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Where were you when the iPhone was born?

Thursday, June 28, 2012 · 11:06 pm · 50 Comments

“Today is the [fifth] anniversary of the release of the original iPhone, and for Cult of Mac’s writers, it’s a particularly important birthday: not only does June 29th mark the anniversary of one of our most all-time beloved gadgets, but it’s also a day so momentous that it has rippled through every aspect of our professional lives as both Apple fans and writers,” John Brownlee reports for Cult of Mac.

“To mark the occasion, five of Cult of Mac’s writers got together to talk about where we were when the first iPhone came out, what it meant for us then and what it means for us now,” Brownlee reports.

Check out their stories, and tell Cult of Mac – and MacDailyNews (below)! – your stories – in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Cult of Mac‘s article appeared on the iPhone’s fourth anniversary, but it works regardless of the year.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "David Martin" for the heads up.]

Related article:
Apple’s revolutionary iPhone turns five: How it changed the world – June 27, 2012

Categories: News

Tags: iphone, iPhone birthday, iPhone anniversary, Cult of Mac, David Martin

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Comment Feed

50 Comments

1 2 Next »

Cwhaites

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:08 pm · Reply

1st in line.
- Scubaboy
  
  Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:55 pm · Reply
  
  Selling the 1st iPhone purchased in my state to S. D. Who I still see occasionally in the store and around town.
- smitty
  
  Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:10 am · Reply
  
  You got me beat.. 12th in line
  - Sucker
    
    Friday, June 29, 2012 - 9:52 am · Reply
    
    Lines? Pfft. I went to the Clarendon (VA) store at 5:30. Saw there was a line, said, “f— that.” So I went over to Mexicali Blues in had dinner and a couple beers. Walked by the Apple Store on my way home, encountered no line, bought my first iPhone and went home to spend the next two hours waiting for AT&T’s activation servers to allow me to connect.
- John
  
  Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:12 am · Reply
  
  In line with my son, buying the first two iPhones sold in Athens, GA. We even got interviewed by the local news!
R

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:11 pm · Reply

Probably at work, being a responsible employee, talking on my Motorola Q.
- iFan
  
  Friday, June 29, 2012 - 7:27 am · Reply
  
  Same here – except mine was a BlackBerry. That seems so long ago …
- Paul
  
  Friday, June 29, 2012 - 8:47 am · Reply
  
  Red Razr … Spent 4 years with that phone. Still have it in a pile somewhere.
  - Sucker
    
    Friday, June 29, 2012 - 10:59 am · Reply
    
    Dunno what I was using, it was the whatever the free Verizon feature phone with a USB connection was at the time. Even then I was using OnSync to keep my phone and Mac address books in sync.
dslarsen

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:11 pm · Reply

Of all things I was at a company testing about 80 different feature phones for a new media delivery service. I had jumped at the chance because I had heard that it had a connection with Cingular, which I had heard was getting the iPhone.

Alas, it wasn’t anything to do with the iPhone, but when I bought mine, and brought it to work, I was instantly aware that what I was doing now was testing a pointless service on 80 devices which had been rendered instantly obsolete.
John C. Randolph

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:13 pm · Reply

I was in Moscone West, about 20 rows back from the stage.

-jcr
- Spark
  
  Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:25 pm · Reply
  
  +1
- krquet
  
  Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:42 pm · Reply
  
  You were 20 rows closer to history being made. You have seen Jobs, first hand, at one of his best.
  Many can just retire with that highlight.
  - Coal Cracker
    
    Friday, June 29, 2012 - 2:32 pm · Reply
    
    Nice story.
ob1spyker

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:13 pm · Reply

Saw news of the event on tv. Didn’t pay too much attention to it as I had just got out of the wireless business the year before. 5 years changes a lot. I am almost fully converted to Apple, and I await every announcement like it’s Christmas morning. Funny though that the one device that still alludes me is the iPhone. Waiting for the new one later this year…
aleef69

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:18 pm · Reply

Wasn’t the iPhone released in 2007? This would be the fifth anniversary, wouldn’t it?
LuckyWinner

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:23 pm · Reply

The Cult of Mac article is a year old.
KenC

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:24 pm · Reply

I drove past the local At&t store, saw the line, went to Ratatouille with gf, drove back past At&t store, saw no line, ran in and got my iPhone in 5-10 mins.
Ya think

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:28 pm · Reply

At school in 3rd grade
Ya think

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:29 pm · Reply

Just out of third grade listening to me CDs in a cd player portable by somy
Spark

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:29 pm · Reply

Watched the keynote, knew I had to have one. June 29, 2007 I had a morning meeting so I sent my secretary to stand in line for me until I could arrive. Nice long line with lots of happy excited people waiting for the doors to open, which I believe was 4 or 5 o’clock for the first release.
Swiss Chris

Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 11:32 pm · Reply

I remember, who was loughing, when the iPhone was presented:
1. Balmy
2. The guys of RIM
3. The guys of Nokia

No other comment…
- castelbuono
  
  Friday, June 29, 2012 - 2:52 am · Reply
  
  Balmy was the worse of the lot. His inane laugh about the new iPhone was priceless. He’s one of those people who goes down to the water to see what all the fuss is about just after the tide has rapidly receded.
Shawn

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:40 am · Reply

I was working at an Apple Store playing with before anyone else while the line outside the black curtain grew. One of the coolest moments of my life sharing it with some of the most fanatic Apple fans in the world.
peterblood71

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:43 am · Reply

I was working on the stopmo film CORALINE in Hillsboro, Oregon. Man there was just a couple of us flashing our iPhones around, including one or two animators, like some private club. There are few times in my life I was as thrilled with a piece of amazing technology in my pocket.
mugwump

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:58 am · Reply

Actually, thought the phone was a bit underwhelming.

Stood in line on the first day, dude handing out Day 1 iPhone shirts in the west LA mall when security shut him down, very slow line as AT&T authentication systems were crashing, moms walking by with baby strollers calling us “stupid” for waiting in line for a cell phone.

Then, the phone didn’t do a whole lot. You had to scroll down hundreds of contacts to find a name to call, and don’t forget the AT&T data system crashed in many cities for the first week so the phone didn’t even work that well. Some stranger asked if he should get one that day and I told him to wait a few months.

Not to mention, there were no apps, and I can’t remember the web apps at the time but I don’t think there were that many.

So basically, I thought it didn’t do too much except have nice big buttons in the nice screen, the web looked great, and it was an improvement from my Handspring Treo that had rudimentary internet, apps, email, and phone from 5 years before.

But I knew it had potential, that this was going to be bigger than the iPod, and it certainly was! Been in line on day one for 3 other versions, and am happy enough with this current one not to upgrade.
disposableidentity

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 1:33 am · Reply

Happened to be meeting a guy from RIM. I said in the meeting that it looked like they were probably going to be finished (I’m not kidding, I actually said that). He didn’t think that was going to happen, but there was a little doubt in his voice. I don’t think he quite knew what to make of the iPhone. For the first two or three years they proved me wrong. Sales kept going up. Stock was up. Now it’s all over.

When Steve Jons said they were 5 years ahead of the competition, he was almost right. If Sndroid hadn’t copied them, it would have been 6.
botvinnik

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 1:43 am · Reply

bought the 8gb the second day it was out for $599, wasn’t all that impressed at the store or taking it home: then I used it.

boom.
Mac Daddy

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 1:58 am · Reply

I was #158 in line. We all had a lot of fun. I still have my 8GB phone, its box, and the nice little shopping bag it came in

I called a friend, and she and some other friends were at a sushi place and demanded I bring it right over to show them… I got a kamikaze roll and a couple big Sapporos out of that

BTW the only reason I know I was #158 is one of the Apple employees was walking the line, counting us up!
Zmarc

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 2:08 am · Reply

I picked my mother from the airport that afternoon. She had just spent 3 months in Togo, West Africa, volunteering with a missionary. Yet she had Internet over there and had heard of the iPhone. She knew very little except Apple had come out with a phone. She emailed me and asked if I was getting one. I said, “Definitely.” she wrote back, “Get me one, too.” She hadn’t realized they wouldn’t be on sale until she got back to the States. On the way home from the airport we stopped at AT&T store and got me added to her plan and everything set (I had an AT&T prepaid phone at the time and wanted to keep the number). There was a huge line out the door, but they were iPhone buyers. Since we were just doing other business, they let us inside. Then I took her home at about four o’clock and drove back to the mall. I got there at 8, worried about the line. The line was gone. I actually found a parking spot close to the Apple Store on a Friday night. I ran into the Apple Store and bought two 8GB iPhones. $1200. Seems insane now, but at the time it was an okay deal. Took just five minutes. Went home and my home was too tired after her trip to bother with the phone so we set hers up the next day. I stayed up till midnight trying to get mine activated (this was the self activation through iTunes). Finally got it working. Amazing. Now I’m several iPhones later. My mom also. She loves hers. She used to reply to your email 3 months later. Now it’s 3 minutes. She’s always on it. Loves Words With Friends. Definitely will be in line for the new iPhone this fall!
Back2Mac

Friday, June 29, 2012 - 2:19 am · Reply

In line with my wife (fiancée at that time) at the AT&T store.

The plan was to get one for me and a second one to throw on eBay. Once we walked out of the store though, she knew she had to keep the second one.

We’ve had every iPhone on launch day since then. Love it!