Exactly 10 years ago today, Steve Jobs gave his keynote at the MacWorld Expo 2007 in which he intended to show Apple’s vision regarding the role the phone was going to play in defining our society. With an expectant audience, Jobs unveiled the core characteristics of a device, that was said to be revolutionary. “An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator…. these are NOT three separate devices! We are calling it Iphone!”, Steve Jobs described at that time.
The classic iPhone: pros and cons
The original iPhone was entirely black and the first device to include a touch keyboard and advanced computer-like capabilities. However, some specifications were considered obsolete. It is worth to mention it lacked 3G bands (what means that users could only have an Internet connection via wifi or if they were on a AT&T¨s plan), didn’t have App Store, no video recording and only had 128 MB of RAM. It ran slow, its price was exorbitant and its dimensions (115 mm x 61 mm x 11.6 mm) were relatively small in comparison with the latest prototypes (138.3 mm x 67.1 mm x 7.1 mm).
However, it is fair to say that it set the standard for smartphones and showed other mobile manufacturers the path to follow. The history of the iPhone is synonymus with the history of the smartphone.
Apple was a pioneer in implementing a screen-centric design by giving more relevance to the appearance of the display as well as to reinvent UX by placing big bets on more intuitive interfaces that matched better with a smaller and manageable device than with a PC. Apple laid the foundations for “scrolling and swiping” and for better web browsers.
How much has the internet world changed over the past ten years?
I did some research in order to illustrate how our behaviour has changed over the past years as a result of the influence of smartphones in our lives. Are you ready to make this retrospective trip?!
- In 2007, the worldwide market share of Apple’s iPhone accounted only for only 3.4 per cent. [Source]
- In 2008, 7 out of 10 online users in Germany already used broadband, replacing the ISDN line and the analog modem [Source]
- In 2008, only 15 per cent of the U.S. mobile subscribers used their phones to access the internet. [Source]
- In July 2008, there were only 800 apps available in the Apple App Store. Today, there are 2,200,000 apps! [Source]
- In 2009, Jakob Nielsen indicated that “mobile usability was pretty much an oxymoron” and discovered that usability got worse since the early 2000s. The mobile devices subjected to study performed more slowly than WAP phones. [Source]
- In June 2009, the first Samsung phone with a touch screen display was released (SCH-W850). [Source]
- In 2010, only 8 % of German internet users used a mobile phone or smartphone, while laptop use continued to grow (51%) and PC use started its drop (76%). [Source]
- In 2011, Apple released iPhone 4S, iOS and iCloud. [Source]
- In 2012, the term ‘App’ soared in Google search. [Source]
- In 2013, the word “Selfie” was officially included in the Oxford Dictionary. [Source]
- In April 2014, after some years of struggling to stay afloat as a result of the success of Apple and the great start of the newcomers HTC and Samsung, Nokia officially sold its Devices & Services division to Microsoft. [Source]
- In October 2014, Apple Pay was released. [Source]
- In 2015, 32% job seekers spent between 6-10 minutes to look for a new job on mobile. Android was the preferred OS (51,9%), followed by iOS (42,8%), according to the consultancy firm Kantar Worldpanel.
- In 2016, German internet users spent 163 minutes on mobile devices (smartphones, tablet, MP3 player or E-Book reader) on average and Apple presented its iPhone 7 with wireless charging and headphones.
Fascinating, isn’t it? As you could observe, ten years ago, a mobile phone was a luxury object. Now the smartphone is a commodity for a large part of the population. Online is no longer a “state”, because we are permanently online. The smartphone is an ubiquitous companion and is seen as an extension of our bodies, with which we can make contactless payments, order online, perform a video call, send messages to our friends and stream music , and all of it in seconds!
How do you imagine your lives in 10 years? Rumour has it that Apple is planning to write the first page of our next future today, concurring with the 10th anniversary of its first iPhone. If it is going to happen or not, we will figure out soon. Stay tuned!