14 years of iPhone, How it changed the world!

First released in January 2007, the iPhones have traveled a long way in the last 14 years. According to a report, from 2007 to 2018, Apple sold about 2.2 billion iPhones worldwide, including 217 million iPhones sold in 2018 alone. Looking at all the love it garnered and its constant endeavors to innovate from time to time, the enormous sales figures don’t come as a surprise.

Here’s a glimpse of Apple’s yearly sales.

Impressive, isn’t it? For all the right reasons, Apple is denominated as today’s biggest tech giant.

The Cupertino-based brand made its debut with Apple 1 in 1976. By 2007, it made an invincible space in the market. Apple’s first MacBook Pro with Intel microprocessor, launched in 2006, took no time to become a hot favorite. By this time, Apple surpassed Dell’s market capital and crossed the $72.132 billion mark. After achieving this milestone, it decided to take a risk and give a fresh start to entirely new technology and product — i.e., mobile device.

Serving it fresh — A foray into the mobile industry

While the first iPhone was announced on January 9, officially released on June 29, 2007. It boasted a 3.5-inch diagonal screen with 320*480 pixels at 163 PPI and a 2 Megapixel camera. The device was available in two variants; 4GB for $499 and 8GB for $599. Despite the hefty price tag, by Jan 2008, Apple sold around 3.7 million iPhones.

Since then, the brand didn’t leave any stone unturned to create and maintain the ‘special place’ amidst its target audience.

Redefining the smartphone market

Although the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone (or even second for that matter), it managed to add some new features that enhanced the user experience. From the beginning, Apple inclined focused on user’s convenience.

Besides a multi-touch LCD screen, it came with additional features like an accelerometer, proximity sensor, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, etc., which together ranked it higher than the available options. The only concern people shared was the high price tag.

The brand didn’t take long to address the price concern and released iPhone 3G with faster internet, built-in GPS, extra storage, and much more in June 2008. This time, available variants were 8GB and 16GB models costing $199 and $299. Way too less than the first iPhone. This made it a more affordable smartphone at the time, given its above par specs and features.

Fact: The first-ever smartphone, ‘Simon Personal Communicator’ was created by IBM in 1992 and was made available to people in 1994 at USD 1100 (equals $2040 in 2020).

Blackberry followed suit by launching Blackberry 5810 in 2002. The device ran on a 2G network and featured a monochrome display. It was available to purchase at $499 (equals $725.69 in 2020).

Surpassing the market hurdles

Apple’s operating system accompanied the advent of smartphones. While most smartphones came with Android, Apple and Blackberry led the market with their OS, iOS, and Symbian, respectively.

However, if we closely look at their giveaways, iOS, since the very beginning, offered an intuitive interface with a personalized and private experience.

But the iPhone wasn’t a significant competitor of Blackberry, considering the latter didn’t have a touch screen variant, and their target audience was completely different. Android was concerned as an open platform available to everyone, which eventually exposed security and privacy threats.

Besides, Apple developed iOS exclusively for its hardware. This made it way ahead of its primary competitor and eventually surpassed the market hurdles to make a distinct space in the market.

Replacing numerous daily gadgets

Another aspect that helped the iPhone become the world’s favorite is that it has been a trendsetter. The device did a lot more than only allowing people to make calls. Some examples of this are;

➤ Camera:

According to a report, the year 2010 recorded sale of 109 million pocket cameras were sold. However, until 2018 (the last published data), the figure dropped to 9 million cameras. And, how can we forget the fun of taking selfies? While this was not solely because of iPhones, but they played a significant role.

➤ Music:

Not just walkmans, Apple also replaced its product iPod with the iPhone. The device allowed people to stay tuned to their favorite music more conveniently.

➤ Credit Cards:

In 2014, with the launch of Apple Pay, the tech giant allowed its users to pay digitally in a more secure manner. Unlike Android, Symbian, and Windows that depend on third-party digital wallets, Apple’s undoubtedly added a star by launching its wallet.

➤ Books: Though I love the fragrance of paper and believe that books are good in physical form, it’s undeniable that Apple has made it handier to read.

Being a risk-taker

Time and now, Apple took some harsh decisions without being concerned about user response. This primarily includes;

➤ Removing headphone Jack:

3.5mm jack has been around us for around 50 years and served the sole purpose of transferring audio. Apple took a firm step by replacing it and letting users connect headphones through a lightning-to-3.5mm adapter. Initially, the converter came as part of your new iPhone purchase. However, later they completely stopped this practice.

➤ Removing Power Adapter:

Recently, Apple took another big step removing the power adapter as part of its iPhone package. As a result, you only receive a USB-C to lightning cable and have to purchase an adapter separately.

Under both scenarios, the Cupertino-based tech giant faced massive trolling by its competitors and users. However, it stood firm with its decision, and in no time, other companies followed suit.

Every time Apple introduces a change, it authenticates its vision to introduce innovation. Perhaps, that’s what pushes the market to follow the smartphone leader.

Adding to ease

And guess what? It did all of this without compromising with the ease for individual users and businesses. Let’s have a look at some key aspects.

➤ Connectivity:

Since its first models, iPhone has ensured seamless connectivity to its users. Be it for voice calls, using the internet (mobile data/Wi-Fi), or creating a hotspot. After years of its initial release, it introduced personalized voice assistant Siri. This further enhanced the way we used to interact with technology and our iPhone.

➤ Apps:

Before the iPhone’s launch, the term Applications was rarely in use. Today, we have an ‘App for everything.’ The app sector alone has evolved and transformed into a 10 billion dollar industry. The report also shares that the App Store currently has more than 2 million apps, and users spend over $25 billion on an average each year.

Growing steady and strong

If we study the smartphone industry in-depth, numerous participants came, raced, and left the market. Many had their fair share of ups and downs, but the iPhone consistently increased its market base. In a recent interaction, Cook said that the iPhone experienced 50% new buyers in preceding years. This isn’t the first time this happened; the same happened with iPhone 6.

The steady growth implies that users are well aligned with Apple’s vision of introducing sustainable technology. One of the critical factors that the tech giant keeps in mind is using renewable resources and energy across all its manufacturing units.

Before signing off, we can say that the iPhone has reported tremendous growth since its launch and has undoubtedly introduced groundbreaking innovations time and now. Six years down the line, talking about two decades of Apple, we can surely expect to have an entirely different world of smartphones around us that will further change the way we interact with technology.