ChronoFive
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Setting the scene
In 2006, smartphones meant BlackBerrys with tiny keyboards for email, or stylus-driven Palm Treos that felt like mini-computers. Apple was the iPod company, with no phone experience, while carriers controlled features. Consumers juggled separate music players, cameras, and phones, and mobile web browsing was slow, clunky WAP pages. Steve Jobs believed a glass touchscreen could merge them.
What happened
Jobs unveiled the iPhone on January 9, 2007, calling it an iPod, phone, and internet communicator. It shipped June 29, 2007 in the U.S. exclusively on AT&T for $499 with 4GB or $599 with 8GB. The first-generation device featured a 3.5-inch multi-touch screen, no App Store, 2-megapixel camera, and visual voicemail, redefining phones with pinch-to-zoom and kinetic scrolling.
Why it still matters
The iPhone sold 6.1 million units in its first year and forced competitors to abandon keyboards. Its 2008 App Store launch created a trillion-dollar app economy and made Apple the world's most valuable company, with over 3 billion iPhones sold by 2025. Memorable detail: fans camped for days outside Apple Stores, and Time named it Invention of the Year despite lacking 3G or copy-paste.
Background
The iPhone is a smartphone developed and marketed by Apple as the first device in the iPhone lineup of smartphones. It features a Samsung S5L8900 SoC (90 nm), a 3.5 in multi-touch display, and a web browser (Safari). After years of rumors and speculation, it was officially announced on January 9, 2007, and was released in the United States on June 29, 2007. Its multi-touch interface reset expectations for smartphone design.