Seven years back on 9 January, Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a revolutionary product that would change a lot of things later on - the iPhone.
The launch event was held at the Macworld 2007 convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and had 5000 attendees.
Jobs started with opening line: "This is a day I have been looking forward to for two and half years" to a burst of whoas and applause. He then continued with the introduction of the "revolutionary product" called iPhone.
But did Jobs just start off by saying Apple is introducing the iPhone? No, he built the suspense among the audience by giving some Apple trivia, like their first Macintosh in 1984 that changed the computer industry, and the first iPod in 2001 that changed the music industry.
Then he built it up by saying Apple is introducing three new products:
- a wide-screen iPod with touch controls
- a new mobile phone
- an internet communications device
Jobs then went on to tease them by showing slides of the three products, one after the other, building up the curiosity. The audience was then able to construe an image of the new revolutionary iPhone that was all three products rolled into one. He asks them: "An iPod, a phone, an internet communicator... Are you getting it?" And the audience understood.
Jobs unveiled the iPhone by saying Apple "reinvents the phone." The slide on the screen showed a funny make of a hardware consisting of iPod and everyone burst out into laughter.
So what does he mean by saying Apple reinvents the phone?
1. Multi-Touch - a revolutionary User Interface (UI) pointed by not using a Stylus, which he says is 'yuck', but by the fingers.
2. Software - The new iOS X that was five years ahead of its time. The software was able to sync movies, videos, TV shows, music and lots of other data like calendar, contacts and emails.
3. Design - This 3.5 inch screen, 160 ppi phone was thinner than any phone that was available at that time - 11.6 mm. It also had Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor and Accelerometer.
5. Internet Communicator - It had rich HTML email, Safari web browser, Google Maps and widgets.
When Jobs fianlly showcased the new iPhone, there was a thunderous applause.
iPhone was released on 29 June 2007 in two models: 4GB variant costing $499 and 8 GB variant costing $599.
Looking back, the iPhones have indeed reinvented the phone. Moreover, it has created what is billed as the smartphone war between iOs and Android. However, it has made communication smoother, easier and more user friendly.
