Ten years ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone; a device which heralded the age of smartphones to come. We look back at three key epochs of Apple’s signature device!
“So, we‘re gonna reinvent the phone.” In an age now passed, this was how Apple co-founder Steve Jobs presented the device that would arguably shape the pace of consumer technology over the next ten years.
A few seconds prior, Jobs – clad in his iconic black turtleneck, jeans and sneakers – made the claim that’s etched itself in history:
“Well, today, we‘re introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.
So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone “¦ Are you getting it?
These are not three separate devices; this is one device – and we are calling it iPhone.”
If one looks back a decade ago to January 9th of 2007, it is difficult to believe that we relied on iPods, feature phones or internet communications devices themselves as separate entities.
Today, the quick removal of a svelte screen from a worn jean pocket is all it takes for humankind around the globe to communicate; and while the iPhone is only a part of what has propelled the concept of connectivity to what it is today, Apple’s mobile handset is arguably the most prominent device any person would recall from that period.
Read: Apple is reportedly seeking to move iPhone production to the United States
While the handset’s design has been largely consistent and relatively iterative, the device that shaped the mobile web and app economy around it has itself been a product of external change.
After ten years, three key epochs of the iPhone are visible as Apple charts its way forward. While the 2017’s forthcoming iPhone might in itself represent another leap forward – with rumours such as an all-glass screen and ‘true’ wireless charging in the mix – the iPhone’s 10th birthday is one worthy of retrospection.
Hey, Siri!
By 2011, Apple had redeveloped the original iPhone into the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and later the iPhone 4. While the iPhone 4 was the first substantiative design change for the product – moving to a hard aluminium shell which has subsequently been crafted into the profile we recognise as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 4s one day prior to the death of its co-founder, it did so alongside the announcement of a character that’s become as ubiquitous as the handset is itself; Siri.
At the time of release, Siri was a game changer in the smartphone realm; a dedicated presence throughout apps and the iOS system itself based on the principle of intelligent assistance. The irony, as Apple has now seemingly fallen behind refining its in-house assistant – that move propelled interest in AI and smart assistance from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and even Samsung.
As we begin to leave the ultra-competitive smartphone arena behind for the realm of AI assistants that dominate it, Siri’s debut on the iPhone 4s marked a new era for the iPhone; one which was as propelled by software as it was by hardware. Speaking of which…
iOS 7
On September 18th of 2013, iOS users left one world behind and awoke an another. iOS 7 – the largest design update Apple has ever executed on its range of mobile devices – did away with skeuomorphic layers and graphical representations for a svelte, iconic design that persists well into iOS 10.
iOS 7 laid the groundwork for a modern iPhone – one which was free of overly referential design and chartered its own vernacular; introducing now standard features such as AirDrop, Control Center, improved multitasking and a redesigned Notification Center, iOS 7 further marked the reference point for subsequent operating system updates which followed to platforms such as the Mac and Apple TV.
The update further refined the App Store, iTunes Store, and even introduced graphical effects based on the premise of personalization; while all iOS devices retained their uniformity and familiarity, the introduction of parallax and gradient-based effects added a unique, personalized touch to every device.
iOS saw its next largest revision with iOS 10; the incumbent version of Apple’s mobile operating system that refined one particular hardware feature…
Force Touch
When Apple debuted the iPhone 6s on the 9th of September in 2015, it did so along a new technology the company characteristically referred to as ‘revolutionary’: Force Touch.
Force Touch (onboard the 6s and 6s Plus) introduced the ability for an iPhone’s display to recognize the amount of force a user exerted on its screen, enabling new ways to reveal additional context.
While Force Touch arguably only became truly useful with the release of iOS 10 – which greatly expanded the use of functionality such peek and pop.
While Force Touch itself is arguably an expanding technology – one that is now spilling over to the Android world – the feature is one that will arguably play larger roles on future Apple devices; both Apple’s next iPhone as well as a future iPad Pro are rumored to bear near bezel-less displays that will maximise the applicable surface for the feature.
Looking to the future
While the iPhone has now reached its first decade, it remains unlikely that the device won’t persist until it reaches 20. Rumours on the horizon indicate long-awaited developments such as ‘true’ wireless charging and the first major design update in years – leaving us to only fantasize about where the iPhone might take us over the coming days, months, and years.
While the iPhone’s days of peak influence may be over, a bold new crop of devices have begun to emerge in its wake. Whether Apple will be able to hold on to the crown it forged, however, will be an interesting tale to watch unfold.
Read: China threatens iPhone sales should US president-elect Donald Trump start a trade war
Have your say!
What are your thoughts? What achievements do you feel helped cement the iPhone in its current position in market success and consumer recall? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
