On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld San Francisco and delivered what would become one of tech history’s most memorable product announcements. The Apple co-founder unveiled the iPhone with a presentation filled with bold claims and predictions that have aged remarkably well.“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” Jobs declared. But the moment that drew the biggest reaction came when he playfully built up the reveal. “An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone… are you getting it?” he paused. “These are not three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.”
The phone that changed everything
The presentation wasn’t just about hardware specs. Jobs took aim at existing smartphones, calling out their physical keyboards and fixed buttons. “What we’re going to do is get rid of these buttons and replace them with a giant screen,” he explained, introducing the world to multi-touch technology.His confidence in human intuition was central to the pitch: “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.”
A gamble that paid off
Behind the polished presentation was anxiety. Jobs later confessed: “I didn’t sleep a wink last night, I was so excited about today.” Apple engineers knew the phone could crash at any moment during the demo—the software wasn’t finished.When the iPhone launched five months later on June 29, 2007, it sold a million units in 74 days. Today, with over 2 billion active devices worldwide, Jobs’ declaration that “we’re going to make some history together today” stands as one of tech’s greatest understatements.
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