A Brief History of the Apple iPhone
Taking a Look at the History of the Apple iPhone
Known for making a large variety of advanced technical products, Apple has become a famous brand name among consumers. People began talking about Apple’s new iPhone long before it was released in June 2007, decisions were made about the essentials it would have, and what new technologies might come with it. No wonder, as the Apple iPhone seems to be an innovative and a novel product, combining the technology of iPods, a revolutionary mobile phone and a handy internet device, some assert it to be three separate products all in one.
Launching Apple iPhones
The reported known beginning of the Apple iPhone came from a meeting headed by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, with his engineers, tasking them to research touch screen capability, at the time he was probably going to use it to advance the Apple PC tablet. However, in April 2003, he declared in a conference that the development of traditional PDAs or tablet PCs was not the way ahead for Apple.
The new direction was to move forward in evolving the technologies used in cell phones and the options provided with them. In January 2007 during the MacWorld Expo, Apple announced it’s soon to be released new iPhone product would be available by June 2007. At another conference that same year, it was revealed that the Apple iPhone would sustain third parties which would create Web 2.0 applications and that users could access this through the internet.
Consumer Ready and Future Developments
It was on June 29, 2007 that the Apple iPhone was put on sale for the public and people came out in full force, lining up in front of stores to be able to get one as soon as possible. At first when the Apple iPhone was introduced to the public, it was available in either a 4GB for $499 or 8GB for $599 however, it was quickly evident that the 8GB was far more popular in demand, so Apple soon stopped making the 4GB.
In September Apple made a reduction in the sale price of the 8GB, for $200 less then the original asking price, and that decision upset many early buyers because they felt it was unfair to them. Apple iPhone’s initial popularity was not close to the level Apple had anticipated it would be.
The sales for the Apple iPhone during the first weekend it was made available to the public, was estimated to be between 200,000 and 700,000 in devices sold. To their disappointment only around 145,000 devices were activated and registered that first weekend.
One of the reasons was that the Apple iPhone had to be used with AT&T and people had to sign up for a two year subscription before you could get it activated or registered. The media uncovered a story of the 300 page AT&T bill someone got for their Apple iPhone usage, which generated much criticism causing AT&T to make changes in billing policies.
Apple iPhone was launched in Europe by the end of 2007, in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. However, in Europe, Apple seemed to face legal difficulties because the iPhone was only offered through one selected company.