Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at Macworld – on January 9, 2007. I was very, very ill at the time, but I can still vividly remember how excited I was leading up to this event, and even more so once the iPhone was unveiled.
Here are some of my recollections of how things went and how I felt once Jobs got the iPhone section of his presentation:
After Jobs opened by saying that it was a day he’d been looking forward to for two and a half years, he pumped up the anticipation level by adding:
Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.
He recapped a couple of previous revolutionary products from Apple (the first Mac and the iPod) and then said on this day they would be introducing three such products. The first one was listed as a ‘wide-screen iPod with touch controls’. The second was a ‘revolutionary mobile phone’. The third was described as a ‘breakthrough internet communications device’.
Then came the moment the Macworld audience and so many of us had been so eagerly awaiting:
These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it … iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
Damn those words sounded good. After all the months and years of rumors and anticipation, it was confirmed – the iPhone was really happening.
I’d been fascinated with mobile technology for many years before that day. I was a huge fan of PDAs, way before there were any smartphones around. I was a heavy user of Windows Mobile powered smartphones when they first came along, and owned a Palm Treo and a Dell Axim X51V and a number of other mobile devices during those years. I’d always loved the idea of having a computer in my pocket.
And on January 9 2007 when I first saw the iPhone I just knew that was going to be the closest thing ever to exactly what I wanted from a mobile device. I knew that no other smartphone would do for me. If Apple would’ve allowed me to trade my current smartphone of that time plus all my other mobile devices and a big pile of cash for an iPhone right then, I’d have done it in a New York second.
Five years later, I’ve owned every iPhone and never once had my lofty expectations of it disappoint me.
I’d love to say that back on that iPhone unveiling day I knew that it would be the amazing, game-changing device that it has been – but I don’t think my thoughts had gone anywhere near there. I just knew it looked like the perfect device for me.
What about you all? Do you remember that iPhone announcement day? If so, what were your feelings about it?
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TAGS: iPhone, iPhone 5 years, Steve Jobs
