How the iPhone Changed Society
There have been a handful of communications breakthroughs throughout history—paper, the printing press, the telephone, the internet. On January 9, 2007 at Macworld in San Francisco, Apple cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a device that, in his words, combined "a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device." He called it the iPhone. And the crowd went nuts.
To be fair, cell phones had been a thing for almost 25 years by the time the iPhone came around (the very first mobile phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x—more colloquially known as "The Brick"—went on the market in 1984 at a cost of $3,995) and made calling people relatively easier, but the problem was that they were still a bit too niche to be useful to the general public. The majority of people still had landline phones; the operating costs for a cell phone, although they were going down, were still higher than many liked (or wanted to afford); and frankly, owning a cell phone still had a stigma attached—the only real people who owned them were businesspeople, and the only reason they had them was because they could afford them. Steve Jobs decided to change that.
What eventually became the iPhone had a bit of a rocky start and was only possible due to one of Apple's other successful products—the iPod. Before its debut, music aficionados and the public-at-large had to contend with bulky binders full of CDs; the introduction of the iPod (and iTunes) in 2001 made possible the idea that you didn't need to carry your CDs around everywhere with you—you could fit your entire music library on a device that not only was small enough to fit in your hand, but could also fit in your pocket. The iPhone entered the picture due to Jobs' belief that since technology was advancing cell phones to the point that they'd be able to encroach on the iPod's market share, he (and Apple) would have to get on the ball first before more traditional cell phone companies like Motorola and Nokia figured out that they could take a bite of the proverbial apple through other means.
"Project Purple" was born in 2004 out of this desire to control the phone market as a collaboration between Apple and Cingular (later AT&T, which the iPhone eventually premiered on). Over thirty months to the tune of $150 million, Jobs and Co. finally figured out how they could change the technological and communications landscapes wile also beating their rivals to the punch through the use of five technological advancements.
The first was the Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery. It had always been small, but constant improvements in battery life had progressed to a point that by the time the iPhone entered the picture, Li-ion batteries were becoming powerful enough that they'd be able to keep a device like the iPhone going as its user went about their day.
Second, the invention of a multi-touch screen changed the cell phone's physical look—not only did the lack of a physical keyboard free up precious screen real estate, but as Jobs noted in the iPhone's 2007 keynote, people already had ten devices on their hands that they could use to manipulate their phones; they didn't need to use a plastic keyboard (or a stylus, which obviously could get lost).
Third, the addition of more powerful and energy-efficient CPUs ensured that not only would users be able to do tasks faster, but they'd also be able to do more of them at once. While older cell phones could only handle a few tasks at a time before they'd end up seizing like a long-distance runner with cramps, the iPhone's CPU could keep going without breaking a sweat.
Fourth, Cingular/AT&T's cellular network, which the majority of cell phone users were already part of, made an excellent gateway for Apple to showcase their device while also providing them with peace of mind that their product would be partnered with a company that had more reliable service than its competition.
Finally, the addition of a fully-optimized and -enriched web browser in Safari meant that consumers would be able to have the same internet experience that they had on their home computers. Gone were the days where "mobile internet" meant reading pared-down articles on tiny screens with the connection speed of a turtle.
Despite its revolutionary debut, some media outlets weren't all that impressed—the New York Times called it "amazing" but "not perfect", while Techcrunch mused that the phone could be full of bugs and there would be cracked screens all over the place. Even Bloomberg piled on, writing "...The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks. In terms of its impact on the industry, the iPhone is less relevant."
As a sort of giant middle finger to the naysayers (and to prove that what they were crowing about was a load of bunk), the iPhone itself kept undergoing numerous technological and physical changes through the years—the iPhone 3G saw the first use of a dedicated "app store"; the iPhone 4s came bundled with Siri; the iPhone 5s was the first to offer Touch ID as a more secure alternative to the tried-and-true password system (some people swear by Touch ID so much that they're still using iPhones from as early as 2014); the iPhone X, as a tribute to the iPhone's ten-year anniversary (and further proof that the iPhone was more than a one-hit wonder), was the first to use an all-screen design—because the venerable Home button was done away with, the only buttons that remained were on the sides.
For all of its achievements, the iPhone made the biggest impact on society as a whole. The inclusion and abundance of apps not only allows us to do just about anything we want with our phones (as evidenced by the "There's an app for that" tagline that was used on early promotional material), but communications-related apps in particular—from text-messaging to dating—make it easier for people to communicate with each other across oceans. It also bridged the digital divide somewhat by enabling people to connect with the wider world without needing a physical computer to do so; as long as you have an internet connection, you have a voice.
On the other hand, the more cynical among us might argue (and rightly so) that the iPhone's invention has made us not only connected to each other, but also too attached to our devices. We've become so accustomed to having our phones within arm's reach that we sometimes don't pay attention to anything or anyone else. It hasn't destroyed marriages (yet), but it has decreased our attention spans.
Optimist, pessimist, or somewhere in-between, what can't be argued is that the iPhone has shaped society for better and worse. Without it, we'd still be click-clacking away on plastic keyboards while waiting forever to surf the web.
About the Author: Ronald Hamilton, Jr. is a graduate of Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Media Studies. When he's not writing for COM-GAP, Ronald is a volunteer with the nonprofit Live Forever Project.
