"We think the iPhone is a 'game changer'... it will change how people think about... handsets."
Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T
Announced in January 2007 and eagerly awaited, the Apple iPhone could play music, take photographs, browse the internet, send e-mail, play movies, and store up to 8 gigabytes of information. It also had Wi-Fi capabilities, a calculator, calendar, and notepad, and operated via a nifty touch-screen mechanism. And it could make a telephone call.
With its large screen, lack of buttons, and sleek appearance, the iPhone stood out in design terms alone—unlike its competitors, it did not look like a phone. What is more, the touch screen was designed to be operated by a finger, so it was no longer necessary to find the stylus required by other models.
However, the iPhone did not perform as well as expected, with Apple taking only a 5 percent share of the worldwide smart phone market. This was in large part due to the initial retail price of $599, later reduced to $399, much to the annoyance of early purchasers.
In July 2008 Apple released its new, improved, and cheaper iPhone 3G, which could exploit the faster 3G networks. As for the inventor of the iPhone, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs heads the author list of the patent, although many Apple employees were involved.
