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
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Video of how Apple’s rumored touch-screen Tablet Mac could work – February 13, 2006
But will it squirt?
Seriously, a couple of versions down the line the iPhone is going to be huge. Not to mention (as Macaday rightly says) all the related devices that could be scaled/derived from it.
I reckon iLife 07 and iWork 07 (which are rumored to be not quite ready yet) will appear towards the end of March, along with Leopard.
‘Welcome to 2007’ suggests a full 12 months of awesome releases, so I’m not in the least bit disappointed by today’s keynote.
most ppl who think its expensive arent in the market for a smartphone anyway… come on…
The iPhone nano is 9 months away..
If you haven’t spotted it, the keynote is now up on Apple’s QuickTime page.
That’s expensive, especially as 4GB isn’t a ton of space for everything you’re going to have on there. Can anyone clarify: Does that price include a plan, or not?
But advice in advance: I had been waiting until the “true video iPod” to upgrade my 4GB mini (which does not fit all of my music) . . . but now it’s like, get a 30GB iPod or save for the iPhone? (I’m a poor student here with limited funds.) The interface and featureset of the phone look *very* deliciously enticing…
i’m suddenly very worried, IF the price of the iPhone is reduced by being locked into cingular, and because such ties are outlawed where i live, will i have to pay the “full” price ? or is 499 the full price before the rebate.
if it’s not, i might have to pay over 1000 dollars for it, i won’t.
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SD Card for Expansion ???
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you know I like the iPhone as much as the next guy…but this device is suppose to follow their motto of creating things that change the world — makes trivial things easy for the masses…but @ $600…I highly doubt that the masses are going to flock to the phone..instead, it will be the 1% of rich america that will afford such a luxury item..and for that I am upset!!! oh well..I’ll get my phone soon enough.
We are talking lots of time to develop this technology with the appropriate look and feel. I think $600 is a small price for something with these kinds of capabilities. Compare it to Nokia’s N90 series. You will see that Apple’s pricing is extremely competitive. This is a mobile multimedia computer that also has phone capabilities.
I’m really curious as to the tech stats on the device.
Anyone watched any of the various video feeds from the CES? It really is pretty pathetic compared to this year’s Macworld
What a piece of crap. Where the hell are the buttons? How did this thing leave the lab without buttons? The IT guys where I work have smart phones and those have buttons. Lots of them. They also have something the iPhone will never have: Windows Mobile. Read it and weep you Mac dorks–the iPhone doesn’t have Windows Mobile and all the cool, easy-to-use, must-have features & apps! I guess you can call Apple’s entry the world’s first dumb phone. Losers. I can’t wait to see you kool-aid drinking morons try play your precious, non-squirtable audio files without a play button.
And you Apple lemmings thought Zune was a waste of time and resources. It isn’t, not by a longshot. I’ll put my Zune up against your useless iPhone any day. Redmond has a plan and all of our prayers will be answered when they release the ZunePhone. Now that’s gonna be awesome.
You want it done right? Have Microsoft do it. Apple’s just gonna copy them anyway. Maybe next time Apple won’t forget the buttons.
Your potential. Our passion.
What the hell is everyone bitching about Mac users being left out in the cold???? For YEARS, Mac users have been complaining that we don’t have a SmartPhone/Newton replacement, and now that it finally arrives, everyone bitches about it!
For cryin’ out loud, this is the BEST smart phone ever! There are plenty of tools to create widgets, so we will have a multitude of inexpensive add-ons to expand the capability of our iPhones. We FINALLY have a phone that seamlessly syncs our data from our Macs, without having to beg Palm to keep the ancient Palm Desktop app in place.
Don’t forget – Apple is running OS X on this iPhone. Now PC users everywhere will be introduced to the goodness that is OS X. I also expect that future iPods will run this software instead of the proprietary iPod OS that they have been running.
Expect the new widescreen iPod to be introduced soon with the same interface. But why introduce everything at one event? Show off some really cool stuff, and then a few weeks later (closer to the release date), have another press event for the new video widescreen iPod.
Plus, this is SO COOL that PC users everywhere will want one, which only enhances Apple’s bottom line and brings more PC users into the fold, creating more opportunities for switchers.
Ok, I admit it. That is one damn cool looking device. And yes, this is the real DPTK user.
Confession time, I used to be Zune Tang. No more, I repent, pass me the iMac and put in my phone order.
Koolaid… didn’t you promise you wouldn’t be posting here anymore if apple introduced an iphone today?
Yes, you are right. I shall taunt you no further. bye
This is at the Star Trek end of possibilities for the iPhone/iPod. I predicted much of this — the wide screen iPod with a virtual touch interface with an integrated phone — on this site many months ago, but I did not predict OS X. I am joyously stunned. My God, I do love this company!
The competitors must be playing Mozart’s Requiem Mass over their corporate sound systems. Ballmer must have broken every chair in Redmond.
As the character in the movie “Aliens” said, “Game over, man.”
In the unlikely event that was the real Zune Tang, all I can say is… Welcome to. The. Social. You know, the one where people talk and text and chat and email each other.
People this is causing much angst in Redmond. This isn’t just a consumer device. It’s a PLATFORM. In other words, Redmond will perceive it as an attack.
And it’s good news for the Mac and Leopard… OSX under the hood means all this technology available to compliment macs… not like the Newton which was completely separate, competing for attention and resources.
My only concern is the exclusiveness with Cingular. I can easily see them charging extra for support of certain iPhone features (if there were multiple providers, there’d be pressure to be competitive.)
And clearly, this is the direction for iPods as well. The question is, how expensive is the screen, sensors, touch screen etc.
But we know how it all goes… after a couple of years the $599 model becomes the $199 model…
And this doesn’t replace MY new shiny black 80 gig ipod I just got. I’m still falling in love with my first click wheel. =)
iPhone mini before next Christmas for $199. Apple always puts the most expensive full-featured model first.
Although this blew me away, I need new Macs, a new display, and a new MBP that is ultra portable.
After some reflection, SJ never demo’d the camera, and conspicuously did not talk about iTMS on the iPhone. I assume you can’t download from iTMS directly.
He also did not specify the WIFI type, which probably means that “n” will have to wait.
There was no mention of storing any other form of data or visualizing them (documents, etc.).
Apparently no games, not even the ones on iPod.
It’s a good first generation model, but I think SJ is probably going to increase its capabilities gradually untill one day it could actually be a miniature, full-fledged computer.
I’m waiting to get the 2009 model!
Did anyone notice that it looks just like a G5/MacPro case from the front?
Any idea if this phone will work internationally? I’m in the market for a new phone that I’ll be able to use during my trips to Europe, and I’d be able to justify paying $599 for the 8GB if this is the case.
I wish DNA could have seen this. =(
Okay, I’m gonna say this right now: I don’t care what the rumors or the manufacturers say, Apple built A LOT more than 10 million of these things.
And they’re still gonna Run. Out.
-c
MW: ‘miles’ (down The Road Ahead)
To everyone who is complaing about how expensive the iPhone is… sheesh… That 3G 40GB iPod that I have, and that Apple sold the crap out of, was $499 at its introduction too. And look how little it does in comparison… just music, black & white screen. Yeah a new 80 GB ipod is $349, and has a lot more storage, but look at how much more the iPhone does. Sounds like a helluva deal to me.
MW: ‘planning’ as in, I’m planning to replace my 3G iPod and take a huge leap forward.
I’m stunned by all the dissapointment.
“Doesn’t have enough memory for video” – Bull SH#%. Um, this thing runs on batteries. Steve states 5 hours for Video playback. And he ran Pirates 2. So YES, it DOES have enough memory for video. If you want to complain about capacity, complain about the video playback time due to battery limitations. Not long enough juice for flights to Asia or Europe, but just fine for most domestic flights.
“It’s not a widescreen iPod” – Again, BULL SH#%. Were you not paying attention? Flip it on it’s side, and it becomes a landscape video/photo viewer. Touch the screen, and it displays video in 16:9 ratio.
“It’s too expensive” – I call BS again. Steve did a great job of breaking this down. You’re essentiall buying a smartphone, average cost $299, and an iPod Nano, $199, all rolled into one, for $499 or $599. There are other “smart” phones out there that cost MORE and do WAY LESS. It’s actually amazing they aren’t charging MORE for it considering the BILLIONS they must have spent developing this piece of art. Any idea what a patent costs? It’s EXPENSIVE. And there are 200 of ’em in the iPhone.
“It doesn’t play games” – WHO CARES RIGHT NOW?! It’t not enought that it runs OS X, plays music and video, makes phone calls, does SMS, has a real browser, receives PUSH email, and has a camera?? Don’t worry, I’m sure there will be a software update that will allow it to play games. Not to mention release is still 6 months out, it may be there at release.
“Where’s news about Leopard? Mac Mini with Core 2 Duo? Wonk Wonk Wonk” – Um, hate to tell all of you, but Apple stands to sell WAY more of these than they will any Mac. I love my Mac, but the cell phone market is MUCH bigger. Again, Steve pointed out that nearly 1 BILLION cell phones were purchased last year ALONE. The iPod, Apple’s best selling piece of equipment, has been around for 6 years, and doesn;t come close to approaching that number. They’d be FOOLS NOT to try to get in the phone business. And you KNOW that this doesn’t mean that Apple is abandoning ship on it’s computers. So they dropped “computer” from their name. It only signifies that they do MORE than sell computers. And MacWorld runs for a few days folks, there may still be news yet to come. It’s obvious why Apple TV and the iPhone were highlighted in the Keynote, they are great products that deserve to be given separate recognition.