10 years ago — Apple's iPhone as seen on AppleInsider and by our readers

AppleInsider was heavily invested the the launch of the original iPhone, and you were too. Here's some of the things we said about it at launch — and what somer of you thought then.

AppleInsider was on the scene at the announcement in January 2007. Crowds gathering around the two iPhones on display were five to seven people deep, as photographers and enthusiasts tried to snag some clean shots of the groundbreaking device to call their own.

A second feature published the same day looked more closely at the software installed on the phone. There weren't a lot to go around — there didn't appear to be any more besides the two in the plexiglass shields, and the one that Jobs was clutching.

In a 22-page forum thread, AppleInsider readers speculated on Jobs's release, with the general consensus that it would do very well for Apple. Of course, there were some nay-sayers, and to match them, a few who thought that it would revolutionize the industry.

On June 29, 2007 AppleInsider finally got one and quickly got pictures up, without comment.

Examination would begin discussing the hardware a couple of days later, with long-time staffer Daniel Eran Dilger reviewing the first iPhone, in his own timeless style. In a sprawling review, he called it "the most incredible piece of consumer hardware I've ever touched."

We asked for your stories and pictures, and here are some of the responses we received:

Twitter user Sean Terry told us about his early iPhone experience as a blind user. He skipped the first two iPhones, but got the first iPhone to have VoiceOver for the Blind — the iPhone 3GS. Terry called the iPhone "a life changing experience."

Long time forum member Singularity spoke on Thursday of his experience, and said:

"Before the iPhone I had a Sony Ericsson M600i, but after the reveal in January I found myself a few days after the launch in the UK, in the O2 phone shop and a few minutes later I had the phone in my hand. That would teach my wife to leave me alone for a few minutes. Coming from a resistive touchscreen to a capacitive touch screen meant that I didn't have such a shift in user input and I soon forgot about the keys. The big plus was the screen it was big and it was nice! "

I was first in line at ATT store Muscle Shoals Al, got there at 3 pm was out at 6:15 with one. Picked up second later. They both still work! pic.twitter.com/WcjSMzsOLR
— Walter25 (@walter25) June 28, 2017

Here's my first gen iPhone next to the 6s Plus! Still powers up but very limited with the apps now. pic.twitter.com/r0bWrqrN2C
— Dylan Gardner (@Dylan_Gardner) June 26, 2017

And here's the rather stunning flip side.... pic.twitter.com/aPf1Ws4Q9p
— Dylan Gardner (@Dylan_Gardner) June 26, 2017

My dad bought me a 4S before he got an iPhone himself. Sounds mean now but I was delighted. When I swapped it for a 6, the size dif startled
— Rachel P (@museum_mouse) June 28, 2017

My 1st Selfie...had to use a mirror. pic.twitter.com/plGN6GsOW6
— Xyanth (@DaveOwens23) June 28, 2017

Still have mine, still works, didn't need to upgrade til iphone 5s came out
— Ryan Wuckert (@RWDMTDIT) June 28, 2017

First #Apple product was #iPod 3. Still working like a charm.

Since then, the house has been invaded by Apple !
— SylvainL (@monblogApple) June 28, 2017

I remember when I wanted an iPhone so badly. Now I have one I totally forget that I do. We can take things for granted sometimes.
— Aaron Garcia (@agarciatv) June 28, 2017

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9 Comments

fallenjt 4056 comments · 13 Years

About 7 years ago

Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone to public: the best keynote ever presented to the world..."This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years...". Boom...we all know it (the iPhone) changed the way we used the phone forever".

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

I worked for a competitor of Apple in the cell phone industry, and I remember when it was introduce and remember readying the live feed on Appleinsider at the time. Later that day after the unveiling was all over the media and Our CTO of the company made a company wide announcement that told everyone that what Apple introduced was noting new. Needless to say she was gone a year later, the fact the CTO of a cell phone company could not see the fundamental change that was about to hit the world show you why they company no longer exist.

tyler82 1107 comments · 18 Years

fallenjt said:

Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone to public: the best keynote ever presented to the world..."This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years...". Boom...we all know it (the iPhone) changed the way we used the phone forever".

The best was when he said they were unveiling 3 new products, and then we realized it was an all in one device

xbit 399 comments · 9 Years

maestro64 said:

I worked for a competitor of Apple in the cell phone industry, and I remember when it was introduce and remember readying the live feed on Appleinsider at the time. Later that day after the unveiling was all over the media and Our CTO of the company made a company wide announcement that told everyone that what Apple introduced was noting new. Needless to say she was gone a year later, the fact the CTO of a cell phone company could not see the fundamental change that was about to hit the world show you why they company no longer exist.

That's interesting.

I was in a weird situation at the time. I officially worked for Nokia but I worked in a Samsung office. The official line from Nokia was that the iPhone validated their approach to mobile (i.e. smartphones for everyone). And that was true - Nokia coined the term 'smartphone' and already had a line of touchscreen tablets. They knew what the future was going to look like. Unfortunately, they didn't have the ability to execute on that vision long-term. To misquote Wayne Gretzky, Nokia knew where the puck was going but couldn't skate there fast enough.

Samsung's attitude was different: work around the clock to copy the iPhone in every way possible. They had the hardware and the rest could be fudged together, right?