Watch the Moment Steve Jobs Introduced the Original iPhone 10 Years Ago Today
For a lot of people, Apple was just the iPod company or the maker of expensive, high-end computers back in the early 2000s. But that all changed exactly 10 years ago on Monday, when then-CEO and co-Founder Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone and arguably kicked off the mobile revolution responsible for the slim and powerful devices we're constantly glued to today.
Jobs stood on the stage at the Macworld 2007 conference in San Francisco and initially teased the crowd with three revolutionary products -- "a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device" -- before ultimately admitting he was actually talking about just one device, the original iPhone, to much applause. You can watch the first 10 minutes or so of the grand unveiling in the clip shown above.
The iPhone launched that following June, featuring a 3.5in screen (tiny by today's standards), service via AT&T's Edge network, a small lineup of apps (there was no App Store at the time), and a mere two-megapixel camera. Since then, Apple has sold more than a billion iPhones around the world and is basically defined by the iconic product category. In a press release marking the milestone on Sunday night, Apple said the product -- now in the form of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- remains as "the gold standard" used to judge all other phones, although critics are increasingly accusing the company of failing to innovate across its product lineup.
However, in a statement celebrating the occasion, CEO Tim Cook said, "The best is yet to come." Whatever exciting features the next generations of iPhones include -- wireless charging, facial recognition scanners, curved screens, etc. -- it's still pretty amazing to look back a decade ago when it all started.
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