Steve Jobs introduced the first Apple smartphone in early January 2007. At the same time, initially, many were skeptical about the novelty. It did not have a number of features offered by competitors. Users did not like the built-in battery, the lack of a physical keyboard and a memory card slot.
Industry leaders have also looked at the iPhone with some skepticism. Apple was most criticized by then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. He said that the apple novelty will not be able to take any significant market share. He predicted that Apple could capture two or three percent. Blackberry executives were more cautious about the iPhone. But they didn’t put much faith in Steve Jobs’ claims of a reinvented telephone.
However, in the end, Apple literally turned the entire industry upside down. True, it did not happen right away. At the start, the company faced a number of difficulties. The iPhone was in short supply. But, despite all the problems, it was the first Apple smartphone that forced all manufacturers to reconsider their approach to creating mobile devices.
It is difficult to say exactly how smartphones would look now if it were not for the iPhone. Perhaps the industry would have gone the way of transformers and various hybrids. Before the release of the iPhone, manufacturers actively experimented with the shapes and form factors of their devices. However, everyone completely forgot about the convenient operating system.
Therefore, we can assume that without the iPhone, mobile applications would also look different. It is possible that in terms of their capabilities they would not reach the current solutions.
Source: AppleInsider
