The iPhone changed everything
When Apple announced the iPhone in January 2007, they revolutionised the telephone.
They had already revolutionised computers with the Apple Mac, and music players with the iPod, and what they did to the telephone was equally dramatic. Perhaps even more so.
Existing smartphones (as opposed to just plain mobile phones, which did nothing other than make/receive phone calls), used clunky miniature mechanical keyboards operated by a stylus.
Apple did away with all that steam-age technology and introduced a soft keyboard, operated by touch. In addition, it recognised gestures such as swiping, and pinch-to-zoom, that created a whole new user experience. For the first time, phones were fun to use.
And they did stuff too.. far more than just making phone calls. The iPhone had an iPod inside it, so you could carry all your music around with you. And browse the web. And send and receive email. And take photographs with a better quality camera than any other smartphone.
This was huge. Only three or four years ago, it would have been considered science fiction. A little pocket device that could do all that, was inconceivable. You could make phone calls simply by pointing at a number in your address book. You could take photos and post them on your blog.
It also had acceleration, proximity, and light sensors built in. It could tell which way up you were holding it, and rotate the screen accordingly. It could tell when you lifted the phone to your ear, and turned off the display to save battery, and prevent inadvertent touch commands.
How did the public react? Well they loved it, and bought it in droves. It catapulted Apple’s share price into the stratosphere, and gave the company a new lease of life.
But nobody was surprised by this incredible technology suddenly appearing on the high street.
It should really have caused shock and awe, incredulity, disbelief…
But instead people just accepted it, as if it was perfectly commonplace, and only to be expected. ‘Cool’ they said, and bought it. Not questioning how this dramatic change had suddenly happened.
Now the iPhone has gone from strength to strength, with ever more advanced features and improvements. They have got faster, better, bigger, (and back to smaller again). But all these newer models are just evolution, rather than the revolution represented by the original iPhone.
Apple continue to introduce new iPhone models every year, and will no doubt continue to do so for many years to come. The constant stream of new models, throws up lots of bargain second hand iPhones, that you can find on sites like MacBooty.
The latest models will always draw a crowd, with the latest iPhone 6 SE proving no exception, but there will always be a newer, better model coming along. Keeping up is an expensive game, and it’s never over. But for a fraction of the price, you can pick up a secondhand iPhone, that was the hero of it’s day. And that’s all the latest model will be in a few short months anyway.