On 29 June 2007, exactly 19 years ago, the first iPhone went on sale at Apple and AT&T stores across the US with thousands of customers lining up outside hours before doors opened. Steve Jobs had unveiled the device six months earlier at the Macworld convention, calling it “a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” He pitched it as three products in one: a phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls and an internet communications device.
By today’s standards, that first iPhone was basic. It came in 4GB and 8GB models priced at $499 and $599, both requiring a two-year contract with Cingular, soon renamed AT&T. There was no 3G, no copy-paste, no video recording and no App Store. Apple initially expected web-based apps accessed through Safari to be enough for outside developers. Critics at the time questioned whether people would pay that much for a phone missing features like 3G, but the market answered quickly: the iPhone sold its first million units in just 74 days.
Fast forward a year, Apple announced the iPhone 3G in July 2008 alongside the launch of the App Store which let developers build and sell software directly to iPhone users for the first time. That single change is arguably what turned the iPhone from a clever, expensive gadget into an entire computing platform. Apps were required to be downloaded only through the App Store, with developers paying an annual fee to be part of Apple’s developer program.
The ripple effects went well beyond Apple. Touchscreen, button-free design became the template every other phone maker eventually copied. Entire industries, including taxis, banking, food delivery and photography were rebuilt around the assumption that a powerful, always-connected touchscreen computer would be sitting in nearly everyone’s pocket.
Last year on 31 July, Apple reported having sold more than 3 billion iPhones worldwide and it has been the largest vendor of mobile phones since 2023. The iPhone has changed almost beyond recognition since 2007, gaining the App Store, far better cameras, faster chips and bigger screens, but the basic idea Jobs pitched that day, one device doing the job of several, still defines what a smartphone is expected to be, 19 years on.
Also Read: Steve Jobs’ boldest move: Why Apple killed the keyboard and changed smartphones