The iPhone helped usher in our mobile, interconnected age and introduced an app marketplace that would revolutionize everyday life.
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On January 7, 2007, Steve Jobs delivered the keynote address at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco. There, he introduced the first iPhone, predicting, “Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” Usually such proclamations are mostly hype and rhetorical flourish. The iPhone, however, really did change the world, enabling a revolution in connectivity and leading to the App Store, a new marketplace for services.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Jobs, presenting in his trademark black turtleneck, positioned the iPhone as three devices in one: “a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device.”[i]
Despite the then very steep price tag of over $500, the iPhone was a near instant success. Today, more than a billion iPhones have been sold and the App Store is a marketplace and one-stop shop for apps spanning social media, finance, games, shopping, travel, navigation and much more.
The iPhone is an excellent example of how innovations can transform the broader economy and create new opportunities for businesses and consumers. The iPhone and the App Store catalyzed the success of many companies that have changed how we stay connected, listen to music, order rides and travel.
[i] The original iPhone announcement annotated: Steve Jobs’ genius meets Genius. Accessed on 1/8/2020. https://thenextweb.com/apple/2015/09/09/genius-annotated-with-genius/
