History of iPhone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 2007 | iPhone (1st generation) | |
| 2008 | iPhone 3G | |
| 2009 | iPhone 3GS | |
| 2010 | iPhone 4 | |
| 2011 | iPhone 4S | |
| 2012 | iPhone 5 | |
| 2013 | iPhone 5S iPhone 5C | |
| 2014 | iPhone 6/6 Plus | |
| 2015 | iPhone 6S/6S Plus | |
| 2016 | iPhone SE |
The history of the iPhone line of smartphones begins with a direction from Steve Jobs to Apple Inc.'s engineers, whereby he asked them to investigate touchscreens and a tablet computer, which later came to fruition with iPad.[1][2][3][4] Also, many have noted the device's similarities to Apple's previous touch-screen portable device, the Newton MessagePad.[5][6][7][8] Like the Newton, iPhone is nearly all screen. Its form factor is credited to Apple's head of design, Jonathan Ive.[3][9]
In April 2003 at the "All Things Digital" executive conference, Jobs expressed his belief that tablet PCs and traditional PDAs were not good choices as high-demand markets for Apple to enter, despite many requests made to him that Apple create another PDA. He did believe that cell phones were going to become important devices for portable information access, and that what mobile phones needed to have was excellent synchronization software. At the time, instead of focusing on a follow-up to their Newton PDA, Jobs had Apple put its energies into iPod, and the iTunes software (which can be used to synchronize content with iPod devices), released January 2001.[10][11][12][13] On September 7, 2005, Apple and Motorola released the 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 (Motorola) prevented Apple from designing the phone they wanted to make.[14] 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.[15] Ed Zander (Motorola CEO at the time) “inspired” Steve Jobs with Moto's multimedia (e.g., iTune) + smartphone product concept. In result, Apple gained new product concept which was named "iPhone" while Motorola ironically walked away with limited version of iTunes app for Rokr/Slvr.
On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs announced iPhone at the Macworld convention, receiving substantial media attention,[16] and that it would be released later that year. On June 29, 2007 the first iPhone was released.
On June 11, 2007 announced at the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference that iPhone would support third-party applications using the Safari engine on the device. Third parties would create the Web 2.0 applications and users would access them via the internet.[17] Such applications appeared even before the release of iPhone; the first being "OneTrip", a program meant to keep track of the user's shopping list.[18] On June 29, 2007, Apple released version 7.3 of iTunes to coincide with the release of iPhone.[19] This release contains support for iPhone service activation and syncing.
According to The Wall Street Journal, iPhone is manufactured on contract in the Shenzhen factory of the Taiwanese company Hon Hai (also known as Foxconn).[20]
Exclusivity tying of iPhone to AT
When Apple initially released iPhone on June 29, 2007,[21] it was sold exclusively with AT&T (formerly Cingular) contracts in the United States.[14] The tying arrangement between Apple's smartphone and a specific service provider caused some controversy, bringing the concepts of jailbreaking and bricking into the mainstream debate over the future of smartphone technology.[citation needed]
History
After a year and a half of negotiations, Steve Jobs reached an agreement with the wireless division of the telecom giant AT&T (Cingular at the time) to be the iPhone's carrier. In return for five years of exclusivity, roughly 10 percent of iPhone sales in AT&T stores, and a thin slice of Apple's iTunes revenue, AT&T granted Apple roughly $10 a month from every iPhone customer's AT&T bill.[citation needed] In return, consumers were unable to use any other carrier without heavily modifying their device.
Apple retained complete control over the design, manufacturing, and marketing of iPhone.[22]
Since some customers were trying to jailbreak their iPhone to avoid the AT&T network, AT&T decided to charge consumers if they were to leave the network. This caused complaints among many consumers, as they were forced to pay an additional early termination fee of $175 to end the contract, and the device would remain locked.[23] Other companies such as Google complained that trying encourages a more closed-access-based wireless service.[citation needed]
Court cases
After iPhone was released, questions arose about the legality of Apple's arrangement,[24] and in October 2007 two class-action lawsuits were filed against Apple, one in federal court and the other in state court.[25] The suits claimed that Apple's exclusive agreement with AT&T violated California antitrust law.[26] The suit was filed by the Law Office of Damian R. Fernandez on behalf of California resident Timothy P. Smith,[26] and ultimately sought to have an injunction issued against Apple to prevent it from selling iPhones with any kind of software lock, in addition to $200 million in monetary damages.[27] The plaintiffs of the Smith v. Apple Inc. case claimed that Apple failed to disclose their five-year agreement with AT&T to purchasers when they bought their iPhones with a two-year contract, citing theSherman Act's prohibition on monopolization.[28] The court has not yet rendered a decision in the case.[dated info]
A second case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in 2007. The plaintiff, Paul Holman, filed a complaint against Apple, Inc. and AT&T Mobility, LLC. Holman alleged that he was unable to switch carriers or change SIM cards without losing improvements to his iPhones to which he was entitled. The plaintiff similarly referenced the Sherman Act as being violated by the defendants.[29] On July 8, 2010 the case was affirmed for class certification.[30]On December 9, 2010 the court ordered a stay on the case, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in AT&T v. Concepcion. This secondary case disputed whether a clause in AT&T's contract that limited complaints to arbitration, met the stat's basic standards of fairness.[31] On April 27, 2011 the Supreme Court ruled that AT&T did indeed meet the stat's standards of fairness.[32]
Advertising
See also: iPod advertising
The first advertisement for iPhone, titled "Hello," aired during the 79th Academy Awards on February 25, 2007, on American Coming in June. On June 4, 2007, Apple released four advertisements announcing a June 29, 2007, release date.
Domain name
On July 1, 2007, it was reported that Apple paid at least US$1 million to Michael Kovatch for the transfer of the iPhone.com domain name. Kovatch registered the domain in 1995.[33] That URL now redirects to Apple's iPhone page.
United 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 that had been with the company, at least, one year would receive a free iPhone. Employees received their phones in July after the initial demand subsided.[34]
Initially priced at US $499 and US $599 for the 4GB models and 8GB models respectively, 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.[35]
In the US and some other countries, the Apple product could only be acquired with a credit card, precluding a completely anonymous purchase.[36][37][38] There was no way to opt out of the data plan. iPhone, at first, 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, restrictions which AT&T changed in late January 2008.[39]
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 were taxing the company's computer servers."[40][41] On Oct 29, 2007 the Usenet newsgroup misc.phone.mobile.iphone was created.
Early estimates by technology analysts estimated sales of between 250,000 to 700,000 units in the first weekend alone, with strong sales continuing after the initial weekend.[42][43] 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.[44] It is also estimated that 95% of the units sold are the 8GB model.[45]
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.[46][47][48]
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.[49][50] 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.[51] 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.[52] Due to T-Mobile USA's inability to provide iPhone to customers raised its subscription churn rate, put the unit in an "unsustainable position", and contributed to parent Deutsche Telekom's decision to sell it to AT&T in March 2011; T-Mobile began offering iPhone on April 12, 2013.[53]
Media reports emerged in early August 2013 that announced that Apple would be launching its next iPhone model on September 10, 2013, but further details were not available. Brian Barrett, Managing Editor of the Gizmodo publication, speculated that either an upgraded version of iPhone 5 or a budget version would be released.[54]
Outsized bills
Main article: 300-page iPhone bill
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.[55] The 300-page iPhone bill in a box received by iJustine on Saturday, August 11, 2007[56][57] became the subject of her viral video, posted by the following Monday, which quickly became an Internet meme.[58][59] 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,[60] and had received international news coverage, AT&T sent iPhone users a text message outlining changes in its billing practices.[61]
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.[62] 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.[63][64]
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.[65]
iPhone 3G pricing model changes
With the July 11, 2008, release of iPhone 3G, Apple and AT&T changed the US pricing model from the previous generation. Following the de facto model for mobile phone service in the United States, AT&T would subsidize a sizable portion of the upfront cost for iPhone 3G followed by charging moderately higher monthly fees over a minimum two-year contract.[66]
European release
Occasionally Apple produced a limited amount of 4GB iPhone 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.[67]On November 9, 2007, iPhone was officially launched in Europe, in the United Kingdom and Germany. In the UK, sales go through the UK O2 unit of Telefónica, while in Germany, it is offered throughDeutsche Telekom's T-Mobile division. 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.
However, the initial operating model of locking iPhone owners to one selected carrier has been controversial in Europe. In Germany, a competing operator, Vodafone, brought a legal case claiming that the arrangement was against German law. On November 20, 2007, an interim court order resulted in locked iPhone sales 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 will pose the same problems for the locked iPhone business model include Belgium, Italy, Finland, and Brazil.
On December 1, 2007, Tušmobil, the Slovenian mobile operator, started selling "unlocked" iPhones without an official contract with Apple. The offer caused confusion between Apple Europe, local media, and local Apple representatives.[68]
On May 6, 2008, Telecom Italia announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Italy by the end of 2008.[69] 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 iPhone in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia during 2008.[70]
On June 4, 2008, Movistar announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Spain beginning on July 11, 2008.[71]
On August 22, 2008, Vodafone Greece released iPhones in the Greek market.[73]
Southeast Asian releases
SingTel in Singapore and Globe Telecom in the Philippines are the first two carriers to launch iPhone in Southeast Asia. Both carriers launched iPhone 3G in August 2009.
In March 20, 2009, Telkomsel is the first telecommunications company in Indonesia to offer iPhone 3G with customizeable plans for all Telkomsel's customers.[77] On the same month, Maxis of Malaysia launched the same iPhone model and was later followed by DiGi.
In October 2011, StarHub also launched iPhone in Singapore. Smart Communications followed suit in December 2011 by launching iPhone 4S in the Philippines making them the last telecommunications company to carry Apple's iPhone in Southeast Asia.[78]
Australian release
iPhone 4 is available unlocked from the Apple Store for $679.00 (8GB only)[79] as well as on contract from Optus, Telstra, Vodafone, Three and Virgin Mobile (all the major carriers).[80] It is considered against the Australian Trade Practices Act to grant exclusive rights to a single carrier as was the case in the USA with AT&T having exclusive rights to sell iPhone in North America for some time.[81]
New Zealand release
The very first iPhone 3G model released on July 11, 2008 was sold in Auckland, New Zealand to 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell at 12:01 am NZST.[82] iPhone 3G was only available to customers on the Vodafone network.[83] There was criticism from some New Zealand customers when Vodafone announced pricing for iPhone 3G as they were the only network to offer this generation iPhone.
The first generation of iPhone (2G) was only available for sale in New Zealand through parallel import stores soon after it went on sale in the US. The original 2G models available for sale in New Zealand have been unlocked for use on the Vodafone network and could be used with any plan including pre-paid plans.[84]
Subsequent launches of iPhone models in New Zealand have typically been a few weeks after the worldwide release. iPhone 5's 4G LTE capabilities can only be used on Vodafone's 4G LTE network,[85]as no other carriers have this capability yet.
On November 8, 2011, Telecom announced they would offer iPhone 4S on their network along with earlier models, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 .[86]
The first generation of iPhone (2G) was only available for sale in New Zealand through parallel import stores soon after it went on sale in the US. The original 2G models available for sale in New Zealand have been unlocked for use on the Vodafone network and could be used with any plan including pre-paid plans.[84]
Subsequent launches of iPhone models in New Zealand have typically been a few weeks after the worldwide release. iPhone 5's 4G LTE capabilities can only be used on Vodafone's 4G LTE network,[85]as no other carriers have this capability yet.
On November 8, 2011, Telecom announced they would offer iPhone 4S on their network along with earlier models, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 .[86]
Canadian release
After months of high anticipation, the first iPhone to be released in Canada was iPhone 3G. Rogers Wireless began offering 8 GB and 16 GB models on July 11, 2008. Facing a public backlash,[87] Rogers dropped the price of its service plan from CA$100 to CA$30 per month.[88]
iPhone 3GS with the new iPhone 3.0 operating system was released in Canada by Rogers Wireless on June 19, 2009. Users who sign up for a 3-year agreement with a data option could choose between a 16 GB device for CA$199 and a 32 GB device for CA$299.[89]
Bell and Telus Mobility announced their release of iPhone on November 4 and 5, 2009, respectively.[90]
Non-exclusive deals
On May 6, 2008, Vodafone announced that they signed a deal with Apple to sell iPhone in Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey.[91]
Subsequent announcements confirmed that Apple is moving away from exclusive one-carrier deals. Soon after Vodafone's announcement, TIM announced it would also be selling iPhone in Italy, on May 12, 2008 Optus[92] confirmed it would sell it in Australia and SingTel confirmed that it would be selling iPhone in India through its Indian Joint Venture, Airtel.
On June 4, 2008, SoftBank Mobile released a press release stating that it will start selling iPhone in Japan during 2008.[93]
Russia's second largest mobile operator Beeline announced on August 28, 2008, that they signed a contract with Apple to enter Russian market by late 2008. This deal is rumoured to be non-exclusive according to the unofficial statements made by some officials in two remaining mobile operators that belong to so-called Russia's Big Three – MTS and MegaFon - to enter iPhone 3G on Russian market simultaneously with Beeline.[94] As it was predicted, MegaFon issued the press release about the same deal on September 2, 2008.[95] MTS, the largest mobile network of Russia and CIS still hasn't released any statement.[citation needed]
On November 14, 2008, Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil started selling iPhone 3G in Egypt. This comes after Vodafone's deal with Apple Inc. earlier in May. 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 3 service plans to accompany the phone.
On September 28, 2009, Orange announced that they were to become the second operator of iPhone in the UK, ending an exclusive deal O2 had done since 2007. Orange later announced iPhone will be released on November 10, with pricing plans starting from £29.36 on contract and £440 for the 3GS 16GB on pay as you go.[96][97] On the following day, Vodafone UK also announced that they will be selling iPhone by early 2010, becoming the third UK network and Vodafone's 11th country to offer iPhone.[98]
Verizon Wireless
There had been ongoing speculation in the United States that Apple might offer a CDMA-compatible iPhone for Verizon Wireless.[99] 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.[100]
On January 8, 2011, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Verizon Wireless would officially announce on January 11, 2011, the launch of a CDMA-based iPhone for use on their network.[101] The date in which the Verizon iPhone will 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.[102]
On January 11, 2011, Verizon announced that they would be carrying a CDMA version of Apple's iPhone 4 starting in February 2011. Existing Verizon Wireless customers were able to pre-order iPhone on February 3. Pricing for iPhone 4 was $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB.[103] The Verizon iPhone 5 released on Friday, September 19, in the United States and was the first GSM unlocked iPhone[104]which worked on AT&T and other GSM networks.
