A Brief History of the Apple iPhone

Apple has always been known for developing trendy and cutting edge electronic consumer products that attract a large number of followers. Before the Apple iPhone was released in June 2007 there was a lot of commotion about what it would be like and what type of particular details the new product would have. 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 vision for the Apple iPhone was eventually thought of after Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, had a conference meeting with some of the engineers to start researching ways to develop the touch screen which was most likely intended for Apple’s tablet PC. 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.

Release and Further 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. When it was first released there were two types to choose from: one with a flash drive of 4GB for $499 and the other with 8GB for $599 however, the sales for the 8GB exceeded the other version so much that they suspended all manufacturing of 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. The popularity of the Apple iPhone in the beginning was by no means as great as expected.

Apple anticipated the first weekend sales to come in around 200,000 to 700,000 devices sold to the public. But just roughly around 145,000 activations were registered for the first weekend.

One downfall was that the applications offered on the Apple iPhone, could only be activated buy getting a two year subscription with AT&T, which was a restriction many people did not appreciate. There was also wide media coverage of a 300-page bill, after which AT&T made a change in its billing practices.

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.