Amaya Toman 11 years ago, there were certainly those who cursed their iPhone. However, the editors of Time magazine in 2007 had a different opinion. So much different that at the time she declared the brand new iPhone the best invention of the year.
The first iPhone from a 2007 lineup that included a Nikon Coolpix S51c digital camera, a Netgear SPH200W Wi-Fi Phone, and a Samsung P2 player stood out considerably. From today's point of view, the Time magazine rankings of the time provide an interesting insight into the times when smartphones were far from ubiquitous and the world had to get used to the new iPhone.
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Like the first-generation Macintosh, the first ever iPhone suffered from certain childhood illnesses. People who bought it soon discovered that its core—rather than actual features and functions—was what Apple's smartphones were yet to become, and the promise that customers could be part of that grand journey. Despite all the initial mistakes and shortcomings, Apple clearly showed with its first iPhone the direction in which smartphones could (and should) go. Some compared the release of the first iPhone to the moment when the California company released the first Mac with a graphical user interface.
The relevant Time magazine article from 2007 faithfully reflects the time and the atmosphere, as well as the fact that the first iPhone in a way resembled a beta version of the product. It begins by listing everything that the first Apple phone lacked at the time. "That thing is very hard to write about," he didn't take Time's napkins. He also mentioned, for example, that the new iPhone is too slow, too big (sic!) and too expensive. There was no support for instant messengers, regular e-mails, and the device was blocked for all carriers except AT&T. But at the end of the article, Time acknowledges that the iPhone is, despite all that, the best thing that was invented that year.
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But the article in Tim is also interesting for another reason - it managed to quite accurately predict the future of Apple products. For example, when MultiTouch was mentioned in the text, the editors wondered how long it would take until the world saw the first iMac Touch or TouchBook. We didn't get a Mac with a touch interface, but three years later, the iPad with a MultiTouch display arrived. It certainly cannot be said that Time was wrong with its statement at the time "touching ... the new seeing". He also hit the nail on the head by declaring that the iPhone will not be just a phone, but a comprehensive platform.
While the Mac's graphical user interface once borrowed the form of an actual desktop, the iPhone has become a small computer capable of making phone calls and much more. Time called the iPhone a truly handheld, mobile computer—the first device that truly lives up to its name.
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Klára Jelínková Similar to the iPhone, the editors of Time magazine were excited by the arrival of the App Store, which was a completely unexplored novelty for users at the time - until then, personalizing a phone meant buying a polyphonic ringtone, a logo on the display, or buying a cover. The arrival of the App Store and the opening of the iPhone to third-party developers meant a real revolution, and Time wrote about how the empty surface of the new iPhone directly invites you to fill it with small, pretty, useful icons.
The iPhone has repeatedly appeared in the magazine's rankings. In 2016, when Time brought out a list of the fifty most influential devices, and in 2017, when the iPhone X found itself among the best inventions. "Technically speaking, smartphones have been around for years, but none have been as accessible and beautiful as the iPhone," wrote Time in 2016.
Source: Cult of Mac
