Exactly 10 years ago, June 29, 2007, began selling the first iPhone. The device changed the mobile device market, affecting the development of the entire technology industry. In the publication Lenta decided to find out how Apple managed to cause mass hysteria, convincing millions of people to buy a new product.
iPhone 2G forever changed the idea of what should be a smartphone. And even ubiquitous today Android at the time had to hastily redo on the knee: so pathetic looked this operating system in the background of the iPhone OS. Then began the senseless and merciless race for Apple, every new smartphone trying to position as “the murderer of iPhone”. And some Chinese and not very good company and does not shun it entirely copy.
In 2007, it was hard to imagine. Immediately after the presentation of iPhone 2G Steve jobs said that Apple hopes to grab at least one percent of the market and sold ten million smartphones per year.
Now smartphones account for about 60 percent of Apple’s revenue, and in 2016 was issued 212 million iPhone. For comparison, in 2006 the company jobs made only 5.3 million Macs. Thus, Apple completely changed the course, making the direction of smartphones as a priority.
The story itself is about Project Purple, the desire to develop a tablet instead of a smartphone, multiple attempts to dazzle iPod phone well known. Recently he published a book “the Secret history of the iPhone”, which told this former and current Apple employees. But why is the iPhone made such a sensation?
Apple’s policy is based on total control — from close ties macOS with “iron” (which is great complicates life lovers hackintosh) and ending with measures to ensure secrecy at all stages of development and production.
Exactly the same control and communication with the media. So, before the release of the first iPhone gained access only four American journalist, featured on the top. Steve jobs did not just gave them the samples and NDA (non-disclosure agreement confidential information) to the signature, and was in constant contact with them. So the company are doing to this day, though the selection of journalists is clearly simplified.
“Steve jobs was always interested in my opinion ahead of the release of the iPhone, which I used for about a week. I was one of the four reviewers who got a sample, and it turns out that jobs was bothering each of us. I was warned in advance that jobs may at any time call just to say Hello,” recalls Steven levy (Steven Levy) in his column on Wired.
According to him, the situation at Apple was extremely tense, because the nose was the most risky for the company the release. Apple, of course, this never admit it, but “friendly calls” jobs to journalists was exerted on them by the pressure to bow to the necessary assessments and conclusions.
The iPhone turned smartphones/PDAs/handhelds from likovskij toys in the mainstream. As reported by David Pogue, June 2007 the media published more than 11,000 articles on the iPhone. “iPod on steroids” — as it was called in the network.
Under the distribution fell and technocomplect that occurred at the hands of the iPhone. June 27, after the first reviews, they captivated the radio and television. They asked what turned the iPhone, if it’s worth buying, what are his pros and cons. Newsweek, for which Levi wrote, paid the premium for participation in foreign broadcasts of their journalists. In those days, his salary increased by several thousand dollars: “to Be a gadget-freak has suddenly become cool.”
“With the growing popularity of technology related gadgets increasingly serve as news hooks. History of the iPhone in this sense was the peak. No other product was so overblown and never at such a tiny group of journalists have been assigned this responsibility,” concludes levy.
Those to whom the iPhone was in hand after the release, also in a hurry with their opinions, trying to tell you about every nut. For example, in the Gizmodo review of the iPhone 2G turned out to 13.5 thousand words, what Brian Lam (Brian Lam) proudly announced in the Preface. And so almost on all sites.
Now nobody is going to bother with a detailed story about each app, the animations and elements of the system. And then it was interesting not only for journalists, but also ordinary users (lined up in a long queue on the first day of sales), because everything was new. And all admired — especially on-screen keyboard and a single Home button. Now it is the market standard.
But there was also criticism. “Print is comfort it turns out only one finger, which greatly reduces the typing speed. To use two hands is possible, but typing with two fingers and simultaneously hold the iPhone very uncomfortable. Moreover, punctuation marks — commas, periods, dashes — available in advanced layout, and it’s annoying,” wrote Kent German (Kent German) and Donald bell (Donald Bell) on CNET.
Reviewers really indignant from having to make a lot of taps for manipulation. Abused and a single button (in fact, jobs was planning to make two). Didn’t like the inability to change the battery. The headphone Jack was too deep. And ringtones — “disgusting”. But along with these journalists, like children, were amazed by the accelerometer rotate the screen.
Criticisms of the complexity of some operations particularly badly hurt by a former top Manager Scott Forstall (Scott Forstall). “Reviewers have said about the number of clicks: “to send a letter, you need six taps or something like that.” iPhone compared to other smartphones of the time, the same BlackBerry,” he says. According to him, the iPhone 2G is “simply not understood”.
However, all the “phone” function of the iPhone 2G worked badly. Smartphone frequently losing contact, the sound at conversation was terrible, and 3G support wasn’t there (hence the name 2G). For correspondence was only available mail and acamas, since the App Store opened only a year. And still smartphone idolized. Maybe it really was a breakthrough. And maybe it’s the fanatical love of company products, than keep repeating the spiteful critics.
“iPhone can be very hard to criticize: it’s too slow, expensive, not able to do one or the other, but its advantages all overlap. iPhone brought, esemes-correspondence to the ideal, made mobile Internet a convenient, combined phone and iPod, gave friendly interface with no complicated menus and brake animations, says Anand Lal Shimpi (Anand Lal Shimpi) in the review on AnandTech. No matter you buy it or not, he had a huge impact on the industry”.
It is really so. At the next presentation, jobs poked fun at competitors, showing what has become of their devices after the iPhone. And as a result, now every manufacturer produces their black rectangles with rounded edges, and the experiments turned the race megahertz and cores.
