Today, January 9th, 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. It was on this day in 2007 that late Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs revealed a device that would eventually change the world. Before the event he announced that he would reveal a new iPod, a phone and an internet communicator at the event. It turned out that what he revealed was all three in one small device. The iPhone would eventually be called the world’s first smartphone leading to a technological and information explosion. It is no exaggeration to say that the iPhone was one of the most important inventions of the 21st century.
To date, Apple has sold over 1 billion iPhones worldwide. The current iteration, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are in the middle of their annual cycle and is on track to be one of the best selling iPhone in Apple’s history. For many years they have set the standard for smartphones and drove great innovations in the industry. Unfortunately, the trap of innovation has caught up with them. It’s almost impossible to continuously reinvent the wheel and development has become stagnant. The last few iterations of the iPhone have been incremental changes as opposed to big innovations.
Another challenge is the saturation of the target market. Basically, anyone who wants a smartphone probably already has one at this point. In the 7 years that the smartphone has been commercially viable the technology has been made faster and cheaper to the point where today’s low to mid range market smartphones now rival the high end smartphone from just a couple years ago. There just isn’t much incentive for people to buy the newest hardware when their current device is more than suitable. These and other factors all led up to 2016, the first year Apple has not increased sales over the previous year.
In other bad news for Apple, there is growing pressure from competitors like Samsung, HTC, Google, Huawei and others that rival or even surpass the hardware from Apple at better price points. But Apple isn’t finished yet. They are always on the cutting edge and are sure to bounce back. They still lead in many aspects such as with their app store which still boasts the biggest and most diverse selection. It is still standard practice to create a mobile app for the Apple platform first before adapting it to other platforms.
Regardless of the future of the iPhone, it will forever be remembered as a truly revolutionary invention that has forever changed the way we live. Experts even say that the iPhone is considered a cultural icon. The iPhone as a separate entity has netted one of the highest revenues of any single line of devices and is one of the primary reasons that Apple is still considered one of if not the wealthiest company in the world.
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