On June 28, 2007, Nokia was the top selling mobile-phone company in the world, people stopped working when they left their computers, Android phones didn't exist, and high-powered executives were addicted to thumbing on their BlackBerrys.
The next day, Apple's first iPhone went on sale.
At $600, it was a luxury item at first. But five years later, the phone's dramatic impact can be seen in our daily lives, schools, factories and boardrooms. To date, more than 217 million iPhones have been sold, and they're being used by construction workers to read blueprints, doctors to diagnose patients, governments to improve services and parents to quiet their kids in restaurants.
To ring in its 5th birthday, here are five ways the iPhone has made a mark on the world.
A new way of interacting with computers
In 2007, we were a nation of skilled texters, banging out OMG-filled coded messages at lightning speeds on numerical keypads and physical keyboards. The iPhone was lacking either of those, instead offering a nothing-but-screen keyboard.
It was a classic Apple move toward dead-simple usability, and it helped bring a slice of computing to a whole new audience, including technophobes, kids, senior citizens and people with visual or hearing impairments.
Suddenly, users could navigate their phones with a few swipes of the finger. Kids intuitively seemed to know how to use it. And the phone ushered in a new wave of touchscreen devices.
After the hefty price tag, the lack of a physical keyboard was the first complaint many reviewers lodged against the iPhone. It didn't scare off consumers, though, and Apple sold a million iPhones in less than three months. Typing speeds on the iPhone still may not rival a pair of BlackBerry thumbs at their peak, but predictive-text software, spell check and, later, cut and paste have made it a usable alternative.
In October, Apple tried to shake up input again with the introduction of the Siri voice-assistant feature. The voice-recognition technology encouraged users to speak commands and questions instead of of tapping them in on the screen.
source:CNN
