The release of the iPhone in 2007 revolutionized the smartphone industry, setting a new standard for mobile devices and changing how we interact with technology. The design broke with prevailing PDA and smartphone standards by eliminating buttons and stylus interfaces for a finger-friendly multi-touch screen. The iPhone largely appealed to the general public, as opposed to the business market that other smartphones had catered to prior. Apple stores had lines around the block for consumer launches around the globe.
Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and then-CEO, unveiled the iPhone on January 9, 2007, during his keynote address at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Jobs famously described the iPhone as “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communicator.”