The iPhone, a revolutionary & magical product, that reinvented the phone.

This article explores the history of the iPhone, how it reinvented the phone and looks at the technological advancements the iPhone has made over the past fifteen years and some of the impacts it has had on the world.

Reading time: 5 minutes
By Eliatra

Phone to iPhone

Fifteen years ago, on the 29th of June 2007, the first-generation iPhone hit the US Market after its initial announcement in January 2007. Since then the iPhone has taken the world by storm, Apple could not have predicted just what the iPhone has become and how it really did reinvent the phone. From this day, phones were no longer just a phone; The iPhone really did change everything.
“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” - Steve Jobs, Keynote Speech 2007
In 2007 smartphones were not like those we have today and were nothing like the first-generation iPhone either. Smartphones had limited displays, styluses, and integrated hardware-based keyboards. Smartphones were clunky, unappealing, and basic. Then came the iPhone, small, thin, stylish and with no keyboard, it was a work of art in the form of a technical device known as a phone.
Apple has released a total of 34 iPhones over the past 15 years, and still manages to generate global excitement annually with the highly anticipated newest version of a 15-year-old device and will do the same with its 35th iPhone soon to be released later this year. The success of the iPhone has been one of the main driving forces in enabling Apple to become the world’s first company to be valued at $3 Trillion, as stated in the New York Times earlier this year.

iPhone Development

Since the release of the first iPhone in 2007 Apple has become the second biggest mobile phone company in the world. Apple has led the mobile phone market in design, features, capabilities, and hardware/software, which have now become must-haves for all smartphones and have inspired its competitors and other manufacturers.
Apple introduced features such as Touch ID, Face ID, iCloud systems, Find my iPhone Password & Security systems, Camera advancements and many more. The iPhone itself has continuously improved its design and look with sophisticated modern designs, always ahead of the curve.
Apple continues to lead and drive the phone market with its continuous improvements in tech, chip designs and IOS Software. It seems no other smartphone maker has been able to beat Apple yet with these developments.
It is clear from a comparison of the first-generation iPhone to the latest iPhone 13 Pro, how far the iPhone has come. The monumental advancements aesthetically, design wise and technologically, the changes are phenomenal.
Original iPhone Features Latest iPhone 13 Features
3.5-inch LCD Display 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion
Home Button Full Screen Display – No home buttons
Scrolling Function HDR Displays
Samsung processor Made from Surgical Grade Stainless Steel
2 Megapixel Camera 12 Megapixel Camerae
Visual Voicemail IP68 Water Resistance
Safari Internet Browser Multiple Lenses, front, back and wide
Threaded text messaging Digital zoom up to 15x
HTML Email Face ID
iPod Music & Video Player Apple Pay
Apple Maps Password Security
  iCloud storage
  5G Mobile Data / Wi-Fi / built-in GPS
  FaceTime Video & Audio
  Wireless Charging
  Voice Control / Siri / Reminders / iMessage
  Integrated Apps

iPhones Impact on Individuals

The iPhone has influenced and shaped culture, design, industry, the way of life as well as creating new cultures and sectors of industry all within the last fifteen years. Apple created and opened doors to the app-based technologies in which we now live in, they provided a platform and now a basic requirement and part of everyday life.
“We are all born with the ultimate pointing device, our fingers, and the iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse”. - Steve Jobs.
The iPhone has not only made an impact on the phone industry and the tech world, but some would also say it has changed people’s lives completely. In fifteen years Apple’s iPhone has become an individual’s go-to smartphone for 1.8 Billion people globally.
Initially, the iPhone concept was based on combining the iPod, the internet, and the Phone. Today the iPhone combines almost everything possible, it has allowed people to communicate differently, from text messaging threads to email, to facetime, keeping individuals connected. iPhone has allowed people to be more productive with its functionalities and developments. Individuals are now able to carry out previously analogue tasks such as doing their banking, shopping, and work all from their iPhone or Smartphone, these functionalities have had a positive impact on all individuals from busy mothers, on-the-go CEOs and those living in rural areas.
Can you remember life before your iPhone, internet banking, emailing, scrolling, ordering food online at the touch of your fingertips?
Apple literally invented and patented the concept of “scrolling” and it would be very hard to predict how we would use smartphones/phones without the release of the iPhone and the features we now use daily. Look around you, on a train, in an office, even in a bar, what do you see? There will be individuals: interacting on a phone call, texting, emailing, scrolling, taking photos all with their phones. Without the release of the iPhone this most likely would not be the current reality.
iPhones have become such a monumental part of tech that they have helped shape the way individuals and children are growing up, they have changed the way individuals communicate and live they have allowed individuals to literally have access to all available information at their fingertips.
Blog-Image-TheiPhoneARevolutionaryAndMagicalProductQuote2
It is evident that Steve Jobs, Apple and the iPhone achieved exactly what it originally intended to, and surpassed that with so much more, and will continue to do so. Today we celebrate fifteen years of the iPhone and Apple’s tehcnologcical advancements and we cannot wait to see what else the iPhone has instore!
This article shines light on all the positive aspects in celebration of the orignial release date. Look out for Part 2 of this article where we explore the other side of the coin; The dangers, the controversy and everything that comes with such an addictive new tool.
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