When the first Apple iPhone hit the market in 2007, not everyone was convinced it would supplant the flip-phone… But with the iPhone 4 in 2010, featuring a high-resolution display, sleek design and front-facing camera, our collective fate was sealed.
Today some 5 billion smartphones are in use around the world, according to Canalys Research. The total number of internet subscriptions has soared to 7.2 billion globally from 1.3 billion in 2010, the vast majority of them mobile subscriptions, International Telecommunications Union data shows. The explosion in connectivity has been especially dramatic in the developing world, where there are now more mobile connections than people.
Apple Inc, once a niche computer company, is now one of the world’s most valuable companies thanks to the iPhone… The 2010 edition of the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica, all 32 volumes and 129 pounds of it, turned out to be the last. But untold barroom arguments or dining room debates can now be settled on the spot: Wikipedia is consulted more than 240 million times daily.
Among the major casualties of the smartphone era is the conventional phone call itself: ubiquitous messaging apps have helped make video calls, GIFs, emojis and audio messaging preferred modes of communication.
MacDailyNews Take: Since 2007, we’ve hardly used our iPhones for voice calls. We’re far more likely to text. We use FaceTime more often than voice calls, in fact! iPhone might just be the most poorly-named device Apple (or anyone) has ever made! It’s a pocketable Mac. The last thing it is is a “phone” and the “phone” is its communication mode of last resort for most iPhone users!