On June 29, 2007, Apple released a device that would forever change an industry. Eight years ago today, the first iPhone was made available to customers.
The original iPhone was initially available only to United States customers, and worked on only one cellular network: AT&T. In November of 2007, the device was made available to customers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland and Austria.
The device initially cost $599 with a two-year contract. That was for an 8GB device, and no subsidies were offered to aid in the purchase of the device. Apple dropped the price of the iPhone to $399 in September 2007, offering a $100 refund via an Apple Store gift card to those who had purchased at the higher price.
The original iPhone did not allow installation of third-party apps. Users were limited to Apple’s own pre-installed apps, a restriction soon broken by “jailbreaking,” which allowed users to install third-party apps. Apple introduced an official SDK allowing the creation of third-party apps alongside the release of the iPhone 3G.
In the eight years following the iPhone’s debut, Apple has sold hundreds of millions of iPhones around the world. In the second quarter of 2015, the iPhone accounted for nearly 70% of Apple’s revenue.
(Via MacRumors)
