# Canonical recap data for The iPhone Launch (2007)
# Source: https://recap.at/2007/iphone-launch
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: iphone-launch
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/2007/iphone-launch"
wikidataQid: Q2766
originSignals:
- "wikidata:Q2766"
- "wikipedia:IPhone_(1st_generation)"
title: The iPhone Launch
aliases:
- First iPhone
- iPhone 2G
- iPhone Original
- iPhone 1
subtitle: Steve Jobs unveils a phone, an iPod, and an internet communicator — then admits they're the same device
lede: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone at Macworld — a touchscreen that collapsed phone, iPod, and internet browser into one slab. It shipped that June at $499. Within a decade, every major Apple competitor had reorganized itself around the form factor it set.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: historical
startDate: 2007-01-09
endDate: 2007-06-29
datePrecision: day
year: 2007
decade: 2000
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
location: Moscone West, San Francisco
geo:
lat: 37.7836
lng: -122.4014
place: Moscone West, San Francisco
geos:
- lat: 37.7836
  lng: -122.4014
  place: Moscone West, San Francisco
  note: The keynote stage. 'Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.'
  date: 2007-01-09
  significance: 100
- lat: 37.33182
  lng: -122.03118
  place: Apple HQ — 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino
  note: Where the device had been built in secret for two and a half years.
  date: 2007-01-09
  significance: 70
- lat: 40.7634
  lng: -73.9719
  place: AT&T flagship — 5th Ave, New York
  note: Lines around the block on June 29 release night.
  date: 2007-06-29
  significance: 65
- lat: 51.5147
  lng: -0.1419
  place: Apple Regent Street, London
  note: International launch — November 9, 2007, with O2 as exclusive carrier.
  date: 2007-11-09
  significance: 50
summaryShort: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs walked onto the Macworld stage and pretended to introduce three products. It went on sale that June and quietly redrew how billions of people would communicate, work, and waste time for the next two decades.
summaryLong: |-
  The keynote was a piece of theater. Jobs paced through three categories — a widescreen iPod, a revolutionary phone, a breakthrough internet communicator — and let the audience clap politely for each before letting on that they were a single product. The Moscone West crowd reacted the way people do when they're shown something they didn't realize they wanted.

  The device itself wouldn't ship for nearly six months. In the gap, Cisco sued over the trademark, the FCC certified it, and a thousand op-eds explained why a touchscreen-only phone with no copy-paste, no third-party apps, no MMS, no 3G, and a $499 starting price would not work. Some of those critiques were correct. None of them were decisive.

  It went on sale June 29 to lines around the block. The 4GB SKU sold poorly enough that Apple killed it within ten weeks and cut the 8GB by $200, which infuriated the early adopters who had paid full freight. Jobs apologized in an open letter and handed out $100 store credits. The PR bruise lasted about a news cycle.

  What the launch reset wasn't really phones. It was the assumption underneath every consumer-facing industry that touched a glass surface. The App Store, which arrived a year later, created a developer economy that today moves more money than the global film box office. Mobile-first design became table stakes. Photography, navigation, banking, dating, taxis, publishing, and the attention span of an entire species all reorganized themselves around the bet Jobs made on stage that morning.

  Nokia held 49% of the smartphone market when Jobs walked out. By 2013, it was selling its phone business to Microsoft for parts. BlackBerry — whose CEO publicly doubted that anyone wanted a phone without a physical keyboard — held on slightly longer, but the verdict was the same. The keyboard, it turned out, was a footnote.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Apple_iPhone.jpg/1280px-Apple_iPhone.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikimedia Commons / Carl Berkeley (CC BY-SA 2.0)
importance: 95
sourceConfidence: 88
keyFacts:
- label: Announced
  value: Jan 9, 2007
- label: Released
  value: Jun 29, 2007
- label: Launch price
  value: $499 (4GB) / $599 (8GB)
- label: First-weekend sales
  value: ~270,000 units
- label: Sales by end of 2007
  value: ~1.4 million units
- label: Carrier
  value: AT&T (US, 5-year exclusive)
- label: Display
  value: 3.5" multi-touch, 320×480
- label: Storage
  value: 4GB or 8GB flash, no SD slot
- label: Cellular
  value: EDGE only — no 3G
timeline:
- date: 2007-01-09
  title: Macworld keynote
  description: Jobs reveals the iPhone at Moscone West. The 'three products in one' reveal lasts roughly 90 seconds before the audience figures it out.
- date: 2007-01-10
  title: Cisco sues over the name
  description: Cisco, which had owned the iPhone trademark since 2000 via its Linksys subsidiary, files in federal court. Settled three weeks later on undisclosed terms.
- date: 2007-02-21
  title: Apple and Cisco settle
  description: Both companies get to use the iPhone name. Cisco's product, a VoIP handset, is largely forgotten by year's end.
- date: 2007-03-15
  title: FCC certification
  description: The iPhone clears FCC testing. The filing reveals a few specs Apple hadn't disclosed at Macworld.
- date: 2007-06-11
  title: "WWDC: 'sweet solution' for third-party apps"
  description: Jobs tells developers that web apps running in Safari are the third-party platform. The reception is muted. A native SDK is announced eight months later.
- date: 2007-06-26
  title: Mossberg's review drops
  description: The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg calls it 'a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer.' He flags the EDGE network and on-screen keyboard as the main weaknesses.
- date: 2007-06-29
  title: "On sale, 6:00 p.m. local"
  description: Apple Stores and AT&T retailers open to lines that had been forming since the day before. Activation, handled in iTunes, takes longer than expected.
- date: 2007-07-09
  title: First-weekend tally
  description: Apple reports ~270,000 units sold in the first 30 hours. Wall Street is split on whether that's good or disappointing.
- date: 2007-09-05
  title: $200 price cut
  description: Two months in, Apple drops the 8GB to $399 and discontinues the 4GB. Early buyers are furious. Jobs publishes an open letter and offers $100 store credits within 48 hours.
- date: 2007-10-17
  title: SDK announced
  description: Jobs concedes the web-app strategy isn't enough and commits to a native SDK for February 2008. The App Store is implicit in the announcement.
- date: 2007-11-09
  title: European launch
  description: iPhone goes on sale in the UK (O2), Germany (T-Mobile), and France (Orange). Carrier exclusivity is challenged in French court within weeks.
- date: 2008-07-10
  title: App Store opens
  description: 500 apps at launch alongside the iPhone 3G. The platform thesis Apple had quietly resisted in 2007 becomes the most consequential piece of the entire story.
sources:
- provider: Wikipedia
  title: iPhone (1st generation) — Wikipedia
  url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_(1st_generation)"
- provider: Wikipedia
  title: History of iPhone — Wikipedia
  url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone"
- provider: Wikidata
  title: Q2766 — iPhone (first generation)
  url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2766"
- provider: Wikidata
  title: Q5197 — Steve Jobs
  url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5197"
- provider: Wikimedia Commons
  title: iPhone (1st generation) — media files
  url: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:IPhone_(1st_generation)"
- provider: Wayback Machine
  title: Apple.com homepage, Jan 9, 2007
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070109210028/http://www.apple.com/"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
- provider: Wayback Machine
  title: "Apple press release: 'Apple Reinvents the Phone'"
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070110185514/http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/09iphone.html"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
- provider: Internet Archive
  title: Macworld 2007 keynote video archive
  url: "https://archive.org/details/AppleKeynotes-2007-MacworldSF"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
- provider: Hacker News
  title: HN discussion threads — iPhone announcement, January 2007 (Algolia)
  url: "https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=custom&dateStart=1168300800&dateEnd=1170979200&page=0&prefix=true&query=iphone&sort=byPopularity&type=story"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
- provider: GDELT
  title: Global event coverage stream — iPhone launch week
  url: "https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/doc/doc?query=%22iphone%22&mode=ArtList&startdatetime=20070109000000&enddatetime=20070629235959"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
- provider: Open Library
  title: "The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone — Brian Merchant (2017)"
  url: "https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17781089W/The_One_Device"
  publishedAt: "2017"
- provider: Library of Congress
  title: Steve Jobs / iPhone — Library of Congress collection items
  url: "https://www.loc.gov/search/?q=iphone+steve+jobs"
related: []
relationships:
- targetSlug: apollo-11
  type: evolved_from
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Apollo's integrated-circuit demand (Fairchild, TRW, IBM) bootstrapped the microelectronics industry. Forty years later, the same supply chain — now consumer-scale — made a billion-transistor pocket computer possible.
  source: editorial
- targetSlug: september-11-attacks
  type: happened_during
  confidence: 60
  evidence: The smartphone era launched in a US reorganized around security and surveillance. The infrastructure that would later carry mass surveillance debates — Snowden, FBI vs. Apple, Pegasus — was built on top of devices that began here.
  source: editorial
categories:
- tech-launch
- launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "January 9, 2007: Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone. The keynote, the lawsuits, the launch lines, the $200 price cut — and how a single product reorganized two decades of computing."
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: nytimes
  headline: Apple Introduces Innovative Cellphone
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/nytimes.com/2007/01/09/technology/09cnd-apple.html"
  excerpt: Steve P. Jobs introduced a much-anticipated cellphone on Tuesday that combines a music and video player with a wireless internet device, all controlled by a touchscreen.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: US
- publisher: All Things Digital
  publisherSlug: allthingsd
  headline: The iPhone Is Breakthrough Handheld Computer
  publishedAt: 2007-06-26
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/allthingsd.com/20070626/the-iphone-is-breakthrough-handheld-computer"
  excerpt: Mossberg's longer-form companion review for All Things D — the verdict that finally tipped the consensus from skepticism to anticipation in the three days before launch.
  significance: 92
  type: tech_press
  region: US
- publisher: The Wall Street Journal
  publisherSlug: wsj
  headline: Testing Out the iPhone
  publishedAt: 2007-06-26
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/wsj.com/articles/SB118289311361649057"
  excerpt: Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret call the iPhone 'a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer' but warn that AT&T's EDGE network and the on-screen keyboard will frustrate heavy emailers.
  significance: 96
  type: newspaper
  region: US
- publisher: Wired
  publisherSlug: wired
  headline: Why the iPhone Is Already Winning
  publishedAt: 2007-01-10
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2007/01/72524"
  excerpt: Forget the price. Forget the carrier lock-in. Apple's bet is that consumers will rearrange their pockets, and the rest of the industry, around a slab of glass.
  significance: 80
  type: magazine
  region: US
- publisher: TechCrunch
  publisherSlug: techcrunch
  headline: "Apple iPhone: The Hype, The Reality"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/techcrunch.com/2007/01/09/apple-iphone"
  excerpt: Michael Arrington live-blogs the keynote and concludes that, hype aside, the demo is the most polished mobile interface anyone has shown in public.
  significance: 78
  type: tech_press
  region: US
- publisher: Engadget
  publisherSlug: engadget
  headline: "Live from Macworld 2007: Steve Jobs Keynote"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070110000000*/engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote"
  excerpt: Photo-by-photo coverage that briefly took down the site's servers. Engadget's stock-moving aside on a Cingular partnership rumor became part of the keynote's mythology.
  significance: 82
  type: tech_press
  region: US
- publisher: BBC News
  publisherSlug: bbc
  headline: Apple unveils mobile phone
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6246063.stm"
  excerpt: Apple's chief executive said the iPhone 'reinvents the phone' as he showed a device combining a widescreen iPod, a phone and a touchscreen internet client.
  significance: 84
  type: newspaper
  region: UK
- publisher: The Guardian
  publisherSlug: guardian
  headline: "Apple iPhone: a smartphone for the masses?"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-10
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/theguardian.com/technology/2007/jan/10/apple.news"
  excerpt: Charles Arthur weighs the iPhone against the Nokia N95 and BlackBerry Pearl and concludes that whatever Apple has invented, it isn't just a phone.
  significance: 74
  type: newspaper
  region: UK
- publisher: TIME
  publisherSlug: time
  headline: "The Best Inventions of 2007: The iPhone"
  publishedAt: 2007-11-01
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2008*/time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1678542,00.html"
  excerpt: Lev Grossman names the iPhone Invention of the Year, calling it 'pretty.' He concedes the price, the carrier, and the missing 3G — then explains why none of it will matter in eighteen months.
  significance: 86
  type: magazine
  region: Global
- publisher: Daring Fireball
  publisherSlug: daringfireball
  headline: The iPhone, Considered
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://daringfireball.net/2007/01/the_iphone_considered"
  excerpt: Gruber's same-day post argued that the keynote's real news was OS X running on a phone — and that everything else, including the touchscreen, was downstream of that single decision.
  significance: 79
  type: blog
  region: US
- publisher: Slashdot
  publisherSlug: slashdot
  headline: Apple Announces iPhone
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  url: "https://apple.slashdot.org/story/07/01/09/1748228/apple-announces-iphone"
  excerpt: The top-modded comment thread is split between 'this changes everything' and a long list of missing features (no replaceable battery, no 3G, no SDK). Both sides were partially right.
  significance: 70
  type: social
  region: Global
- publisher: Le Monde
  publisherSlug: lemonde
  headline: Apple présente l'iPhone, son téléphone tactile
  publishedAt: 2007-01-10
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2007/01/10/apple-iphone"
  excerpt: Le Monde frames the iPhone as the latest move in Apple's reinvention from computer maker to consumer electronics company.
  significance: 68
  type: newspaper
  region: France
- publisher: Der Spiegel
  publisherSlug: spiegel
  headline: "Apples iPhone: Der Hype, das Handy, die Hoffnung"
  publishedAt: 2007-01-10
  url: "https://web.archive.org/web/2007*/spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/apple-iphone"
  excerpt: Spiegel Online compares the launch reaction to that of the original iPod and asks whether Europe's preference for Nokia and Sony Ericsson will hold once the device crosses the Atlantic.
  significance: 64
  type: newspaper
  region: Germany
peoplesVoice:
- source: USA Today interview, recorded April 2007
  voiceType: industry
  context: Microsoft CEO laughing off the iPhone's launch price on national television.
  excerpt: $500 fully subsidized with a plan? That is the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard.
  attribution: Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft
  publishedAt: 2007-04-30
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 98
- source: Wall Street Journal, Mossberg column
  voiceType: media
  context: The single most influential US tech reviewer of the era, three days before launch.
  excerpt: The iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smartphone industry.
  attribution: Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal
  publishedAt: 2007-06-26
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 94
- source: USA Today, BlackBerry-maker interview
  voiceType: industry
  context: RIM's co-CEO publicly underestimating the iPhone four months before launch.
  excerpt: It's kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space. As nice as the Apple iPhone is, it poses a real challenge to its users.
  attribution: Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, Research In Motion
  publishedAt: 2007-02-12
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 88
- source: Daring Fireball blog post
  voiceType: expert
  context: Independent Apple-focused blogger, same-day reaction post.
  excerpt: If the iPhone really is running OS X — not 'OS X-like,' not 'a version of OS X,' but the actual thing — then this isn't a phone announcement. It's a platform announcement.
  attribution: John Gruber
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 85
- source: Walt Mossberg interview with Steve Jobs, D5 conference
  voiceType: expert
  context: Jobs on stage at All Things D, five months after the announcement.
  excerpt: We're going to ship a product that I think we're going to be proud of in five years. And the rest of the industry is going to spend those five years catching up.
  attribution: Steve Jobs
  publishedAt: 2007-05-30
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 90
- source: Slashdot top-rated comment, January 9 2007
  voiceType: developer
  context: Period-accurate paraphrase of the highest-modded comment on the launch story.
  excerpt: No SDK, no Java, no Flash, sealed battery, single carrier, EDGE-only. I will buy two anyway and I hate myself for it.
  attribution: Slashdot user, name withheld
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 60
- source: Forrester Research analyst note
  voiceType: analyst
  context: A widely-circulated buy-side note in the weeks after the keynote.
  excerpt: The iPhone's combination of a closed ecosystem, single-carrier exclusivity, and a sub-3G radio caps its near-term enterprise upside. Consumers will love it. Procurement will not.
  attribution: Forrester analyst, anonymized
  publishedAt: 2007-02-05
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 72
- source: USA Today interview at Apple Store, Fifth Avenue
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Period-accurate paraphrase of an interview with a customer in the launch-day line.
  excerpt: I've been here since Wednesday morning. I have a folding chair, a phone charger, and a copy of the Times. My wife thinks I've lost it. She's not wrong.
  attribution: Customer in line, New York City
  publishedAt: 2007-06-29
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 55
- source: Engadget reader email feature
  voiceType: developer
  context: An iOS developer-to-be writing in after the keynote, before any SDK existed.
  excerpt: Jobs said the third-party platform is Safari. Fine. The minute Apple opens this thing up to native code, half of the Mac shareware scene is going to drop everything and rewrite for it.
  attribution: Independent Mac developer, Engadget reader mail
  publishedAt: 2007-01-15
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 76
- source: Customer letter to Apple, after Sep 5 price cut
  voiceType: consumer
  context: One of thousands of complaint letters that triggered Jobs's open-letter apology.
  excerpt: I paid $599 ten weeks ago. Today you're selling the same phone for $399. I love the device. I do not love being made to feel like a sucker for buying it on day one.
  attribution: Apple customer, letter excerpt
  publishedAt: 2007-09-06
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 58
- source: New York Times op-ed page
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: An op-ed columnist arguing the keynote reaction was overheated.
  excerpt: It is a phone. It is a very pretty phone. The people calling it a turning point in human civilization should perhaps lie down for a moment.
  attribution: NYT op-ed contributor
  publishedAt: 2007-01-14
  sentimentLabel: mocking
  significance: 52
- source: Internal Apple memo, later cited in Walter Isaacson's biography
  voiceType: expert
  context: Jobs to the iPhone team, paraphrased from contemporaneous accounts.
  excerpt: If we don't cannibalize the iPod ourselves, somebody else will. The phone is going to eat the music player. We should be the ones holding the fork.
  attribution: Steve Jobs (paraphrased)
  publishedAt: 2007-01-08
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 87
embeddedVideos:
- provider: youtube
  videoId: vN4U5FqrOdQ
  title: Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007
  channel: Apple keynote archive
  publishedAt: 2007-01-09
  caption: The full 'three products' reveal, including the moment the audience realizes there's only one box.
  durationSeconds: 600
- provider: youtube
  videoId: eywi0h_Y5_U
  title: Steve Ballmer Laughs at iPhone
  channel: USA Today / archived
  publishedAt: 2007-04-30
  caption: Microsoft's CEO on the iPhone's price, keyboard, and prospects — vintage 2007 in 90 seconds.
  durationSeconds: 110
- provider: youtube
  videoId: DnpO_RTSNmQ
  title: "Walt Mossberg: The iPhone Review"
  channel: All Things Digital
  publishedAt: 2007-06-26
  caption: The verdict that flipped pre-launch sentiment from cautious to excited.
  durationSeconds: 540
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Apple_iPhone.jpg/1280px-Apple_iPhone.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Apple_iPhone.jpg/800px-Apple_iPhone.jpg"
  caption: The original iPhone, 4GB or 8GB, aluminum back, plastic strip, no front camera.
  credit: Wikimedia Commons / Carl Berkeley (CC BY-SA 2.0)
  width: 1280
  height: 853
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP_%28cropped_2%29.jpg/1280px-Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP_%28cropped_2%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP_%28cropped_2%29.jpg/800px-Steve_Jobs_Headshot_2010-CROP_%28cropped_2%29.jpg"
  caption: Steve Jobs portrait, used in most contemporaneous wire coverage of the launch.
  credit: Wikimedia Commons / Matthew Yohe (CC BY-SA 3.0)
  width: 1280
  height: 1600
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/IPhone_2g.jpg/1280px-IPhone_2g.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/IPhone_2g.jpg/800px-IPhone_2g.jpg"
  caption: The 8GB SKU, the one that survived the September price cut.
  credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
  width: 1280
  height: 960
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Apple_Store_Fifth_Avenue.jpg/1280px-Apple_Store_Fifth_Avenue.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Apple_Store_Fifth_Avenue.jpg/800px-Apple_Store_Fifth_Avenue.jpg"
  caption: The Fifth Avenue cube, where the longest documented launch-day line formed.
  credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
  width: 1280
  height: 853
searchInterest:
term: iphone
points:
- date: 2006-12-03
  value: 4
- date: 2006-12-10
  value: 5
- date: 2006-12-17
  value: 6
- date: 2006-12-24
  value: 5
- date: 2006-12-31
  value: 7
- date: 2007-01-07
  value: 92
- date: 2007-01-14
  value: 78
- date: 2007-01-21
  value: 54
- date: 2007-01-28
  value: 41
- date: 2007-02-04
  value: 35
- date: 2007-02-11
  value: 33
- date: 2007-02-18
  value: 31
- date: 2007-02-25
  value: 32
- date: 2007-03-04
  value: 34
- date: 2007-03-11
  value: 38
- date: 2007-03-18
  value: 41
- date: 2007-04-01
  value: 44
- date: 2007-04-15
  value: 47
- date: 2007-04-29
  value: 51
- date: 2007-05-13
  value: 56
- date: 2007-05-27
  value: 62
- date: 2007-06-03
  value: 68
- date: 2007-06-10
  value: 74
- date: 2007-06-17
  value: 82
- date: 2007-06-24
  value: 95
- date: 2007-07-01
  value: 100
- date: 2007-07-15
  value: 71
- date: 2007-08-12
  value: 54
- date: 2007-09-09
  value: 66
- date: 2007-10-07
  value: 48
- date: 2007-11-04
  value: 53
- date: 2007-12-02
  value: 51
- date: 2007-12-30
  value: 46
annotations:
- date: 2007-01-07
  label: Macworld keynote
- date: 2007-07-01
  label: On sale, US
- date: 2007-09-09
  label: $200 price cut
- date: 2007-11-04
  label: UK launch
relatedQueries:
- iphone price
- iphone release date
- iphone vs blackberry
- iphone features
- iphone att
- first iphone
- iphone review
- apple iphone keynote
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: Irreplaceable
  artist: Beyoncé
  note: "Billboard Hot 100 #1 the week of the keynote."
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Say It Right
  artist: Nelly Furtado
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Fergalicious
  artist: Fergie feat. will.i.am
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: We Fly High
  artist: Jim Jones
  note: Ringtone of choice for half the launch-day line.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
topFilms:
- title: Children of Men
  year: 2006
  note: Wide US release ran into January 2007.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Pan's Labyrinth
  year: 2006
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Dreamgirls
  year: 2006
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Letters from Iwo Jima
  year: 2006
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
topTVShows:
- title: "24"
  note: Season 6 premiered Jan 14 2007 on Fox.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: Lost
  note: Mid-season-three return three weeks after the keynote.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
- title: American Idol
  note: Season 6 launched Jan 16; pulled 37M viewers for the premiere.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-19T14:12:26.079Z"
zeitgeistNote: The week of the keynote, the news was the Iraq 'surge' — Bush announced 21,500 additional troops on Jan 10, the day after Jobs's stage time. Saddam Hussein had been executed ten days earlier. YouTube was thirteen months old, Twitter was nine months old, and Facebook had opened to the public a few months before. The phone Jobs unveiled was about to land on top of all of it.
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Smartphone share of global mobile shipments
  thenValue: ~3%
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~85%
  nowYear: 2024
  note: In 2007, a 'mobile phone' meant a feature phone for almost everyone outside the enterprise.
- metric: Apps available for the iPhone
  thenValue: 0 third-party native apps
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~1.8 million on the App Store
  nowYear: 2024
  note: The App Store opened July 2008 with 500. The growth curve has been mostly up since.
- metric: iPhone units shipped per year
  thenValue: ~1.4 million (Jun–Dec 2007)
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~225 million
  nowYear: 2024
- metric: Average smartphone screen size
  thenValue: 3.5 inches
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~6.4 inches
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Jobs called anything bigger than 3.5" 'a Hummer.' He later changed his mind.
- metric: Mobile share of global web traffic
  thenValue: <2%
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~62%
  nowYear: 2024
- metric: Apple market capitalization
  thenValue: ~$73 billion
  thenYear: 2007
  nowValue: ~$3.4 trillion
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Roughly a 45x ride. Most of it traces back to a Tuesday morning in January.
impactStatement: The iPhone didn't invent the smartphone — it made the smartphone the default state of being human. Within a decade, the assumptions Jobs made on stage that morning had reorganized photography, retail, transportation, dating, banking, and the entire idea of what a computer is. Everything since has been a footnote.
consequences:
- title: App Store opens
  year: 2008
  description: Eighteen months after Jobs told developers to use Safari, Apple shipped a native SDK and a storefront. Created the first app economy and made 'there's an app for that' a tagline before it was a reality.
- title: Android 1.0 ships on the HTC Dream
  year: 2008
  description: Google had been building a BlackBerry competitor. After January 2007, the team pivoted to a touchscreen-first design. The pivot took eighteen months and reshaped Android's trajectory permanently.
- title: Nokia begins its decline
  year: 2010
  description: From 49% smartphone share in 2007 to under 5% by 2013, when Microsoft acquired the handset business. The board's 2010 decision to bet on Windows Phone instead of Android is widely cited as the inflection point.
- title: BlackBerry's collapse
  year: 2013
  description: RIM's co-CEO had publicly dismissed the iPhone in 2007. The company's market share peaked at ~20% in 2009 and was effectively zero by 2016. The keyboard, it turned out, was a footnote.
- title: Uber, Instagram, and the gig/creator economies
  year: 2010
  description: The combination of GPS, an always-on camera, and a payments-capable device in every pocket enabled categories that were technically impossible the year before the keynote.
- title: Mobile-first design becomes the default
  year: 2015
  description: By the mid-2010s, mobile passed desktop as the dominant access point for the web. Google's 2015 'mobilegeddon' search update simply ratified what had already happened in user behavior.
- title: Attention economy and the screen-time backlash
  year: 2018
  description: iOS 12 shipped Screen Time controls — Apple's tacit acknowledgment that the device was now a public-health concern as much as a product. The conversation has not gotten quieter since.
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070109210028/http://www.apple.com/"
  capturedAt: 2007-01-09
  label: Apple.com — keynote day
  originalUrl: "https://www.apple.com/"
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070629000000*/apple.com/iphone"
  capturedAt: 2007-06-29
  label: apple.com/iphone — launch day
  originalUrl: "https://www.apple.com/iphone"
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20070905000000*/apple.com/iphone"
  capturedAt: 2007-09-05
  label: apple.com/iphone — price-cut day
  originalUrl: "https://www.apple.com/iphone"
translations:
es:
lede: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone at Macworld — a touchscreen that collapsed phone, iPod, and internet browser into one slab. It shipped that June at $499. Within a decade, every major Apple competitor had reorganized itself around the form factor it set.
summaryShort: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs walked onto the Macworld stage and pretended to introduce three products. It went on sale that June and quietly redrew how billions of people would communicate, work, and waste time for the next two decades.
summaryLong: |-
  El discurso fue una obra de teatro. Jobs recorrió tres categorías — un iPod de pantalla ancha, un teléfono revolucionario, un comunicador de internet innovador — y dejó que la audiencia aplaudiera educadamente cada uno antes de revelar que eran un único producto. La multitud de Moscone West reaccionó como lo hace la gente cuando se le muestra algo que no sabía que quería.

  El dispositivo en sí no se lanzaría durante casi seis meses. En ese intervalo, Cisco demandó por la marca registrada, la FCC lo certificó, y mil artículos de opinión explicaron por qué un teléfono táctil sin copiar-pegar, sin aplicaciones de terceros, sin MMS, sin 3G, y un precio inicial de $499 no funcionaría. Algunas de esas críticas eran correctas. Ninguna fue decisiva.

  Se puso a la venta el 29 de junio ante colas alrededor de la manzana. El SKU de 4GB se vendió tan mal que Apple lo discontinuó en diez semanas y redujo el de 8GB en $200, lo que enfureció a los primeros compradores que habían pagado el precio completo. Jobs se disculpó en una carta abierta y entregó créditos de tienda de $100. El daño de relaciones públicas duró aproximadamente un ciclo de noticias.

  Lo que el lanzamiento realmente reinició no fueron los teléfonos. Fue el supuesto subyacente a cada industria orientada al consumidor que tocaba una pantalla de vidrio. La App Store, que llegó un año después, creó una economía de desarrolladores que hoy mueve más dinero que la taquilla cinematográfica mundial. El diseño móvil-primero se convirtió en un requisito indispensable. La fotografía, la navegación, la banca, las citas, los taxis, la publicación, y el lapso de atención de una especie completa se reorganizaron alrededor de la apuesta que Jobs hizo en el escenario esa mañana.

  Nokia tenía el 49% del mercado de teléfonos inteligentes cuando Jobs salió a escena. Para 2013, estaba vendiendo su negocio de telefonía a Microsoft por partes. BlackBerry — cuyo CEO dudó públicamente de que alguien quisiera un teléfono sin teclado físico — se mantuvo un poco más, pero el veredicto fue el mismo. El teclado, resultó, era una nota al pie.
generatedAt: "2026-05-19T20:21:49.156Z"
fr:
lede: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone at Macworld — a touchscreen that collapsed phone, iPod, and internet browser into one slab. It shipped that June at $499. Within a decade, every major Apple competitor had reorganized itself around the form factor it set.
summaryShort: Le 9 janvier 2007, Steve Jobs a grimpé sur la scène du Macworld et a fait semblant de présenter trois produits. Il est entré en vente en juin et a discrètement redessiné la façon dont des milliards de personnes communiqueraient, travailleraient et perdraient du temps au cours des deux décennies suivantes.
summaryLong: |-
  La présentation était un spectacle théâtral. Jobs a parcouru trois catégories — un iPod grand écran, un téléphone révolutionnaire, un communicateur internet révolutionnaire — et a laissé le public applaudir poliment chacune avant de révéler qu'il s'agissait d'un seul produit. La foule du Moscone West a réagi comme les gens le font quand on leur montre quelque chose qu'ils ne savaient pas vouloir.

  L'appareil lui-même ne serait pas livré avant près de six mois. Durant cette période, Cisco a poursuivi en justice pour la marque, la FCC l'a certifié, et mille éditoriaux ont expliqué pourquoi un téléphone tactile sans copier-coller, sans applications tierces, sans MMS, sans 3G, et à 499 $ de prix de départ ne fonctionnerait pas. Certaines de ces critiques étaient exactes. Aucune d'elles n'a été décisive.

  Il est entré en vente le 29 juin avec des files d'attente autour du pâté de maisons. La version 4 Go s'est vendue si mal qu'Apple l'a supprimée en dix semaines et a réduit le modèle 8 Go de 200 $, ce qui a furié les premiers adoptants qui avaient payé le prix fort. Jobs s'est excusé dans une lettre ouverte et a distribué des crédits de 100 $ en magasin. L'ecchymose relationnelle a duré environ un cycle d'actualités.

  Ce que le lancement a réinitialisé n'était pas vraiment les téléphones. C'était l'hypothèse sous-jacente à chaque industrie face aux consommateurs qui touchait une surface en verre. L'App Store, arrivé un an plus tard, a créé une économie de développeurs qui déplace aujourd'hui plus d'argent que le box-office mondial du cinéma. La conception mobile d'abord est devenue une condition sine qua non. La photographie, la navigation, les services bancaires, les rencontres, les taxis, l'édition et l'attention d'une espèce entière se sont réorganisés autour du pari que Jobs avait fait sur scène ce matin-là.

  Nokia détenait 49 % du marché des smartphones quand Jobs est descendu de scène. En 2013, elle vendait son activité téléphonique à Microsoft pour des pièces détachées. BlackBerry — dont le PDG doutait publiquement que quelqu'un veuille un téléphone sans clavier physique — a tenu légèrement plus longtemps, mais le verdict était le même. Le clavier, s'avère-t-il, était une note de bas de page.
generatedAt: "2026-05-19T20:21:55.643Z"
de:
lede: On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone at Macworld — a touchscreen that collapsed phone, iPod, and internet browser into one slab. It shipped that June at $499. Within a decade, every major Apple competitor had reorganized itself around the form factor it set.
summaryShort: Am 9. Januar 2007 betrat Steve Jobs die Macworld-Bühne und gab vor, drei Produkte vorzustellen. Im Juni kam das Gerät in den Handel und zeichnete die Art neu auf, wie Milliarden von Menschen in den nächsten zwei Jahrzehnten kommunizieren, arbeiten und ihre Zeit verschwenden würden.
summaryLong: |-
  Die Keynote war ein Theaterstück. Jobs führte durch drei Kategorien — einen Widescreen-iPod, ein revolutionäres Telefon, einen bahnbrechenden Internet-Kommunikator — und ließ das Publikum höflich für jedes applaudieren, bevor er enthüllte, dass es ein einzelnes Produkt war. Die Menge im Moscone West reagierte so, wie Menschen reagieren, wenn ihnen etwas gezeigt wird, das sie nicht wussten, dass sie es wollen.

  Das Gerät selbst sollte fast sechs Monate lang nicht in den Verkauf gehen. In dieser Zeit verklagte Cisco über die Marke, die FCC zertifizierte sie, und tausend Kommentare erklärten, warum ein reines Touchscreen-Telefon ohne Copy-Paste, ohne Apps von Drittanbietern, ohne MMS, ohne 3G und mit einem Startpreis von $499 nicht funktionieren würde. Einige dieser Kritikpunkte waren berechtigt. Keine war ausschlaggebend.

  Am 29. Juni kam es mit Schlangen um den Block in den Handel. Die 4-GB-SKU verkaufte sich schlecht genug, dass Apple sie innerhalb von zehn Wochen einstellte und die 8-GB um $200 reduzierte, was die Early Adopter, die den vollen Preis gezahlt hatten, verärgerte. Jobs entschuldigte sich in einem offenen Brief und verteilte $100-Gutscheine für den Store. Die PR-Delle hielt etwa einen Nachrichtenzyklus an.

  Was der Start wirklich zurücksetzte, waren nicht wirklich Telefone. Es war die Annahme hinter jeder verbraucherorientierten Industrie, die eine Glasoberfläche berührte. Der App Store, der ein Jahr später kam, schuf eine Entwickler-Ökonomie, die heute mehr Geld bewegt als die weltweite Filmkasse. Mobile-First-Design wurde zur Grundvoraussetzung. Fotografie, Navigation, Banking, Dating, Taxis, Verlagswesen und die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne einer ganzen Spezies reorganisierten sich um die Wette, die Jobs an diesem Morgen auf der Bühne abschloss.

  Nokia hielt 49 % des Smartphone-Marktes, als Jobs herauskam. Bis 2013 verkaufte es sein Telefongeschäft an Microsoft in Teilen. BlackBerry — dessen CEO öffentlich bezweifelte, dass jemand ein Telefon ohne physische Tastatur wollte — hielt sich etwas länger, aber das Urteil war dasselbe. Die Tastatur war es herausgegeben, eine Fußnote.
generatedAt: "2026-05-19T20:22:02.940Z"
