. It was quite funny haha. Later in the day we heard about people getting robbed over them and how people were like running to their cars to avoid being seen with this epic new device....lol.:apple: I wanted one but didn't exactly have $600 laying around nor was I on AT&T.....
Ashame my first iPhone is the iPhone 4 I always wanted to be apart of the full history ha..I might buy a first gen off eBay for "collectors" item though!

acfusion29 said:
heard about the iPhone before launch. never came out in Canada...

ended up buying one from someone online on ModMyiPhone for $450 shipped in March 2008.

it had dust under the screen, so i went to the Apple Store in Buffalo (i live in Toronto) with my jailbroken+unlocked iPhone and had it replaced. i got myself an AT&T sim card and everything :D that was an experience to say the least.
Click to expand...

That is so bad ass! Haha now a days you'd be hung out to dry for that! haha
 
I remember hearing it was announced and I put a few hundred aside for it, but then I heard it was being released in the UK sometime in 2008 so just went ahead and bought a PS3, thinking of it now I think I made the right decision anyway.
 
appleguy123 said:
I've owned every iPhone. I sold my first one, but wish I didn't. It was the most beautiful phone I ever owned. Waiting in line for iPhones is quite fun, amd you meet a lot of cool people, many of them from here.
Click to expand...

Same here except I didn't get the iPhone 4. Thinking about the next iPhone but hesitant to give up my unlimited data plan to do so. Nor am I willing to pay full price (unsubsidized) for the next iPhone :confused:
 
I worked the first iPhone launch and remember closing early to set up visuals and have hands on time with the phone. Crazy event where people went nuts when we reopened the store.

Good time it was. Still have the "Hello, I'm iPhone" employee shirt :D
 
AJsAWiz said:
Same here except I didn't get the iPhone 4. Thinking about the next iPhone but hesitant to give up my unlimited data plan to do so. Nor am I willing to pay full price (unsubsidized) for the next iPhone :confused:
Click to expand...

Why would you think you need to get rid of your unlimited?
I upgraded to iPhone 4 and I kept my unlimited data.

I ask because you are not the first person I've heard say this.
 
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