The first iPhone was released exactly 15 years ago today. It was a Friday, and I took the day off from work and had a plan. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The iPhone was actually announced in January 2007 at MacWorld in one of the greatest keynotes of all time by Steve Jobs. Steve started out by saying every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. He cited the original Macintosh released in 1984 and the iPod released in 2001. He then stated that Apple was announcing three revolutionary products of this class:
1) A wide-screen iPod with touch controls
2) A revolutionary mobile phone
3) A breakthrough internet communications device
The phone received the most cheers from the crowd. I don't think we all understood what he meant by a breakthrough internet communications device, but clearly, Steve had the vision for what the iPhone would become.
Jobs kept repeating an iPod, a phone, an internet communicator as cube icons shifted on the screen. Finally, he asked the crowd, "Are you getting it? These are NOT three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is." He then showed a picture of an iPod with a rotary dial on it.
It is bonkers to watch this presentation from fifteen years ago when the "Jesus phone" had everyone's rapt attention except then-CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer.
It was the World's Longest Wait from January 2007 when the iPhone was announced until June 29 when it would be available. I had a newspaper clipping with a picture of the iPhone attached to a chain of paper clips representing each day until the release hanging in my cubicle at work. Each day I would remove a paper clip as the release date approached. I was reading every article I could find and have never been more excited about a purchase up to that point or since.
When Friday, June 29th arrived I had a plan. Luckily, I had an Apple Store near me inside the Chandler Mall. I thought this would be where I would be waiting in line to get my grubby hands on the new phone. I arrived at the mall at about noon only to discover the line was already extremely long. It went from just outside the Apple store down past other stores to the outer doors and snaked around near the endcap at Nordstrom's. I didn't count the number of people, but I was nervous that they would run out of phones.
I did have Plan B, which was the AT&T store near the mall across the street. Originally the iPhone was paired with Cingular, which was bought by AT&T. This gave AT&T exclusive carrier rights. You could only buy the original iPhone at an Apple Store or an AT&T store. I decided to head over to the AT&T store and scope it out. When I arrived at the AT&T store, there were eight people in line outside the store. Unlike the Apple Store, the AT&T store was in a strip mall, so everyone had to wait outside in the heat. I had a choice: stay at the AT&T store, wait outside in the heat, and be guaranteed an iPhone or go back to the air-conditioned mall where the line was undoubtedly longer by now and wait in the cool with the risk of not getting an iPhone. I chose to stay.
I was outside from about 1 PM until 6 PM when the store was scheduled to open. It was great being among other Apple fanatics. We had a fantastic time talking about all things Apple and playing cards. The AT&T staff brought out ice-cold water and treats for us. Even though it was a long time, it didn't feel like a long time until about 4:30 PM. Up until that point, the sun was still on the east side and the building afforded us shade. Eventually, the sun moved to the west, and for the last hour and a half, we were scorched with no protection from the heat. It's June in Arizona after all where the high was undoubtedly over 100 degrees F. By then, there were many more people in line behind me. Some of them remarked that the Apple Store line was outrageously long and employees had started suggesting that after a certain place in line, they might not have enough inventory.
Finally, the AT&T employees threw open the doors right at 6 PM. It might as well have been Willy Wonka coming out to greet us. Everyone was cheering and practically shaking with excitement. It didn't take long before I was standing at a kiosk purchasing my iPhone along with a case. There were only two choices: 4GB for $499 or 8GB for $599 with a two-year contract. That price may sound cheap by today's standards, but consider most cell phones back then were either free with a contract or maybe $99. Of course, I opted for the 8GB phone. The transaction took less than ten minutes, and I walked out. There was no time or room for people to stand around and activate phones, so they said to go home and activate it there.
I achieved near-lightspeed as I raced to my apartment to unbox the iPhone in all its glory. I removed the plastic wrap and lifted the top of the box. I couldn't believe it was sitting right in front of me. I washed my hands and gingerly removed the iPhone from the box. It had a 3.5-inch diagonal screen, 320 x 480 pixels at 163 ppi with the famous home button below the screen. The power button was on the top right along with the headphone jack on the left. On the left side was a slide button to mute the phone and volume up/down.
I pushed the power button and the white Apple logo appeared. An observer watching me at this moment would liken my face to that of Smeagol when viewing his Precious. The first background was a picture of the Earth from space. There was no set-up on my end. AT&T had sent through the activation, and I needed to wait. I couldn't get on WIFI or do anything at this point except play with the number keypad. So I waited and waited. I still had my "candy bar" phone that my buddy Tim kept pinging me on asking what was going on and when could we meet so he could see the iPhone. I told him I was waiting for it to get activated. Each hour that went by I became more frustrated. When I searched online I discovered many people were having problems activating their iPhones. It appears AT&T's machinery was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of iPhones all being activated at the same time. It didn't help that I was in Arizona and playing catch-up since the East Coast and Midwest folks had all gotten a head start. I went to bed with the iPhone still showing the Earth and waiting for activation.
I woke up in the morning thinking surely the iPhone is activated by now and no dice. I couldn't believe it. I was in el depresso mode all day. And everyone knew I was getting the iPhone, so they all wanted a piece of the action, and I had nothing to give them. The World's Longest Wait continued for most of the day Saturday. I started to wonder whether I had a defective phone. The AT&T and Apple Stores were still crazy, so I was dreading maneuvering through the chaos.
Sometime between 4 and 5 PM on Saturday, the iPhone magically came to life and was finally activated! Tim demanded that I notify him the moment I was good to go so we could meet. And of course, I couldn't wait to use it and show it off. We decided to meet at Kona Grill in the Chandler Mall, which happened to be the same mall with the Apple Store. Little did I know how fortuitous that would be.
Tim was already sitting at a high-top table when I arrived. I had the iPhone in my pocket firmly held in the plastic protective case. I sat down with the biggest smile on my face. He said, "Well??? Let's see it!!" So I took it out of my pocket. He said, "Is that a case on it?? I want to see the real deal." In a fateful decision, I removed the iPhone from the plastic case. What happened next is a bit of a blur that my memory reports to me in slow motion.
I was holding the iPhone with both hands as I handed it off to Tim. I think both of our hands were shaking, and I don't know if he thought I had it or I thought he had it, but we botched the hand-off. I watched in horror as the iPhone slipped from our four hands and flipped through the air on the way down to the cement floor. It landed face-up with no damage to the screen, thankfully. I picked it up. Tim was spooked and didn't want to touch it after that. Everything seemed to still work except when I tried to play music there was no sound coming out of the speaker. We both were thinking the same thing, "Shit!"
We hadn't even ordered any drinks or anything, so I told him well good thing there's an Apple Store right around the corner. So, we went to World's Busiest Apple Store. I think I had to make an appointment with an Apple Genius. I don't remember waiting very long. I didn't tell him that I dropped the iPhone. I just told him that when I try to play music there was no sound. He did some quick diagnostics and told me the iPhone was defective and was going to swap it out for a new one. I found out later that Apple keeps a reserve of all phones for this very situation. The activation of the new iPhone took mere minutes and I was off to the races.
Tim always felt bad about the incident, and we vowed to keep it to ourselves. I was mortified at the moment, but it all worked out. I figured the statute of limitations is up after fifteen years, and it's a great story. As I sit and write this I have the original iPhone next to me. I guess technically it's iPhone v2 since I have no idea what happened to the original original one.
The iPhone was actually announced in January 2007 at MacWorld in one of the greatest keynotes of all time by Steve Jobs. Steve started out by saying every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. He cited the original Macintosh released in 1984 and the iPod released in 2001. He then stated that Apple was announcing three revolutionary products of this class:
1) A wide-screen iPod with touch controls
2) A revolutionary mobile phone
3) A breakthrough internet communications device
The phone received the most cheers from the crowd. I don't think we all understood what he meant by a breakthrough internet communications device, but clearly, Steve had the vision for what the iPhone would become.
Jobs kept repeating an iPod, a phone, an internet communicator as cube icons shifted on the screen. Finally, he asked the crowd, "Are you getting it? These are NOT three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is." He then showed a picture of an iPod with a rotary dial on it.
It is bonkers to watch this presentation from fifteen years ago when the "Jesus phone" had everyone's rapt attention except then-CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer.
It was the World's Longest Wait from January 2007 when the iPhone was announced until June 29 when it would be available. I had a newspaper clipping with a picture of the iPhone attached to a chain of paper clips representing each day until the release hanging in my cubicle at work. Each day I would remove a paper clip as the release date approached. I was reading every article I could find and have never been more excited about a purchase up to that point or since.
When Friday, June 29th arrived I had a plan. Luckily, I had an Apple Store near me inside the Chandler Mall. I thought this would be where I would be waiting in line to get my grubby hands on the new phone. I arrived at the mall at about noon only to discover the line was already extremely long. It went from just outside the Apple store down past other stores to the outer doors and snaked around near the endcap at Nordstrom's. I didn't count the number of people, but I was nervous that they would run out of phones.
I did have Plan B, which was the AT&T store near the mall across the street. Originally the iPhone was paired with Cingular, which was bought by AT&T. This gave AT&T exclusive carrier rights. You could only buy the original iPhone at an Apple Store or an AT&T store. I decided to head over to the AT&T store and scope it out. When I arrived at the AT&T store, there were eight people in line outside the store. Unlike the Apple Store, the AT&T store was in a strip mall, so everyone had to wait outside in the heat. I had a choice: stay at the AT&T store, wait outside in the heat, and be guaranteed an iPhone or go back to the air-conditioned mall where the line was undoubtedly longer by now and wait in the cool with the risk of not getting an iPhone. I chose to stay.
I was outside from about 1 PM until 6 PM when the store was scheduled to open. It was great being among other Apple fanatics. We had a fantastic time talking about all things Apple and playing cards. The AT&T staff brought out ice-cold water and treats for us. Even though it was a long time, it didn't feel like a long time until about 4:30 PM. Up until that point, the sun was still on the east side and the building afforded us shade. Eventually, the sun moved to the west, and for the last hour and a half, we were scorched with no protection from the heat. It's June in Arizona after all where the high was undoubtedly over 100 degrees F. By then, there were many more people in line behind me. Some of them remarked that the Apple Store line was outrageously long and employees had started suggesting that after a certain place in line, they might not have enough inventory.
Finally, the AT&T employees threw open the doors right at 6 PM. It might as well have been Willy Wonka coming out to greet us. Everyone was cheering and practically shaking with excitement. It didn't take long before I was standing at a kiosk purchasing my iPhone along with a case. There were only two choices: 4GB for $499 or 8GB for $599 with a two-year contract. That price may sound cheap by today's standards, but consider most cell phones back then were either free with a contract or maybe $99. Of course, I opted for the 8GB phone. The transaction took less than ten minutes, and I walked out. There was no time or room for people to stand around and activate phones, so they said to go home and activate it there.
I achieved near-lightspeed as I raced to my apartment to unbox the iPhone in all its glory. I removed the plastic wrap and lifted the top of the box. I couldn't believe it was sitting right in front of me. I washed my hands and gingerly removed the iPhone from the box. It had a 3.5-inch diagonal screen, 320 x 480 pixels at 163 ppi with the famous home button below the screen. The power button was on the top right along with the headphone jack on the left. On the left side was a slide button to mute the phone and volume up/down.
I pushed the power button and the white Apple logo appeared. An observer watching me at this moment would liken my face to that of Smeagol when viewing his Precious. The first background was a picture of the Earth from space. There was no set-up on my end. AT&T had sent through the activation, and I needed to wait. I couldn't get on WIFI or do anything at this point except play with the number keypad. So I waited and waited. I still had my "candy bar" phone that my buddy Tim kept pinging me on asking what was going on and when could we meet so he could see the iPhone. I told him I was waiting for it to get activated. Each hour that went by I became more frustrated. When I searched online I discovered many people were having problems activating their iPhones. It appears AT&T's machinery was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of iPhones all being activated at the same time. It didn't help that I was in Arizona and playing catch-up since the East Coast and Midwest folks had all gotten a head start. I went to bed with the iPhone still showing the Earth and waiting for activation.
I woke up in the morning thinking surely the iPhone is activated by now and no dice. I couldn't believe it. I was in el depresso mode all day. And everyone knew I was getting the iPhone, so they all wanted a piece of the action, and I had nothing to give them. The World's Longest Wait continued for most of the day Saturday. I started to wonder whether I had a defective phone. The AT&T and Apple Stores were still crazy, so I was dreading maneuvering through the chaos.
Sometime between 4 and 5 PM on Saturday, the iPhone magically came to life and was finally activated! Tim demanded that I notify him the moment I was good to go so we could meet. And of course, I couldn't wait to use it and show it off. We decided to meet at Kona Grill in the Chandler Mall, which happened to be the same mall with the Apple Store. Little did I know how fortuitous that would be.
Tim was already sitting at a high-top table when I arrived. I had the iPhone in my pocket firmly held in the plastic protective case. I sat down with the biggest smile on my face. He said, "Well??? Let's see it!!" So I took it out of my pocket. He said, "Is that a case on it?? I want to see the real deal." In a fateful decision, I removed the iPhone from the plastic case. What happened next is a bit of a blur that my memory reports to me in slow motion.
I was holding the iPhone with both hands as I handed it off to Tim. I think both of our hands were shaking, and I don't know if he thought I had it or I thought he had it, but we botched the hand-off. I watched in horror as the iPhone slipped from our four hands and flipped through the air on the way down to the cement floor. It landed face-up with no damage to the screen, thankfully. I picked it up. Tim was spooked and didn't want to touch it after that. Everything seemed to still work except when I tried to play music there was no sound coming out of the speaker. We both were thinking the same thing, "Shit!"
We hadn't even ordered any drinks or anything, so I told him well good thing there's an Apple Store right around the corner. So, we went to World's Busiest Apple Store. I think I had to make an appointment with an Apple Genius. I don't remember waiting very long. I didn't tell him that I dropped the iPhone. I just told him that when I try to play music there was no sound. He did some quick diagnostics and told me the iPhone was defective and was going to swap it out for a new one. I found out later that Apple keeps a reserve of all phones for this very situation. The activation of the new iPhone took mere minutes and I was off to the races.
Tim always felt bad about the incident, and we vowed to keep it to ourselves. I was mortified at the moment, but it all worked out. I figured the statute of limitations is up after fifteen years, and it's a great story. As I sit and write this I have the original iPhone next to me. I guess technically it's iPhone v2 since I have no idea what happened to the original original one.
so is candybar phone the lg chocolate?
also what card games were you playing with the other fanatics?