A Brief History of the Apple iPhone

A Quick Recap of Apple iPhones Origins

Known for making a large variety of advanced technical products, Apple has become a famous brand name among consumers. Already before the release of Apple iPhone in June 2007, guesses had been made widely about the outlook, the specifications and about the general properties of the product. 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.

The Beginnings

The Apple iPhone history began with a business meeting called by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, when he instructed his engineers to develop touch screens, most likely to use in already develop products such as the Apple PC tablet. In April of 2003 he announced that traditional PDAs and tablet PCs were not the direction Apple was going to move forward with.

Advanced technologies and the possibilities through improving upon the cell phone was to be the new focus and direction for Apple. In January 2007 during the MacWorld Expo, Apple announced it’s soon to be released new iPhone product would be available by June 2007. During another conference later that same year, the Apple iPhone was announced that it would be able to connect with third parties creating Web 2.0 applications which users could use for internet access.

Availability to the Public and Still More Developments

Apple iPhone eventually went on sale June 29, 2007 in the United States, and hundreds of people reportedly lined up in front of the shops to be able to grab the new Apple iPhone 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.

For instance, they expected the first weekend sales to range from anywhere between 200,000 - 700,000, in products 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. Catching the attention of the media was the story of a 300 page bill someone received from AT&T, since then changes have been made in their invoice statements.

The Apple iPhone went international during the fourth quarter of 2007 and began to sell their iPhone’s in Germany, France, Europe and the United Kingdom. Apple encountered a possible legal issue in Europe because they had chosen one specific company to be the only one from where the Apple iPhone could be sold.