History of the iPhone
The history of the iPhone development by Apple Inc. spans from the early 2000s to about 2010. The first iPhone was released in 2007. By the end of 2009, iPhone models had been released in all major markets.
Initial steps through 2006
The project within Apple Inc. for developing the iPhone began with a request from CEO Steve Jobs to the company's engineers, asking them to investigate the use of touchscreen devices and tablet computers. Many have noted the device's similarities to Apple's previous touch-screen portable device, the Newton MessagePad. Like the MessagePad, the iPhone is nearly all screen. Its form factor is credited to Apple's Chief Design Officer, Jonathan Ive.Jobs expressed his belief that tablet PCs and traditional PDAs were not good choices as high-demand markets for Apple to enter, despite receiving many requests for Apple to create another PDA. He believed that cell phones were going to become important devices for portable information access, and that mobile phones needed to have excellent synchronization software. At that time, instead of focusing on a follow-up to their Newton PDA, Jobs had Apple focus on the iPod. Jobs also had Apple develop the iTunes software, which can be used to synchronize content with iPod devices. iTunes was released in January 2001.
The iPhone beta was created in 2004 to test the device and its functions. The beta version enabled Apple to develop the phone's capabilities before launching a final product. While it may technically have been the first iPhone that was created, it was never released to the public, so it has not been considered the first iPhone.
On September 7, 2005, Apple and Motorola collaborated to develop the Motorola ROKR E1, the first mobile phone to use iTunes. Jobs was unhappy with the ROKR, feeling that having to compromise with a non-Apple designer prevented Apple from designing the phone they wanted to make.
In September 2006, Apple discontinued support for the ROKR, and released a version of iTunes that included references to an as-yet unknown mobile phone that could display pictures and video. This turned out to be the iPhone 2G.
Public announcement
On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone at the Macworld convention, receiving substantial media attention. Jobs announced that the first iPhone would be released later that year. On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone was released.On June 11, 2007, Apple announced at the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference that the iPhone would support third party applications using the Safari engine. Third parties would be able to create Web 2.0 applications, which users could access via the Internet. Such applications appeared even before the release of the iPhone; the first of these, called OneTrip, was a program meant to keep track of users' shopping lists.
Launch
After some trial and error, the first iPhone was officially launched and made accessible to the public in 2007, and was advertised noticeably at the Macworld of that same year. In this first release, the iPhone was accessible in the US, UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, Italy and South Africa. On June 29, 2007, Apple released version 7.3 of iTunes to coincide with the release of iPhone. This release contained support for iPhone service activation and syncing.The first generation iPhone was manufactured in the Shenzhen factory of the Taiwanese company Hon Hai.
The first-generation iPhone is commonly retroactively referred to as the "iPhone 2G" due to only supporting 2G mobile data. This name was, however, never used by Apple.
Connection to AT&T
When Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007, it was sold only with AT&T contracts in the United States. After 18 months of negotiations, Steve Jobs reached an agreement with the wireless division of AT&T to be the iPhone's exclusive carrier. Consumers were unable to use any other carrier without unlocking their device.Apple retained control of the design, manufacturing and marketing of the iPhone. Since some customers were jailbreaking their iPhones to leave their network, AT&T began charging them a $175 early-termination fee for leaving before the end of their contract.
Court cases
Questions arose about the legality of Apple's arrangement after the iPhone was released. Two class-action lawsuits were filed against the company in October 2007: one in Federal court and the other in state court. According to the suits, Apple's exclusive agreement with AT&T violated antitrust law.The state-court suit, filed by the law office of Damian R. Fernandez on behalf of California resident Timothy P. Smith, sought an injunction barring Apple from selling iPhones with a software lock and $200 million in damages. In Smith v. Apple Inc., the plaintiffs said that Apple failed to disclose to purchasers its five-year agreement with AT&T when they bought iPhones with a two-year contract and cited the Sherman Act's prohibition of monopolies.
The second case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff, Paul Holman, filed a complaint against Apple and AT&T Mobility that he could not switch carriers or change SIM cards without losing iPhone improvements to which he was entitled. Holman also cited a Sherman Act violation by the defendants. On July 8, 2010, the case was affirmed for class certification. On December 9 the court ordered a stay on the case, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in AT&T v. Concepcion. On April 27, 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that AT&T met the state's fairness standards.
In 2017, Apple was sued after they admitted to slowing down older phone models. The plaintiffs, Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas, filed the lawsuit when their iPhone 7s were slowed down after an update. The plaintiffs were entitled to compensation due to the interferences and the economic damages they suffered.
Advertising
The first advertisement for iPhone, titled "Hello", aired during the 79th Academy Awards on February 25, 2007, on American Broadcasting Company. On June 4, 2007, Apple released four advertisements announcing that iPhone would be released on June 26, 2007.Domain name
On July 1, 2007, it was reported that Apple paid at least US$1 million to Michael Kovatch for theUnited States release
On June 28, 2007, during an address to Apple employees, Steve Jobs announced that all full-time Apple employees and those part-time employees who had been with the company for at least one year would receive a free iPhone. Employees received their phones in July after the initial demand for iPhones subsided.Initially priced at $499 and $599 for the 4GB models and 8GB models respectively, the iPhone went on sale on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00pm local time to prepare for the 6:00pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide.
In the US and some other countries, iPhones could be acquired only with a credit card, preventing completely anonymous purchases of iPhones. At the time, there was no way to opt out of the bundled AT&T data plan. At first, iPhones could not be added to an AT&T Business account, and any existing business account discounts could not be applied to an iPhone AT&T account. AT&T changed these restrictions in late January 2008.
The Associated Press also reported in 2007 that some users were unable to activate their phones because, according to AT&T, " high volume of activation requests taxing the company's computer servers." On October 29, 2007, the Usenet newsgroup misc.phone.mobile.iphone was created.
Early estimates by technology analysts estimated sales of between 250,000 and 700,000 iPhones in the first weekend alone, with strong sales continuing after the initial weekend. As part of their quarterly earnings announcement, AT&T reported that 146,000 iPhones were activated in the first weekend. Though this figure does not include units that were purchased for resale on eBay or otherwise not activated until after the opening weekend, it is still less than most initial estimates. It is also estimated that 95% of the units sold are the 8GB model.
Outsized bills
Stories of unexpected billing issues began to circulate in blogs and the technical press a little more than a month after iPhone's heavily advertised and anticipated release. The 300-page iPhone bill in a box received by iJustine on Saturday, August 11, 2007 became the subject of a viral video, posted by the following Monday, which quickly became an Internet meme. This video clip brought the voluminous bills to the attention of the mass media. Ten days later, after the video had been viewed more than 3 million times on the Internet, and had received international news coverage, AT&T sent iPhone users a text message outlining changes in its billing practices.Price drop outcry
On September 5, 2007, the 4GB model was discontinued, and the 8GB model price was cut by a third, from US$599 to US$399. Those who had purchased an iPhone in the 14-day period before the September 5, 2007 announcement were eligible for a US$200 "price protection" rebate from Apple or AT&T. However, it was widely reported that some who bought between the June 29, 2007 launch and the August 22, 2007 price protection kick-in date complained that this was a larger-than-normal price drop for such a relatively short period and accused Apple of unfair pricing.In response to customer complaints, on September 6, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote in an open letter to iPhone customers that everyone who purchased an iPhone at the higher price "and who is not receiving a rebate or other consideration", would receive a US$100 credit to be redeemed towards the purchase of any product sold in Apple's retail or online stores.
iPhone 3G pricing model changes
With the July 11, 2008 release of the iPhone 3G, Apple and AT&T changed the US pricing model from the previous generation. Following the model for mobile phone service in the United States, AT&T would subsidize a sizable portion of the upfront cost for the iPhone 3G, followed by charging moderately higher monthly fees over a minimum two-year contract.iPhone 4 CDMA release
On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced during a media event that it had reached an agreement with Apple and would begin selling a CDMA iPhone 4. The Verizon iPhone went on sale on February 10, 2011.During Apple's official unveiling of iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011, it was announced that Sprint would begin carrying the reconfigured CDMA iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in the US on October 14. Cricket Wireless announced on May 31, 2012 that it would become the first prepaid carrier in the US to offer iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, beginning June 22, 2012. A week later, Virgin Mobile USA became the second American prepaid carrier to offer iPhone 4 and 4S, announcing plans to release the phones on June 29, 2012. T-Mobile USA's inability to provide iPhone to customers raised its subscription churn rate, decreased the percentage of lucrative postpaid customers, and contributed to parent Deutsche Telekom's decision to sell it to AT&T in March 2011, although AT&T canceled the deal in December 2011 because of antitrust concerns. T-Mobile began offering iPhone on April 12, 2013.
European release
On November 9, 2007, the iPhone was officially launched As in the case of the previous launch in the US, customers lined up as much as a day in advance to obtain the much-anticipated phone.Apple occasionally produced a limited number of 4GB iPhones for German and UK markets, but they never reached end customers and were used as in-store demo units. Later most of the units were disposed of.
The initial operating model of locking iPhone owners to one selected carrier has been controversial in Europe. In Germany, Vodafone, an operator competing with the operator that Apple had locked German iPhone sales to, claiming that the arrangement was against German law. On November 20, 2007, an interim court order resulted in sales of locked iPhones in Germany being temporarily stopped. The iPhone launch in France a few weeks later through the operator Orange faced the same legal issues. Other countries that the same problems for the business model revolving around the sale of locked iPhones include Belgium, Italy, Finland, and Brazil.
On December 1, 2007, Tušmobil, started selling "unlocked" iPhones without an official contract with Apple. The offer caused confusion between Apple Europe, local media, and local Apple representatives.
On May 6, 2008, Telecom Italia announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in Italy by the end of 2008. It was estimated that it would probably be the second generation iPhone with 3G-UMTS capability.
On May 27, 2008, TeliaSonera released a press release stating that it would start selling iPhones in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia during 2008.
On June 4, 2008, Movistar announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhones in Spain beginning on July 11, 2008.
On August 22, 2008, Estonian mobile operator EMT started selling iPhones.
On August 22, 2008, Vodafone Greece released iPhones in the Greek market.
On September 26, 2008, Omnitel released iPhones in Lithuania.
On November 7, 2008, T-Mobile released iPhones in Croatia.
On September 29, 2010, Elisa released the iPhone 4 in Finland.
Southeast Asia release
and Globe Telecom were the first two carriers to launch the iPhone in Southeast Asia. Both carriers launched the iPhone 3G in August 2008.On March 20, 2009, Telkomsel In the same month, Maxis was only the first carrier officially launched the iPhone 3G in Malaysia.
In October 2011, StarHub launched the iPhone in Singapore. Smart Communications followed suit in December 2011 by launching the iPhone 4S in the Philippines.
Australian release
The iPhone 3G was released in Australia on July 11, 2008.New Zealand release
was sold in Auckland, New Zealand to 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell at 12:01 am NZST. There was criticism from some New Zealand customers when Vodafone announced pricing for the iPhone 3G, as Vodafone was the only network to offer this generation of iPhone.The first-generation iPhone was available for sale in New Zealand only through parallel import stores soon after it went on sale in the US. The original models available for sale in New Zealand were unlocked for use on the Vodafone network and could be used with any plan, including pre-paid plans.
Subsequent launches of iPhone models in New Zealand have typically been a few weeks after the worldwide release.
On November 8, 2011, Telecom announced that they would offer the iPhone 4S on their network, along with earlier models.
Canadian release
After months of high anticipation, the first iPhone to be released in Canada was the iPhone 3G. Rogers Wireless began offering 8 GB and 16 GB models on July 11, 2008. Facing a public backlash, Rogers dropped the price of its service plan from CA$100 to CA$30 per month.The iPhone 3GS, with the new iPhone OS 3 operating system, was released in Canada by Rogers Wireless on June 19, 2009. Users who signed up for a 3-year agreement with could choose between a 16 GB device for CA$199 and a 32 GB device for CA$299.
Non-exclusive deals
On May 6, 2008, Vodafone announced that they had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey.Subsequent announcements confirmed that Apple was moving away from exclusive one-carrier deals. Soon after Vodafone's announcement,
On June 4, 2008, SoftBank Mobile released a press release stating that it would start selling iPhone in Japan during 2008.
Russia's second largest mobile operator, Beeline, announced on August 28, 2008 that they signed a contract with Apple to sell iPhone on the Russian market by late 2008. The deal was rumoured to be non-exclusive, according to unofficial statements made by MTS and MegaFon. MTS and MegaFon belong to the "Russian Big Three", and were expected to release the iPhone 3G at the same time as Beeline. As predicted, MegaFon issued a press release regarding the iPhone 3G release on September 2, 2008.
On November 14, 2008, Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil started selling the iPhone 3G in Egypt. iPhone 3G is priced at EG£3,800 and EG£4,600 for the 8 GB and 16 GB models respectively. Customers must also sign up for one of to use the phone.
On September 28, 2009, Orange announced that they were going to become the second operator of the iPhone in the UK, indicating that an exclusive deal that O2 had established with Apple in 2007 had ended. Orange later announced that the iPhone would be released on November 10, with pricing plans starting from £29.36 on contract and £440 for On the following day, Vodafone UK announced that they would be selling the iPhone by early 2010, becoming the third UK network and Vodafone's 11th country to offer the iPhone.
Verizon Wireless
There had been ongoing speculation in the United States that Apple might offer a CDMA-compatible iPhone for Verizon Wireless. This speculation increased on October 6, 2010, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple would begin producing a CDMA-compatible iPhone, with such a model going on sale in early 2011.On January 8, 2011, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Verizon Wireless would, on January 11, 2011, officially announce the launch of a CDMA-based iPhone for use on their network. The date in which the Verizon iPhone would go on sale was unknown, though the two most recent iPhone releases were made available within weeks of their launch announcement. Verizon confirmed the announcement on January 11, with an on-sale date of February 10.
On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced that they would start carrying a CDMA version of Apple's iPhone 4 during February 2011. Existing Verizon Wireless customers could pre-order iPhone on February 3. Pricing for the iPhone 4 was $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB.
The Verizon iPhone 5 released on Friday, September 19, in the United States;
World timeline
The international release of iPhone was staggered over several months. Today, the iPhone is available in most countries.| Date | Country | Carrier |
| June 2007 | AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, C Spire Wireless, Cricket, Virgin Mobile, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, U.S. Cellular | |
| November 2007 | , Virgin Mobile | |
| March 2008 | ||
| July 2008 | ||
| August 2008 | ||
| September 2008 | ||
| October 2008 | ||
| November 2008 | ||
| Later 2008 | ||
| January 2009 | ||
| February 2009 | ||
| March 2009 | ||
| October 2009 | ||
| November 2009 | ||
| December 2009 | ||
| March 2010 | ||
| September 2010 | ||
| June 2011 | ||
| December 2013 | ||
| May 2014 | ||
| October 2014 |
† iPhone offered by multiple carriers under contract from Apple
‡ iPhone offered without contract and without carrier lock
§ MVNO with O2