sourced story
9 January 2007Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Apple unveils the iPhone

A phone, an iPod, and an internet device merge into one multi-touch screen

On the timeline · around 9 January 2007 · Social, Mobile, and the CloudThe Web and the Dot-Com BoomSocial, Mobile, and the CloudApple unveils the iPhone200220042006200820102012

Quick facts

Announced
9 January 2007, Macworld, San Francisco
Announced by
Steve Jobs
Key interface
Multi-touch display
On sale
June 2007, from $499

What happened

Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at the Macworld conference in San Francisco on 9 January 2007, describing it as three devices in one: 'a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough internet communications device.' Its defining feature was a new interface built on a large multi-touch display, controlled entirely by finger taps and gestures instead of a stylus or physical keyboard, which Apple had spent years developing. The phone went on sale that June, with a 4GB model priced at $499 and an 8GB model at $599.

Why it matters

The iPhone established the touchscreen slab, with no physical keyboard, as the default smartphone shape, a template nearly every competing phone maker adopted within a few years. Its later App Store, launched in 2008, turned the device into a platform other companies could build businesses on top of, rather than only a product Apple sold once.

How we know

Apple's own original newsroom press release from the January 2007 announcement documents the date, the multi-touch interface, and Jobs's description of the device directly.

Sources

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