Apple has always been known for developing trendy and cutting edge electronic
consumer products that attract a large number of followers. Already before the release of Apple
iPhone in June 2007, guesses have been made widely about the outlook, the specifications and
about the general properties of the product. No wonder, as the Apple iPhone seems to be an
innovative and novel product, combining the technology of iPods, a revolutionary mobile phone
and a handy internet device, as some assert, three separate products in one.
The Beginnings The visible or at least documented history of the Apple iPhone starts
with the instruction of Steve Jobbs, CEO of Apple for engineers to start researching touch
screens, at that time, most probably still having the development of Apple tablet PCs in mind.
However, already in April 2003, he declared in a conference that the development of traditional
PDAs or tablet PCs was not the way ahead for Apple.
New innovations perhaps lie in the realm of cell phones, and thus, technologies,
connected to them should be improved upon. The appearance of the new product, Apple iPhone
wa announced in January, 2007 at the MacWorld Expo with a release date for 2007 June. It is
also declared in a later conference that Apple iPhone will support third parties creating Web 2.0
applications and users will be able to access these on the internet.
Release and Further DevelopmentsApple iPhone eventually went on sale June 29, 2007,
in the United States, hundreds of people reportedly lining up in front of the shops to be able to
grab the new Apple iPhone as soon as possible. The iPhone was originally released in two
variations, one, with a flash drive of 4 GB for $499 and the 8 GB version for $599, though the
sales of the 8 GB far outnumbering that of the other one, which was eventually
discontinued.Moreover, as a further development, the price is radically reduced by $200 as soon
as September, for which Apple was quite widely attacked as this pricing and the sudden drop is
believed to be unfair. The popularity of the Apple iPhone in the beginnings is by no means as
great as expected.
For example, the sales for the first weekend were initially estimated to be somewhere
between 200,000 and 700,000 products. But just roughly 145,000 activations were registered for
the first weekend.Moreover, the applications of Apple iPhone were originally only available to
those who make a two-year subscription with AT&T, with offers that do not pay off for
everyone. There was also wide media coverage of a 300-page bill, after which AT&T
makes a change in its billing practices.Apple iPhone was launched in Europe by the end of 2007,
in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. However, in Europe, Apple seemed to face legal
difficulties if it is to follow its scheme of offering iPhone only through one selected company.