Apple today introduced iPhone, combining three products – a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps-into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.
“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device — our fingers — and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your Mac, Windows PC or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.
iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.
iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.
iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.
iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.
iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.
iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.
iPhone’s 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.
iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.
iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.
Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.
iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari(TM) web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi- touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their Mac or Windows PC. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.
iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy- to-use touch interface.
iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors — an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor — that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.
iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.
iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for US$499 and an 8GB model for $599, and will work with either a Mac or Windows PC. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.
iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.
To learn more about iPhone, please visit Apple.com or watch the video of the iPhone introduction at http://www.apple.com/iphone/keynote
Related article:
Video of how Apple’s rumored touch-screen Tablet Mac could work – February 13, 2006
Now THAT is a compelling product.
I wonder if Microsoft ‘tards like Robbie Bach get this?
does “locked” mean that even if u buy it from another source, and put your SIM card in, it won’t work ?
that’s sad, thank god i don’t live in the USA.
i don’t have much to say about the phone, or rather, i have so much to say, that i’m not even going to try !
it’s AWESOME, the UI, the quality of the screen, etc etc etc etc…
even the price is good, 200$ less than the piece of crap i have now, and, remember, the first iPod was expensive, big and not that good.
a great day, Apple Computer is dead, long live Apple.
Randy, yeah I know where you are coming from there but to me it looks like a super first effort by Apple. The possibilities for a device like this are surely going to rock imo.
Ok, I don’t want to be a fly in the ointment but 8BG for $599 thats sick… What can we put on their a hour or so of tv shows, a song or two? We will have to constantly be moving things on and off the device, just to make room.
The price is nutts for that, granted the devices looks amazing. I am not a fan of the smudge factor maybe we can dub it the ismudge (then we will be forever wiping it off on our pant legs or shirts) maybe for the $599.00 price tag “APPLE INC” can toss in an Apple logo shammy for it too, call it the iwipe.
If this thing was 20-40GB at least we would have some room to play around and enjoy the devices.
Lastly, of all the carriers to pick CINGULAR =( they have by far the worst customer service, they act like they are doing you a favor by talking with you.
Ok one more thing why is Apple not running their own IMAP push from dot mac, not we have to get a yahoo account too…
That is just my opinion.
I am interested in computers and the software that runs on them. I want ’em stronger, faster, more powerful and I want them to work.
I have no interest in a tiny screen, hand held toy that includes a phone.
Nothing here today for me and I can’t help but wonder, especially considering the company’s name change, if Steve has acknowledged the dominance of his old buddy Bill and is simply withdrawing from the computer business.
There seems to be no end to the demand for cuter and cuter toys.
@ Lachlan –
5-hours TALK time.
oh and don’t worry about the video iPod, it’s probably VERY easy to make one based on this product, remove the phone, put an HD in.
and Leopard ? he just did not have the time to talk about it, it’s not gone
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wouhou !
my best day since i worked with, for, and sometimes against Apple, since 1977.
Spock, do u hear me ?
Sometimes the things that are most interesting are those not stated. Being that this is a MacOSX device, one would imagine that it will be able to do speach recognition, text – to – speech etc. If the phone has the ability to identify one’s location, then it maybe able to do some serious navigational assistance.
I would love to see a pocket sized bluetooth or wifi hard drive that could remain in your pocket or bag and allow the phone to connect to it as a way of expanding storage capacity. If it REALLY is a feature rich, cut down version of MacOSX, Network storage shouldn’t be an issue.
another remark, my 650$ Window mobile phone (ok it has a great GPS), has only 512 MB of memory, and absolutely nothing what the iPhone offers.
the iPhone is NOT expensive !
It would have been cool it used ichat and video conferencing.
Irish Dude, don’t get me wrong, I thing the iPhone is fantastic. But you can see from my previous post that I am limping along with a 15 gig 3g iPod. I am really chomping at the bit for a new one. I can see the writing on the wall. Full screen wireless iPod video. Did you notice how music was srolled on the iPhone. Perfect interface for the rumored touchless iPod that works by running your finger up the sides. No more wheel.
More on Network Storage: This device will probably be able to stream for internet storage such as .Mac and Gmail. That may eleviate the need for extra storage on the device. Since networking ability is included on many fronts, maybe the iTunes player on the device will allow playback of streamed content as well as content stored on the device. I think we don’t know the whole story and all that Apple has up it’s collective sleave. Orb on a TV tuner enabled PC should allow streaming of multimedia to this device. The possibilities seem endless.
Finally a widescreen ipod, but it doesn’t have enough space to hold video.
I hope that they make an identicle product with a nice big HD…..heck, it doesn’t even need the phone part.
Apple has officially morphed into an electronica company, but fear not Mac faithful, what makes all those new devices stand apart is… Mac OS X!
And Leopard is coming in March, so it´s only two months away!
Especially for those of you who were not impressed with the news today… For a really excellent play by play of Steve’s keynote, see Engadget at: http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/#comments
This will be the future iPod interface. Soon the Clickwheel will be buried, mark my words. Apple has to keep on moving to stay on top of the game.
Hey Marc, the ModBook unveiling happens at 5:30pm EST/2:30pm PST. Looks like a kick ass product…we shall see….
Wauw!!!!!!!!
It’s not THAT expensive, around 3500kr here in sweden, that’s what sony ericsson’s phones are here. Only SE’s phones suck in quality so they’re worth about 35kr
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This kicks ass, wouldn’t buy one though. You should NEVER buy something first gen, from ANYONE!
Zune Tang…Three words…GAME, SET, MATCH!!
Did some of you guys not see the widescreen touchscreen iPod video with Coverflow??
This unit is whatever you wanna be. Another myth put to rest…I have heard so many times…”I just wanna carry around one device”
I thought I was dreaming big in my fantasy device, but this is truly what I asked for and more and they still dreamed it bigger in real life than I did in my fantasy life.
Also, the Wayne Gretsky quote says it all.
Zune Tang, you pimply teenager, you wouldn’t show your face on this forum again if it was the only forum on earth. Companies all over the planet are checking their undies and calling emergency board meetings. Apple will now have to have an all new legal team to fight copywrite and patent infringements. What does the Zune creator and Bill Gates have to say now??
I want one, but, unfortunately will have to wait till it becomes available as an unlocked phone or with my preferred carrier T-Mobile.
ok so yeah, the original ipod would be laughable if it were introduced today considering how far it has come, but it used the latest and greatest technologies to make it. this iphone cuts corners in too many ways. only one carrier, only 8 GB max, only 5 hours battery. where’s the consumer version, the one that was simply a phone? the weather widgets and maps are nice, but how often is someone going to zoom in on the roman colloseum just because they can. and a browser? why would anyone use the browser if they could watch videos on a 3.5 inch screen. why would apple go with the less popular smartphone style when simple phones are much more popular and would sell much better and be cheaper.
Hey, here’s an idea. It would probably make a really cool input device for a computer via Bluetooth and the Widget of your choice could be the wallpaper. Kind of like a bluetooth Trackpad, with the weather or stockticker constantly updated in the background.
The BIG story here, for those of you who missed it and for those complaining about No macs or OS talk, is that Apple is no longer a computer company. No more Apple Computer Inc. was not just a name change. Now they are a consumer company just like Sony. And they make consumer products be they Computers, music players, phones, what have you. So get used to having shows that showcase what product they have and want to revile. It’s a new age. I suspect you will see other announcments on software comming up by the end of January – Feb as they have done in the past.
Georgy Porgy…Yes we all saw the “Widescreen touchscreen iPod video with Coverflow”…the only trouble is that to get out hands on one for just $499 with only 4gigs of storage, we have to sign a 2 year contract with Cingular!
Some of us may dislike or not need cell phones and want MUCH more storage! Give me the all the iPod features and internet connectivity and leave the phone on the side of the road!!!