Today Marks the 13th Anniversary of When Steve Jobs Unveiled the Original iPhone

Thursday January 9, 2020 1:10 pm PST by Juli Clover
13 years ago today, then Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld in San Francisco and surprised the world with the very first iPhone.

Jobs introduced the iPhone as if it were three separate products: an iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device. Today, the iPhone is still all of those things, but also so much more.


Apple has sold well over a billion iPhones since 2007, and as of last January, the company's active installed base had hit 1.4 billion devices. Though iPhone sales were down last year, the iPhone continues to be Apple's single most successful product.


Apple has steadily improved the iPhone over the years, refining the design over and over again, updating the camera, and adding new biometric features, and all of these changes have made the iPhone even more indispensable in our daily lives. Improvements over the years:
  • 2008: App Store and 3G network support
  • 2009: Personal Hotspot and video recording capabilities
  • 2010: New form factor and Retina display
  • 2011: Siri and iCloud
  • 2012: 4-inch display, Lightning connector, and LTE
  • 2013: Touch ID fingerprint sensor
  • 2014: 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays
  • 2015: 3D Touch, Live Photos, and 4K video recording
  • 2016: Waterproofing, dual-lens camera for iPhone 7 Plus, no headphone jack
  • 2017: No Home button, 5.8-inch OLED full screen display, wireless charging, fast charging, Face ID
  • 2018: 5.8 and 6.5-inch OLED screen sizes, three iPhone lineup
  • 2019: Night mode, triple-lens cameras
Rumors suggest the iPhone is going to see a major overhaul in 2020, with Apple set to debut 5G connectivity, a revamped iPhone 4-style frame design, 5.4, 6.1, and 6.7-inch iPhone sizes, and a time-of-flight laser-based camera system for better depth calculations and AR capabilities.

Tag: Steve Jobs
[ 132 comments ]

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Duane Martin
2 weeks ago


I played with one of the first gen iPhones when it came out. While it was unique, it was also painfully slow and had a tiny low res screen. It was obvious Apple would sell millions of them, but I didn't want one.

Painfully slow? Tiny low res screen? Compared to what?

The original iPhone was not released in Canada but that did not stop a number of my friends from acquiring one. I will never forget four of us crowding around the devise, just wanting to play with it; we were all blown away. The owner then reminded us this was version 1.0 and try to imagine what it would be like going into the future. The world has changed because of the iPhone.
Rating: 25 Votes
Avatar
ActionableMango
2 weeks ago
Notable quotes from 2007:

"There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance."
-Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

“It’s kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers. But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it.”
-Jim Balsillie, BlackBerry

“The development of mobile phones will be similar in PCs. Even with the Mac, Apple has attracted much attention at first, but they have still remained a niche manufacturer. That will be in mobile phones as well,”
-Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia

"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in."
-Ed Colligan, Palm

"There is no likelihood that Apple can be successful in a business this competitive.”
“What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong.”
“If it's smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design’ and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures.”
- John C. Dvorak, in his column Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone

"I'm never going to pay $500 for a phone."
- Me, owner of an iPhone 3G, 4, 5S, 6S, and 8
Rating: 21 Votes
Avatar
iapplelove
2 weeks ago
I swear Steve Jobs was the reason why I loved Apple so much back in the day.

Keynotes haven’t been the same since.
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
MisterSavage
2 weeks ago
I vividly remember watching this keynote and being amazed. At the time I had a clamshell phone with a tiny screen.
Rating: 18 Votes
Avatar
Nozuka
2 weeks ago
Interesting how the home screen basically stayed the same. Not sure what to think about that.

But i guess it works...
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
adamjackson
2 weeks ago
Here are a few photos I took that day:


Funny that same day they released Gen-1 AirPods:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/07/07/30/review_apple_iphone_bluetooth_headset


Taken the next day...it was a weird age of iPod accessories back then:
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
Mr. Dee
2 weeks ago
I’m surprised there is no mention of the A7 64 bit SoC in the 5s which was a big deal.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
Rigby
2 weeks ago
Still one of the best product presentations of all time. I remember vividly being amazed by the UI (while I was fumbling with my old-fashioned Ericsson phone trying to figure out the codes that you had to enter for certain features :p).
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
Treq
2 weeks ago
Man, I miss that interface... Simple. Clean. Not so bright. The calendar was easier to read. Just great. Drop shadows to make things more readable. Great design. Sure the leather stitching and green felt was a little too much but otherwise great.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
PlayUltimate
2 weeks ago


Interesting how the home screen basically stayed the same. Not sure what to think about that.

But i guess it works...


Most cars still have 4 wheels and a steering wheel. Get the design right the first time and there may not be a reason to change.
Rating: 8 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]