The iPhone, designed and marketed by Apple Inc. was released in the United States of America in 9 June, 2007. It was previously announced in January 2007 that, Apple was working on its first mobile phone related project.
In 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs envisioned an Apple touchscreen product that the user could interact with directly with their fingers rather than using a stylus. The stylus was a common tool for many existing touchscreen devices at the time including Apple’s own Newton, launched in 1993.
The engineers started working on the prototype. When Jobs reviewed the prototype and its user interface, he saw the potential in developing the concept into a mobile phone to compete with already established brands in the then emerging market for touch screen phone. The whole effort was called Project Purple 2 and began in 2005.
The original iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007 in a conference in San Fransisco, California.
Six weeks prior to the iPhone’s release, the plastic screen was replaced with glass, after Jobs was upset that the screen of the prototype he was carrying in his pocket had been scratched by his keys.
The iPhone was released in the United States on June 29, 2007 at the price of $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model, both requiring a 2-year contract. It was later made available in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, and Austria in November 2007. Six out of ten Americans surveyed said they knew the iPhone was coming before its release.
A 16 GB model was released on February 5, 2008 for $499, the original launch price of the 4 GB model. Apple released an SDK on March 6, 2008, allowing developers to create the apps that would be available starting in iPhone OS version 2.0, a free upgrade for iPhone users. On June 9, Apple announced the iPhone 3G, which began shipping July 11. The original iPhone was discontinued on July 15; total sales volume came to 6,124,000 units.
Image Reference – T3
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