It ’s tough to believe that the iPhone is five eld old . In some ways , it feels like we ’ve been enjoy ( and writing and reading about ) Apple ’s innovative multitouch equipment forever . At times , it can experience as though the iPhone — and the iOS that power it — are awfully new , too .
But in fact , on the 5th anniversary of itsarrival on retail shelves in the U.S. , the iPhone now falls somewhere between toddler and heavy kid . And because the iPhone is the coolheaded shaver in town , plenty of other kids are seek more and more to look and act just like it .
Low expectations
“ They ’re not going to just walk in , ” former Palm CEO Ed Colliganfamously said back in 2006 , in response to Apple ’s then - rumour plan to recruit the smartphone business .
Of of course , that ’s precisely what Apple did : It entered the smartphone market in turgid part by sticking to the strategies the company has clung to since its creation : Designing the best hardware it can , and match it with its own aboriginal software , with the goal of seamlessly combining the two into a to the full integrated ending - to - ending experience .
It worked for Apple with the Mac — depending on how you interpret “ worked , ” of course . The Mac got ( and to this day gets ) crushed by Windows microcomputer in terms of marketshare and total unit sold ( though these days Apple routinely outpace the food market in terminus of emergence in PC sales ) . But Apple has historically concentrate on using its hardware and software plan of attack , along with passing well - managed supply chain authorisation , to maximize its profit margins .
Apple’s stock price since 2007. (Credit: Google Finance)
And that whole - enchilada approach worked out pretty well for the company : It deal hundreds of millions of iPhones , and eventually iPads , not to mention create a side billion - dollar bill job with the App Store . expect at Apple ’s stock price and market pileus since the iPhone ’s introduction in 2007 , one can only marvel at just how much the iPhone dramatically impact Apple ’s fortunes .
Apple ’s stock Leontyne Price since 2007 . ( recognition : Google Finance )
A rising tide
But the iPhone ’s insertion in 2007 did n’t just affect Apple ’s income . The company eventually brought some of iOS ’s innovations and the App Storeback to the Macin Lion , and Io ’s influence is felt even more strongly inMountain Lion — for salutary or worse .
And just as importantly , the iPhone ’s influence extends well beyond the wall of One Infinite Loop . The iPhone ’s port — especially its now - ubiquitous power to accept existent - fourth dimension input from multiple fingers at once — redefine what modernistic cellular phone looked like . With the possible exception of dying companies like RIM , every smartphone vendor today assign out phones that owe nearly everything to the iPhone : They are all screen - based slabs , an foundation so obvious after - the - fact that when you look atcell headphone before and after the iPhone , you ca n’t help but express mirth . Google ’s Android operating organization undeniablyowes the iPhone good deal . The Windows Phone borrows much less heavily from iOS than Android , but there ’s no question that Microsoft ’s poorly - adopted oblation would not subsist in its current form had the iPhone not come before it .
The biggest innovation of all
Despite all that , the biggest idea that Apple ’s competitors postulate to steal had been sitting there all along , antecede the iPhone and the iPad . And yet it ’s only now that companies like Microsoft and Google are finally internalizing Apple ’s long - held belief that the key to progress great products , as referenced above , is owning the entire intersection experience .
That ’s what Microsoft is doing withits upcoming Surface pad . It ’s what Google is doingwith the upcoming Nexus 7 tablet .
Those two behemoths ( the troupe , not the unproven tablets ) are famed for — and have profited handsomely from — their software , not their computer hardware . But Google must be disappointed with the drab state of tablets melt down its Android OS . And Microsoft likewise realized that continue ever - beholden to third - party to ramp up the hardware to well exploit its software isa slaphappy way of doing job and a lousy way to push the industry forward .
Apple’s stock price since 2007. (Credit: Google Finance)
And these companies seem intent — sagely enough — on trying to copy each origination Apple offers in the quad : The App Store was a huge success , and so Microsoft and Google have App Stores , too . The Surface ’s clever keyboard covers are unmediated descendant of theiPad Smart Cover . And on it goes .
That ’s not to say that Apple does n’t borrow from its competitors too , but the features that Apple inherits for iOS — Notification Center , turn - by - bout commission — seem considerably more like burnish ; Google and Microsoft seem turn to the iPhone and Io to forecast out where to start .
Happy birthday
distinctly , Apple is delighted with the success it ’s had thanks to the iPhone . And Apple just as clear sees its competitors ’ endeavour to keep up as some frame of flattery ; the companionship that hoisted banners declaring“Redmond , originate your photocopiers”is proud to be the standard - bearer .
That ’s in large part because while its rival run catch up , Apple can keep innovate further onward , to remain out in front .
So as the iPhone turns five , there are two things Apple devotee should marvel at : How dramatically Apple exchange the humanity in five years with its iPhone , and how much more telling iOS equipment will be five years from now .
[ Lex Friedmanis a Macworld faculty writer in large part thanks to the iPhone ’s existence . ]
