The Apple Beat: On the iPhone's 8th year anniversary

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It was roughly around this time in 2007 that the world saw its first official glimpse of Apple's iPhone. As of June of 2014, there have been over 500 million iPhones sold. It's kind of fun to look back and see how the mobile world has changed since then.

The iPhone can really be credited for jumpstarting the modern smartphone age. While there were multi-functional smartphones before that that could access the Internet, make calls and take pictures, none of them really pushed the idea of multi-touch as well as powerful handheld apps.

In 2007, companies like Nokia, BlackBerry and even Microsoft were riding high. Google was nowhere near ready with Android and Palm was still a year or two behind with webOS. Fast forward to today and the climate is very different. Apple has become a constant and expanding force in the global mobile market. Its strategy has been very different from the competition because for the longest time, Apple just released one new model each year. Two years ago it went the two model route with the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c and last year it introduced two new sizes and devices with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

image by Mashable

The original iPhone, which still looks quite elegant by today's standards, was a 2G device, its first applications were web-based and required data or WiFi to work. Today, Apple boasts the most lucrative developer market and as of 2014 had 1.2 million apps available to its iOS devices and has enjoyed 75 billion downloads to date.

Data speeds and availability have increased exponentially in eight years (although, sadly, pricing in Canada has not come down by much). People do more things with their smartphones than ever and can now even use them as work devices, navigation devices as well as pretty extensive recording and imaging solutions. Calling and texting, the big features back in 2007, are probably the things people do least on their phones.

iPhone remains Apple's strongest product and its most exportable. The devices enjoy far reaching demand in various countries, many of which pay a higher price and tariffs to enjoy ownership. For its part, Apple has continuously elevated the iPhone in various areas. Each iPhone has consistently led the market in performance, efficiency and functionality. With the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, there's now size parity in the market and users who want larger devices can get them.

iOS has evolved as well with a new interface and with many first-to-market features like Continuity with OS X as well as adopting some features that competing platforms have enjoyed for some time like customizable keyboards, notifications and NFC for mobile payments.

It is 2015 and the iPhone's halo-effect is getting bigger. Beyond accessories, apps and third party peripherals, iOS is expanding to home automation via HomeKit, to health tracking via HealthKit as well as a bug move towards car connectivity and infotainment with CarPlay. 

These are areas that hold the future of the iPhone and its ecosystem. By making the iPhone experience transferable to other key areas of user's lives, there's a greater chance of retaining user loyalty as well as building on the iPhone as a hub for our lives.

Apple has a challenging task on its hands, to continuously produce more powerful and desirable iPhones each suceeding year while growing various nascent ecosystems that feed into the iOS and App Store core. I'll be watching to see which of the ecosystems take off and how they improve the overall iPhone experience moving forward.