5 ms·

When I think back to that time period (serving tables, T9 texting in my apron on my Blackberry Pearl lol) I remember the touch screen being a tough learning cur

When I think back to that time period (serving tables, T9 texting in my apron on my Blackberry Pearl lol) I remember the touch screen being a tough learning curve for the majority of people. The first iPhone was also gigantic, hideous, couldn't send pictures - something even a cheap $20 Samsung from the carrier could do - and it also didn't sell very well. People were more into "The Google phone", the Sidekiq, or the latest Razr. Think it wasn't til the 3GS came out with a ton of marketing push that it started to gain popularity, and it ended up having more to do with the App Store than the hardware - people did not like those touch screens for the first several years of smartphones. They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. I think the App Store resonated a lot more with people back then rather than the iPhone as a device. MySpace was still around, the Bush-era recession had everyone looking for a side hustle. Most young/ambitious people I was around in "tech" (which was effectively HTML-based SEO and WordPress design) had a Blackberry and a side business. This kid I worked with became "rich" from an iPhone app that just combined other iPhone apps haha. Loved that time period. Graffitio! Would have been very hard to predict the success of the iPhone, even as I was already entering orders for customers on a fully touch screen Aloha point-of-sale long before iPhone.

WheatMillington 2y ago
This is a giant bit of revisionist history. The first iPhone was an immediate success and a massive seller.
Analemma_ 2y ago
To be honest, I think you're badly misremembering that era. People were calling the iPhone "the Jesus Phone" after the original keynote announcement, the lines on launch day were around the block, and upon release, there were definitely tons of flame wars around physical vs. touchscreen keyboards but there was a widespread consensus that the iPhone's predictive typing correction was pretty good and that the touchscreen was miles ahead of any similar-equipped phone (many of which were still resistive, ugh!). It definitely didn't get mainstream popularity until the 3GS/4 and the App Store, but people were definitely interested from day 1. Don't forget that early builds of Android looked much more like a Blackberry clone until the iPhone was announced, and then Google immediately scrapped everything and rewrote it from the ground up to be iPhone-like.
- xenadu02 2y ago
  It just proves that no matter what you make and how innovative a product it is someone will come along a decade later and claim it was nothing but marketing fluff.
  - dagmx 2y ago
    Gruber said it best (to paraphrase): Apple does things that are derided at launch, and then eventually becomes so commonplace that people think it was obvious. The iPhone is that. I used to deride it at launch when I had my Sony P1, but it was truly a revolution. Anyone denying its success looking back,even as a v1, is living in a bubble.
  - bschmidt1 2y ago
    Didn't claim that at all, and have used iPhone for years.
    - xenadu02 2y ago
      > I remember the touch screen being a tough learning curve for the majority of people. people did not like those touch screens for the first several years of smartphones. They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. Touch is probably the single most intuitive and easy to use interface ever created for computing. It is so obvious even a 5 year old child understands it without being taught (as both my kids did). Very very very few people found touch to be a significant learning curve at all so I'm not sure where that idea comes from. There was definitely a whisper campaign from the tech talking heads that people wanted keyboards and touch screens were not the future... but that was mostly from people who never used it or competitors who had nothing to compete with. > The first iPhone was also gigantic, hideous, couldn't send pictures - something even a cheap $20 Samsung from the carrier could do It wasn't much larger than competing "smart" phones at the same and the large size was in fact a huge selling point: a bigger screen to see more content in apps and on websites. MMS support was missing for sure but was also rolled out as a software update to all existing customers for free. The first time AFAIK that ever happened in the cell phone game. Prior to that (and still in Android land) updates require carrier cooperation and manufacturers did not hand out free features - buy a new phone for that. > and it also didn't sell very well. People were more into "The Google phone", the Sidekiq, or the latest Razr. I would say it sold quite well and exceeded expectations. In the iPhone announcement Apple said they'd like to sell 10 million of them by 2008 and sold 13 million. Sales roughly doubled the next year (2009). And the next (2010). And the next (2011). And the next (2012). > I think the App Store resonated a lot more with people back then rather than the iPhone as a device. I don't agree it resonated more than the device at that time but it was certainly an extremely important milestone. Apps, especially games, definitely drove a lot of adoption.
vlovich123 2y ago
You’re right. The first iPhone was so bad that “the Google phone” was delayed by many months as they scrambled to completely redesigned their launch phone to be multitouch instead of keyboard. The razr2 sold 5M units and the sidekick sold 3M to iPhone 1’s 6.1M. The n95 did outsell the iPhone with 10M units but Nokia had a massively more mature sales pipeline whereas Apple had to build out carrier relations. It also shipped before the iPhone was even announced which gave it time to accumulate sales. Everyone in the space though recognized how big it was because carriers were going out of their way to try to get it on their network (since at the time Apple was doing 1 carrier per country). Apple got lucky that AT&T bought Singular which made the iPhone accessible to many many more people. 3GS’s 37 million units was because Apple had 2 years to build up manufacturing capacity and carrier sales channels to match demand for what had become clearly a smartphone revolution.
- foobarian 2y ago
  The big things I remember from that era is that the iPhone was the first phone with an unlimited data plan which Apple/Jobs beat AT&T into submission to get. Until then you had to worry about every last byte you used on the dinky carrier-grade apps and the lousy WAP websites. This worry removed, and the fact you actually had a real browser that could open real websites were the two main features that to me seemed like a huge leap forward.
  - theatrus2 2y ago
    Its also clear that the carrier wasn't ready for it. People with the original iPhone would get entire boxes mailed to them for their Cingular statement, itemizing every data transaction, but then all flat rate charged.
    - S_A_P 2y ago
      I had an original iPhone and did not get such statements. As I recall while Cingular was indeed not ready to handle unlimited data for customers, it wasn’t really a problem for the first iPhone since it wasn’t 3g. Once the 3g dropped , it was a problem since people were actually able to consume a large amount of data.
tambourine_man 2y ago
I think your memory is a bit hazy. Jaws dropped during the keynote. People disassembled it on day one doubting it was real.
- MBCook 2y ago
  RIM famously thought they faked the keynote and what they showed was impossible.
  - tambourine_man 2y ago
    I was trying to remember if it was RIM or Nokia
    - MBCook 2y ago
      It was RIM. I don’t know what Nokia’s reaction was. I don’t think I’ve ever heard. As the smartphone king at the time in the US RIM is always the one people talked about.
michaelt 2y ago
> They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. Nah. The only reason the iphone didn't take off faster was that, for its time, it was extremely expensive. $600 upfront plus a 24-month, $60/month contract [1]. That's $2000 back in 2007, or $3000 today. [1] https://www.theregister.com/2007/06/26/iphone_contract_prices/ https://www.theregister.com/2007/06/26/iphone_contract_price...
- valley_guy_12 2y ago
  Second reason it didn't take off faster was that iPhone was typically a carrier exclusive, and in most markets, the iPhone carrier was typically one of the smaller carriers. So iPhone wasn't available to most mobile phone users in a given market, unless they went to the trouble of switching carriers.
  - MBCook 2y ago
    Plus the App Store was a massive driver of demand, but wasn’t there until year 2 and the release of the 3G.
- bschmidt1 2y ago
  If you were around when the first decent iPhone released (2008) you'd remember that everyone had one for $99 on AT&T, where non smartphones were still like ~$300, so I'd say you have it backwards. Maybe you weren't old enough, or are from another country. Everybody remembers this, it was a great idea on their part as it got everyone using iPhones.
  - goosedragons 2y ago
    That wasn't release though... Prices for the 2G iPhone really were that high and Apple even cut the price after a few months because it wasn't moving like expected.
    - bschmidt1 2y ago
bigcat12345678 2y ago
A living proof that there is always someone who can find the wrong of the thing that everyone else loves
phire 2y ago
> I think the App Store resonated a lot more with people back then rather than the iPhone as a device You are forgetting, there was no App Store when the iPhone launched. Apple was originally against the idea of Apps. The App Store launched a year later, with the iPhone3G. Yet the iPhone was wildly popular not just from the day it launched, but from the day Apple first demoed it. I think what caught people's attention with the iPhone is that it's one of the first phones where you could easily browse websites from your phone in a way that didn't feel like a gimmick. Other phones had web browsers, but they only really worked on special mobile versions of websites. They were also slow and painful to use even on those mobile optimised websites. Then iPhone came along, and Apple had someone managed to squash a full desktop web browser on it. It did a half decent job of reformatting desktop-only websites to fit on the screen. When pages didn't reformat, the new touched-based panning and pinch-to-zoom gestures allowed you to still experience them with ease. And Apple managed to make the whole OS feel responsive, despite using the exact same hardware as their competitors.
lotsofpulp 2y ago
> Think it wasn't til the 3GS came out with a ton of marketing push that it started to gain popularity, and it ended up having more to do with the App Store than the hardware - people did not like those touch screens for the first several years of smartphones. They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. This was not true per my memory. Literally everyone I knew in their 20s and 30s in NYC was switching to the iPhone 3G as of summer 2008. You had to wait in line to buy it for months. Unlimited 3G + GPS + touchscreen browser was what made it explode. Broadband internet, in your pocket, with mapping capabilities. It felt like the possibilities were limitless, with new apps and functionality being discovered and released daily.

WheatMillington 2y ago

This is a giant bit of revisionist history. The first iPhone was an immediate success and a massive seller.

Analemma_ 2y ago

To be honest, I think you're badly misremembering that era. People were calling the iPhone "the Jesus Phone" after the original keynote announcement, the lines on launch day were around the block, and upon release, there were definitely tons of flame wars around physical vs. touchscreen keyboards but there was a widespread consensus that the iPhone's predictive typing correction was pretty good and that the touchscreen was miles ahead of any similar-equipped phone (many of which were still resistive, ugh!). It definitely didn't get mainstream popularity until the 3GS/4 and the App Store, but people were definitely interested from day 1. Don't forget that early builds of Android looked much more like a Blackberry clone until the iPhone was announced, and then Google immediately scrapped everything and rewrote it from the ground up to be iPhone-like.

xenadu02 2y ago
It just proves that no matter what you make and how innovative a product it is someone will come along a decade later and claim it was nothing but marketing fluff.
- dagmx 2y ago
  Gruber said it best (to paraphrase): Apple does things that are derided at launch, and then eventually becomes so commonplace that people think it was obvious. The iPhone is that. I used to deride it at launch when I had my Sony P1, but it was truly a revolution. Anyone denying its success looking back,even as a v1, is living in a bubble.
- bschmidt1 2y ago
  Didn't claim that at all, and have used iPhone for years.
  - xenadu02 2y ago
    > I remember the touch screen being a tough learning curve for the majority of people. people did not like those touch screens for the first several years of smartphones. They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. Touch is probably the single most intuitive and easy to use interface ever created for computing. It is so obvious even a 5 year old child understands it without being taught (as both my kids did). Very very very few people found touch to be a significant learning curve at all so I'm not sure where that idea comes from. There was definitely a whisper campaign from the tech talking heads that people wanted keyboards and touch screens were not the future... but that was mostly from people who never used it or competitors who had nothing to compete with. > The first iPhone was also gigantic, hideous, couldn't send pictures - something even a cheap $20 Samsung from the carrier could do It wasn't much larger than competing "smart" phones at the same and the large size was in fact a huge selling point: a bigger screen to see more content in apps and on websites. MMS support was missing for sure but was also rolled out as a software update to all existing customers for free. The first time AFAIK that ever happened in the cell phone game. Prior to that (and still in Android land) updates require carrier cooperation and manufacturers did not hand out free features - buy a new phone for that. > and it also didn't sell very well. People were more into "The Google phone", the Sidekiq, or the latest Razr. I would say it sold quite well and exceeded expectations. In the iPhone announcement Apple said they'd like to sell 10 million of them by 2008 and sold 13 million. Sales roughly doubled the next year (2009). And the next (2010). And the next (2011). And the next (2012). > I think the App Store resonated a lot more with people back then rather than the iPhone as a device. I don't agree it resonated more than the device at that time but it was certainly an extremely important milestone. Apps, especially games, definitely drove a lot of adoption.

vlovich123 2y ago

You’re right. The first iPhone was so bad that “the Google phone” was delayed by many months as they scrambled to completely redesigned their launch phone to be multitouch instead of keyboard. The razr2 sold 5M units and the sidekick sold 3M to iPhone 1’s 6.1M. The n95 did outsell the iPhone with 10M units but Nokia had a massively more mature sales pipeline whereas Apple had to build out carrier relations. It also shipped before the iPhone was even announced which gave it time to accumulate sales. Everyone in the space though recognized how big it was because carriers were going out of their way to try to get it on their network (since at the time Apple was doing 1 carrier per country). Apple got lucky that AT&T bought Singular which made the iPhone accessible to many many more people. 3GS’s 37 million units was because Apple had 2 years to build up manufacturing capacity and carrier sales channels to match demand for what had become clearly a smartphone revolution.

foobarian 2y ago
The big things I remember from that era is that the iPhone was the first phone with an unlimited data plan which Apple/Jobs beat AT&T into submission to get. Until then you had to worry about every last byte you used on the dinky carrier-grade apps and the lousy WAP websites. This worry removed, and the fact you actually had a real browser that could open real websites were the two main features that to me seemed like a huge leap forward.
- theatrus2 2y ago
  Its also clear that the carrier wasn't ready for it. People with the original iPhone would get entire boxes mailed to them for their Cingular statement, itemizing every data transaction, but then all flat rate charged.
  - S_A_P 2y ago
    I had an original iPhone and did not get such statements. As I recall while Cingular was indeed not ready to handle unlimited data for customers, it wasn’t really a problem for the first iPhone since it wasn’t 3g. Once the 3g dropped , it was a problem since people were actually able to consume a large amount of data.

tambourine_man 2y ago

I think your memory is a bit hazy. Jaws dropped during the keynote. People disassembled it on day one doubting it was real.

MBCook 2y ago
RIM famously thought they faked the keynote and what they showed was impossible.
- tambourine_man 2y ago
  I was trying to remember if it was RIM or Nokia
  - MBCook 2y ago
    It was RIM. I don’t know what Nokia’s reaction was. I don’t think I’ve ever heard. As the smartphone king at the time in the US RIM is always the one people talked about.

michaelt 2y ago

> They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. Nah. The only reason the iphone didn't take off faster was that, for its time, it was extremely expensive. $600 upfront plus a 24-month, $60/month contract [1]. That's $2000 back in 2007, or $3000 today. [1] https://www.theregister.com/2007/06/26/iphone_contract_prices/ https://www.theregister.com/2007/06/26/iphone_contract_price...

valley_guy_12 2y ago
Second reason it didn't take off faster was that iPhone was typically a carrier exclusive, and in most markets, the iPhone carrier was typically one of the smaller carriers. So iPhone wasn't available to most mobile phone users in a given market, unless they went to the trouble of switching carriers.
- MBCook 2y ago
  Plus the App Store was a massive driver of demand, but wasn’t there until year 2 and the release of the 3G.
bschmidt1 2y ago
If you were around when the first decent iPhone released (2008) you'd remember that everyone had one for $99 on AT&T, where non smartphones were still like ~$300, so I'd say you have it backwards. Maybe you weren't old enough, or are from another country. Everybody remembers this, it was a great idea on their part as it got everyone using iPhones.
- goosedragons 2y ago
  That wasn't release though... Prices for the 2G iPhone really were that high and Apple even cut the price after a few months because it wasn't moving like expected.
  - bschmidt1 2y ago

bigcat12345678 2y ago

A living proof that there is always someone who can find the wrong of the thing that everyone else loves

phire 2y ago

> I think the App Store resonated a lot more with people back then rather than the iPhone as a device You are forgetting, there was no App Store when the iPhone launched. Apple was originally against the idea of Apps. The App Store launched a year later, with the iPhone3G. Yet the iPhone was wildly popular not just from the day it launched, but from the day Apple first demoed it. I think what caught people's attention with the iPhone is that it's one of the first phones where you could easily browse websites from your phone in a way that didn't feel like a gimmick. Other phones had web browsers, but they only really worked on special mobile versions of websites. They were also slow and painful to use even on those mobile optimised websites. Then iPhone came along, and Apple had someone managed to squash a full desktop web browser on it. It did a half decent job of reformatting desktop-only websites to fit on the screen. When pages didn't reformat, the new touched-based panning and pinch-to-zoom gestures allowed you to still experience them with ease. And Apple managed to make the whole OS feel responsive, despite using the exact same hardware as their competitors.

lotsofpulp 2y ago

> Think it wasn't til the 3GS came out with a ton of marketing push that it started to gain popularity, and it ended up having more to do with the App Store than the hardware - people did not like those touch screens for the first several years of smartphones. They came out at the height of texting and ringtone era, and we were pretty set in our ways, and it took years to change that behavior. This was not true per my memory. Literally everyone I knew in their 20s and 30s in NYC was switching to the iPhone 3G as of summer 2008. You had to wait in line to buy it for months. Unlimited 3G + GPS + touchscreen browser was what made it explode. Broadband internet, in your pocket, with mapping capabilities. It felt like the possibilities were limitless, with new apps and functionality being discovered and released daily.