Today is Not the 10th Anniversary of the iPhone

Today is Not the 10th Anniversary of the iPhone

Ten years ago today, Steve Jobs delivered his greatest speech ever. And in announcing the iPhone, he and Apple forever changed personal technology.

Oddly, I’m seeing a number of stories claiming that today is the “10th anniversary of the iPhone.” That date is actually June 29, as Apple released the iPhone on this day in 2007.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

OK, that’s semantics. And regardless of which date you choose to commemorate—I suspect many of those same sites will later remind us that June 29 is also the 10th anniversary of the iPhone—the impact of this announcement cannot be overstated.

Indeed, over the past year, I’ve repeatedly described the iPhone as the asteroid that destroyed the Windows dinosaur. Yes, that’s very dramatic, and purposefully so. And, yes, one could argue, pedantically, that the cataclysmic event that set up human beings as the dominant species on the planet happened quickly, while Windows, and the PCs it runs on, will be with us for a long time.

Fair enough. But the change ushered in by the iPhone cannot be denied. I saw it, you saw, virtually everyone saw it, though representatives from mobile companies like Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM (Blackberry), and others were either lying publicly to save face or just living in denial for the first year or two. But they all failed in responding to the iPhone threat, and now they’re either gone or worthless. (Microsoft failed too, of course, though as I’ve explained, Steve Ballmer was Right About the iPhone back in 2007.)

The first iPhone and the phone it replaced for me, the Moto Q.

To put the iPhone in perspective, consider Apple’s next big new product launch, in 2010, for the iPad. At that time, I accurately described the iPad as nothing more than a giant iPod touch, and I boldly (and perhaps childishly, though I have my reasons) declared that anyone who thought the iPad was The Next Big Thing was “a tool.”

Apple actually mocked me in one of their keynotes for this declaration. But, surprise: For once, I was right. And as I write this in early 2017, the iPad has suffered from 2.5 years of straight sales declines, with ongoing revisions like iPad mini and iPad Pro doing nothing to reverse this downfall. Today, the iPad is a solid business, sure, and the dominant if fading tablet. But tablets never did surpass PCs, and in the most recent quarter, iPad was a smaller business than the Mac by revenues, and represented just one-sixth the revenues, and one-fifth the unit sales, of iPhone. In other words, it is not The Next Big Thing. Sorry, Tim. And hey, thanks for calling me out for being right.

More recent iPhones I've owned

I didn’t have that reaction to the iPhone. In fact, I wrote so much about the iPhone, and, ultimately, about its inability to integrate with Microsoft’s Exchange/EAS infrastructure for businesses, that year that people started asking me if I was going to rename my site—the SuperSite for Windows, at the time—to the SuperSite for iPhone. Point being, I may not have been wowed by iPad—or subsequent products like Apple Watch, or the recent MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops—but I was absolutely wowed by iPhone.

And rightfully so. Despite the many limitations of that first device, the iPhone in 2007 represented a peek at a future we are all now living in, even if we use competing devices like those based on Android. (Which, sorry Apple, most of us are.)

And that presentation was masterful. I’ve watched it again and again, and of course the description of the event and its build-up in the official Steve Jobs biography is simply amazing too.

So, here’s to Apple for showing us the way. It wouldn’t be ready for six more months, but the revolution started ten years ago today when Steve Jobs bounded up on the Moscone Center stage at Macworld 2007 in San Francisco. It’s an event that historians will be studying for years to come. And it deserves to be remembered.

 

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 36 comments

  • 217

    09 January, 2017 - 12:17 pm

    <p>The iPhone certainly established the mobile platform for sure, and Apple’s early adjustments to add Exchange functionality as well as use carrier subsidized pricing – is (what I think) helped it dominate. And if anyone has the time I think it’s well worth reading (forgot book title, will try to look it up) about the Apple engineers and their stories of the first iPhone keynote. (see here:&nbsp;http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/and-then-steve-said-let-there-be-an-iphone.html)</p>
    <p>The iPad is still just a giant iPod Touch, and I think the tablet sales decline continues to back you up Paul.</p>
    <p>Great article, and welcome back 🙂 &nbsp;</p>

    • 5234

      09 January, 2017 - 12:56 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34808">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/dcdevito">dcdevito</a><a href="#34808">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I’d say the only real thing the iPhone introduced that was good at the time was a desktop-class browser, and to a lesser-extent, multi-touch. &nbsp;All the other good stuff about the iPhone didn’t come out until later, and in subsequent models, like real 3G support, and a real app ecosystem, which was actually better on the Moto Q at the time of launch.</p>

      • 490

        09 January, 2017 - 1:03 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34817">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Waethorn">Waethorn</a><a href="#34817">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>You take that back right now.</p>
        <p>Nothing good should ever be said about the Moto Q.</p>

        • 5234

          09 January, 2017 - 1:55 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#34818">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Lopan">Lopan</a><a href="#34818">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>I had a Moto Q. &nbsp;I could download apps from a Windows Mobile app store, as well as games from third-party websites. &nbsp;I was playing Doom on my Moto Q before the iPhone was even out.</p>

          • 490

            09 January, 2017 - 2:19 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#34826">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Waethorn">Waethorn</a><a href="#34826">:</a></em></blockquote>
            <p>I don’t know about anyone else’s experience with a Moto Q, but I had three of them. I couldn’t get any of them to last more than half a day on battery. I was a die hard Windows Mobile guy but that phone drove me crazy.</p>
            <p>I still stuck with Windows Mobile at the time though, I just purchased a HTC Touch Diamond. At the time Windows Mobile could tether to your computer with a cable and/or Bluetooth which IPhone couldn’t and it was highly hackable with custom ROM and such which is why I didn’t jump on the IPhone bandwagon… that and the crazy cost of the first IPhone.</p>

            • 5234

              09 January, 2017 - 3:19 pm

              <blockquote><em><a href="#34841">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Lopan">Lopan</a><a href="#34841">:</a></em></blockquote>
              <p>I had a Touch Diamond too – a CDMA version for Telus, here in Canada. &nbsp;It didn’t last nearly as long as a Q. &nbsp;I still preferred the task-based home screen on the Q.</p>

  • 5510

    09 January, 2017 - 12:48 pm

    <p>Sometimes I don’t understand Paul’s mind when it comes to technology, because it always seems that his heart for Microsoft dominates his thinking, not often, but always. This post, I feel, is just added evidence.</p>
    <p>For one thing, it’s hard for me to believe that Paul wasn’t wow’d by the Apple Watch, especially since it’s capabilities just overwhelmed the limited features and functionality which is now the defunct Microsoft Band.</p>
    <p>Secondly,I know Paul has been poo-pooing the iPhone 7 as an uninteresting and unexciting phone in 2016. He just hasn’t been doing this recently, but for some time now. However, I am very very surprised he hasn’t even brought up the interesting theory that Apple was doing this on purpose, in order to make iPhone 8 "the 10 year anniversary edition" very special. So many other tech analysts have expressed this theory. Pretty much all, except for Paul.</p>
    <p>I’ve been following Paul, since episode One of Windows Weekly, and because of him I was this really big Microsoft fan, until I just turned into a general tech fan of many companies. I remember when the iPhone came out, Paul complained about it too. Paul mimicked Ballmer, when Ballmer mocked the iPhone’s lack of tactile feedback in the keyboard. I remember Paul saying and writing about that too on the Supersite. NOT JUST that, I remember Paul complaining about possible smudge on the iPhone screen.</p>
    <p>Lastly about the iPad, why is Paul declaring that the iPad or tablets have never surpassed PCs? Was this ever a race? I don’t think so. Technology evolves. PC sales are also declining; tablet sales are also declining; but smartphones are not. LOL…what does that tell you? I think this tells you that the state of tablets and PCs have been good for sometime that the need to upgrade is not necessary.</p>
    <p>As for Tim Cook, can someone point out to me where he literally called Paul’s name and said that he was right? That’s because Paul said that he did that, didn’t he? Paul was so clearly wrong, when he said that the iPad was not a game changer, when in fact it was. Let’s not forget the success of the iPad led to the creation of the Surface/Surface Pro….version 1. How did the first generation of Surfaces do? Paul can spin this any which way he wants, but his words are on public record and pretty much self explanatory in the most simplest of context.</p>
    <p>Unless Paul comes out of his Microsoft bubble and argues his statement about his view on the iPad years ago (lol), …. and I am not talking about with Leo Laporte….. his desire to "revise" history will never happen.</p>

    • 1221

      09 January, 2017 - 2:17 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34813">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Bats">Bats</a><a href="#34813">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>"… it’s capabilities just overwhelmed the limited features and functionality which is now the defunct Microsoft Band"&nbsp; You’re kidding right?&nbsp; You’re comparing a smart watch to a fitness band.&nbsp; Not only that, there are many things that the original Apple Watch did that Microsoft’s fitness band could do too. </p>
      <p>"why is Paul declaring that the iPad or tablets have never surpassed PCs? Was this ever a race?" Yes.&nbsp; Every other publication was making it so.</p>
      <p>Paul has said some contradictory things in the past, but he has explained that he was wrong about the iPad on What The Tech a long while ago.&nbsp; As for him being in a Microsoft bubble… you for real?&nbsp; The guy uses Google, not Bing.&nbsp; He has an Android phone, not a Windows phone.&nbsp; And he still uses an iPhone from time to time.&nbsp;</p>
      <p>And as soon as Commodore makes Amiga a big deal again, he’ll jump towards Amiga and away from Windows ;)</p>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

    • 7063

      09 January, 2017 - 4:16 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34813">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Bats">Bats</a><a href="#34813">:</a>&nbsp; Lastly about the iPad, why is Paul declaring that the iPad or tablets have never surpassed PCs?</em></blockquote>
      <p>I think Paul was mainly saying that in order for the iPad to specifically be the "next big thing" like some people declared, it had to at least come close to matching the iPhone and the PC.</p>

      • 5592

        09 January, 2017 - 6:04 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34906">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/DataMeister">DataMeister</a><a href="#34906">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Yes. I took it as him refuting Apple’s "Post-PC Era" when explaining why Macintosh sales remaining nonexistent didn’t matter.</p>

  • 5592

    09 January, 2017 - 1:33 pm

    <p>Thank you. I’ve been fighting this one all morning.<br /><br />I&nbsp;ended up posting this&nbsp;on Facebook so I could point to it and stop having to retype it again and again…<br /><br /></p>
    <p>There is a lot of "The iPhone Is Ten Years Old" stories out today.</p>
    <p>In reality, the iPhone shipped in JUNE of 2007.</p>
    <p>What today is the 10th Anniversary of is the Announcement Show for the iPhone.</p>
    <p>And that the celebration is being done now is both pathetic and telling.</p>
    <p>What Apple is saying by moving the date up (kind of like celebrating the anniversary of your engagement notice rather than your actual wedding) is:</p>
    <p>Pay no attention to the MacBook Pro that actual Pros all hate<br /> Pay no attention to the lack of desktop Macintosh updates<br /> Pay no attention to the iPhone’s lack of a headphone jack<br /> Pay no attention to us missing our dates on the AirPods<br /> Pay no attention to our plummeting iPad sales<br /> Pay no attention to our attempt to paste on a keyboard and pen to iPad<br /> Pay no attention to our totally missing the 2in1 market<br /> Pay no attention to our Creator users lusting after Surface Studio<br /> Pay no attention to our Watch not getting acceptance<br /> Pay no attention to our TV tuner not getting acceptance<br /> Pay no attention to ANY of our new products</p>
    <p>Here. We have some 10 year old footage of Steve Jobs. Pay attention to that instead and pretend we’re still that company and he’s still running it.</p>

    • 5234

      09 January, 2017 - 1:58 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34822">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MikeGalos">MikeGalos</a><a href="#34822">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>What? &nbsp;No mention of the Mac Trashcan, aka D-Link Router designed by Jony Ive, aka Mac Pro?</p>

      • 5592

        09 January, 2017 - 2:14 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34827">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Waethorn">Waethorn</a><a href="#34827">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>I figure it’s included in "Pay no attention to the lack of desktop Macintosh updates"</p>

    • 9562

      09 January, 2017 - 4:22 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34822">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MikeGalos">MikeGalos</a><a href="#34822">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>"Thank you. I’ve been fighting this one all morning. &nbsp;I ended up posting this on Facebook so I could point to it and stop having to retype it again and again…"</p>
      <p>I want that much free time. &nbsp;</p>
      <p>PS I bet you yell at your TV too.&nbsp;</p>

      • 5592

        09 January, 2017 - 6:05 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34908">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/BoItmanLives">BoItmanLives</a><a href="#34908">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>You found time to yell at your screen about my post…</p>

    • 8057

      09 January, 2017 - 5:49 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34822">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MikeGalos">MikeGalos</a><a href="#34822">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>The iPad Pro is a kind of 2-in-1. It has the keyboard, the pencil, the storage space, the big screen and the processor power.</p>

      • 5592

        09 January, 2017 - 6:06 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34941">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/drfisheye">drfisheye</a><a href="#34941">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>But not the ability to run desktop and mobile applications, hence my refering to it as pasting a keyboard and pen onto a tablet rather than creating an actual 2in1.</p>

  • 5767

    09 January, 2017 - 1:43 pm

    <p>Honestly, we’re gonna get a million articles this year about the 10-year iPhone anniversary and how ‘revolutionary’ it all was. Is this the first of 100 articles on the subject from Paul this year? I didn’t sign up for an Apple-worshiping site.</p>

    • 670

      09 January, 2017 - 1:53 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34824">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34824">:</a>&nbsp;Truth hurts?</em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

      • 5767

        09 January, 2017 - 2:15 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34825">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/dstrauss">dstrauss</a><a href="#34825">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>There are a million web sites devoted to Apple. Why must this site be one of them?</p>

        • 490

          09 January, 2017 - 2:27 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#34837">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34837">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>It’s not.</p>

        • 4796

          10 January, 2017 - 9:28 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#34837">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34837">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>At top of each page Paul provides what is commonly known as a MENU. Feel free to use it. And, when reading article headings, if you see something that you don’t want to read: don’t read it!</p>
          <p>BTW the iPhone, which I don’t use because it is far too restricted, has impacted all mobile devices since, including my Lumia 950XL. Therefore relevance is sustained and your objection is overruled.</p>

    • 206

      09 January, 2017 - 2:15 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34824">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34824">:</a>&nbsp; Nope, you signed up for a site that, while MS focused, covers a wide range of technologies and their use from PC’s to Enterprise and Mobile. &nbsp;Regardless of who makes them.</em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

    • 8834

      09 January, 2017 - 3:05 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34824">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34824">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;Paul has been covering Apple hardware and software for many years.</p>
      <p>Here, for example, is a link to his review of the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle, dated November 2006: <a href="http://winsupersite.com/music-and-video/apple-ipod-shuffle-2g-review">http://winsupersite.com/music-and-video/apple-ipod-shuffle-2g-review</a></p&gt;
      <p>Heck, here’s his review of OS X 10.2, dated September 2002: <a href="http://winsupersite.com/mobile/apple-mac-os-x-102-jaguar-review">http://winsupersite.com/mobile/apple-mac-os-x-102-jaguar-review</a></p&gt;
      <p>If you have "challenges" with seeing Apple content, MutualCore, then Paul Thurrott is not the man for you. &nbsp;Don’t whine about it, just move on.</p>

      • 5767

        09 January, 2017 - 3:25 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34870">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/warren">warren</a><a href="#34870">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Non-sequitor. I own lots of Apple products, but I want Microsoft to succeed so there is healthy competition. I don’t feel that there is right now as Apple dominates.</p>

        • 8834

          09 January, 2017 - 3:33 pm

          <p><em><a href="#34881">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MutualCore">MutualCore</a><a href="#34881">:</a></em></p>
          <p>&nbsp;</p>
          <p>&nbsp;Not a non-sequitur at all. &nbsp;Stop using phrases you don’t understand. &nbsp;*YOU* are the one that asked whether Paul will be covering Apple products. *I* gave you&nbsp;the answer, which is YES, you can expect him to continue covering Apple products as he has for over 15 years.</p>

  • 5234

    09 January, 2017 - 2:01 pm

    <p>Someone tell me this: how do you get to "shortcut buttons" on newer versions of iOS to control things like the flashlight feature or change wireless options? &nbsp;They updated that a while back and I still haven’t figured out why they took a bunch of easy-to-find functionality that used to be in the notification area, much like Android, and either got rid of it, or hid it away.</p>

    • 6245

      09 January, 2017 - 2:20 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34828">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Waethorn">Waethorn</a><a href="#34828">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>So…it is still where it is. The control center now has two panels, so you can swipe left to get media or swipe right to get controls</p>

  • 5234

    09 January, 2017 - 2:04 pm

    <p>"ten years ago today when Steve Jobs bounded up on the Moscone Center stage at Macworld 2007"</p>
    <p>I’d like to remember that 20 years ago at Macworld 1997, Steve Jobs reported that Apple was in the hole, and Microsoft bailed them out.</p>

  • 7099

    09 January, 2017 - 2:47 pm

    <p>I don’t agree with the iPad comments in the article, the iPad is still finding its natural replacement cycle, the iPad 2 is still widely used so a vast majority of the iPad sales i think are new customers,&nbsp;if i look just around me&nbsp;what kind of a bite the iPad has taken from Microsoft its massive. At work 450 Windows 7 netbooks have been replaced with 450 iPad Mini’s. My grandmother has not booted her Windows 7 laptop in years yet uses her iPad everyday for hours and hours. Both my parents have iPads and rarely use their Windows 7 laptop now, my 4 aunts and 5 uncles all have iPads as their primary devices, but again just a few years ago it was a Windows 7 laptop they were using instead. I’m also starting to see iPad tills in use where they would have previously been Windows IBM till PCs.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>So in 6/7 years since the iPad came to market its practically wiped Windows usage completely from my family and taken a huge chuck out what were previously Windows based devices at work. The iPad is also very actively used by friends and other people i know. Again all this in 6 years! If i think about it as weird as it sounds the iPad is also my main gaming device now, i spend more gaming on my iPad than i do my Playstation, yeah i might not play Call of duty, but i have spent a long time playing Rollercoaster Tycoon this weekend, something i may have traditionally dusted out a Windows machine to play.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>Yeah this might be&nbsp;anecdotal, but the iPad is not dying at the rate Windows is, that is now half the usage share it was 7 years ago. Sites like netmarketshare record usage wrong IMO, they separate mobile from desktop, that is wrong because things you may have done 10 years ago that people booted up the PC to do people now do on their mobile or tablet instead. If you use stat counter where you can combine mobile and desktop usage it paints a very scary picture for Windows&nbsp;http://gs.statcounter.com/#desktop+mobile+tablet-os-ww-monthly-201001-201612 &nbsp;you can see on that graph just how much iOS and Android have eaten usage away from Windows. How much lower is Windows usage going to go?</p>

    • 5592

      09 January, 2017 - 2:50 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#34850">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/2ilent8cho">2ilent8cho</a><a href="#34850">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>The numbers would say that’s anecdotal. iPad sales are down massively and while Windows PC sales are down from a few years ago, it’s not by that much.</p>

      • 9201

        09 January, 2017 - 3:03 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#34852">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/MikeGalos">MikeGalos</a><a href="#34852">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>iPad Pro sales alone outsell all Microsoft Surface models by some margin. So it would be &nbsp;stupid to be snarky about iPad, whilst praising Surface devices.</p>

        • 8172

          09 January, 2017 - 4:53 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#34869">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Jules_Wombat">Jules_Wombat</a><a href="#34869">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>McDonalds also outsells most restaurants but does that make them better?</p>

        • 8057

          09 January, 2017 - 5:47 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#34869">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Jules_Wombat">Jules_Wombat</a><a href="#34869">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>Surface is only one of the Windows convertibles, I’d say you need to count all of them to say something about the success of the Windows convertible market against iPad Pro.&nbsp;</p>

  • 8834

    09 January, 2017 - 3:31 pm

    <p>I’d argue that the original iBook introduction from 1999 may be even better than the original iPhone introduction.</p>
    <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTNWZF2m3o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTNWZF2m3o</a></p&gt;

  • 4964

    09 January, 2017 - 5:18 pm

    <p>Thought Fred Vogelstein’s "Dogfight – How Apple &amp; Google went to war and started a revolution" book captured the true impact of this speech.</p>
    <p>I wonder if we are really yet to see who wins mobile.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC