January 26, 2016: After nine years of spectacular growth, iPhone sales flatline for the first time.
Numbers posted by Apple show that during the final three months of 2015, iPhone sales grew by only 0.4%. The crucial holiday season sales compare quite unfavorably with the 46% jump recorded during the same period a year earlier.
September 12, 2012: Apple introduces the iPhone 5, with a super-slim form factor that makes it the thinnest smartphone in the world.
The new iPhone also brings impressive upgrades such as a greatly improved display and the Lightning port. Despite some controversy, it proves a massive hit.
June 29, 2007: The first-generation iPhone goes on sale, generating massive queues of Apple fans lining up outside Apple Stores around the United States.
With its intuitive touchscreen display, it’s a massive leap forward for smartphones. The device goes on to change the course of not only Apple’s business, but that of the entire mobile industry!
The iPhone packed a lot into its first astonishing decade. Not only has the device itself evolved significantly since its promising-but-by-no-means-perfect beginnings, but it’s transformed Apple’s business — and many of our very lives — in the process.
All this week, Cult of Mac’s “iPhone Turns 10” series will look at the innovative device’s massive impact on worldwide culture. The iPhone, which launched on June 29, 2007, truly changed the world.
What iPhone milestones have passed since Steve Jobs introduced this stunning hybrid device, which combined a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device? Check out our handy guide to 10 years of iPhone history.
September 6, 2007: Apple deals with its first iPhone PR crisis, when early adopters complain about the company dropping the price of its new smartphone by $200 just two months after introducing it.
In response, Steve Jobs offers affected customers $100 credit which can be used toward the purchase of any Apple store product. “Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these,” he writes.
July 14, 2008: Apple crows that its newly opened App Store hit a massive 10 million downloads in its first 72 hours.
“The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days,” Steve Jobs said in a statement issued eight years ago today. “Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly.”
July 11, 2008: The iPhone 3G goes on sale, becoming the first Apple product in history to sell more than 1 million units in its first weekend.
Building on the original iPhone by adding GPS, 3G data and a higher-quality build, the iPhone 3G also coincided with the launch of iOS 2, which introduced push email, turn-by-turn navigation and, most importantly, the App Store.
July 6, 2011: Amazon wins a landmark verdict against Apple over its proprietary use of the term “App Store” — opening up the possibility of other rival services calling their own app stores by the phrase Apple had helped popularize.
The case highlights just how central the concept of downloadable apps had become to the mobile experience, only three years after Apple launched its iOS App Store.
iOS 4 was not only the last version of Apple’s mobile operating system released during Steve Jobs’ life, it was also a significant step up in terms of the software’s productivity features.
Watch Jobs introduce it in the video below, which was recorded on June 21, 2010.
On June 17, 2009, Apple released iOS 3, the third iteration of its mobile operating system and the last to be given the full name “iPhone OS 3.” Support for the iPad arrived with iOS 3.2, when the name was given its current abbreviation.
iOS 3 brought a host of then-new features including MMS, a landscape keyboard, iTunes video and audiobook support, a new Spotlight search users could access by swiping left on the Home screen and more.
