iPhone Released
Apple's iPhone went on sale in the United States in 2007, bringing together a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and an internet communicator in a single touchscreen device. It was not the first smartphone, but it reshaped what people expected from one, and it helped push mobile computing from a niche for business users into an everyday part of life for billions of people.
By the mid-2000s, mobile phones were already common, and devices such as BlackBerry handhelds and Palm and Windows Mobile phones offered email and basic web access. These were typically operated with physical keyboards, styluses, or small buttons, and their web browsing was limited. Meanwhile, Apple had found major success with the iPod, which dominated the digital music player market. Apple's leadership, including co-founder Steve Jobs, saw that phones with music functions could eventually erode iPod sales, and the company chose to build its own phone rather than wait to be displaced. Development was carried out largely in secret over several years.
Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, and it reached customers in the United States that summer. Its defining feature was a large multi-touch screen that let users scroll, tap, and pinch with their fingers, replacing most physical buttons. It ran a version of Apple's desktop operating system adapted for mobile use and included a fuller web browser than most phones then offered. The first model lacked some features that were already common elsewhere, such as faster cellular data, and it initially had no way for outside developers to install their own programs. Reviews were generally strong, though critics noted its high price and limitations.
The most consequential change came in 2008, when Apple launched the App Store. It gave independent developers a straightforward way to distribute software, creating a new economy around mobile apps, from games and messaging to navigation and banking. Google's Android platform, released commercially later in 2008, adopted a similar touchscreen approach and became the iPhone's main rival, and by the early 2010s touchscreen smartphones had largely displaced earlier designs. Established phone makers such as Nokia and BlackBerry's maker struggled to adapt, and many lost their leading positions.
The legacy of the iPhone is wide and still debated. Smartphones changed how people communicate, navigate, shop, take photographs, and consume news, and they enabled services such as ride-hailing and social media at global scale. They have also raised concerns about screen time, privacy, and the working conditions behind electronics manufacturing. Historians often treat 2007 as the start of a mobile computing era, though they also note that the iPhone built on earlier ideas and technologies developed by many companies and researchers.