It’s been 8 years since the iPhone was unveiled. Look how terrible the first one was

Venture Beat ^ | January 10, 2015

[Swordmaker]

It’s eight years to the day since Steve Jobs first revealed the iPhone to the world.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

Before the iPhone came out, smartphones were clunky devices, half keyboard and half screen.

Full websites didn’t run on mobile phones, so companies were forced to build weak, mobile versions of their sites.

The iPhone changed everything.

And yet the iPhone experience we all enjoy today didn’t happen overnight. It took years of Apple adding feature upon feature. By today’s standards, the original iPhone was a useless brick.

As a reminder of how far the iPhone has come, we’ve put together this slideshow on how the first iPhone was pretty crappy.

There’s an important lesson here: People tend to quickly judge products on what they can and cannot do, while failing to account for how the product improves over time. As the iPhone shows, it’s okay to start with limitations and gradually expand the product over the years.

As speculation mounts ahead of the release of the Apple Watch, it’s worth keeping this in mind.

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Yes, the original iPhone was a miracle. As a reminder, here’s what the competition looked like at the time.

Image Credit: WSJ

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That said, it’s fun to look back and see how many really basic features were missing from the first iPhone.

Image Credit: AP

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It ran on EDGE, or 2G wireless, which is painfully slow. It’s basically dial-up speed.

Image Credit: Flickr/greg.chiasson

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That 2G connection was extra painful because AT&T was the only carrier option available. And AT&T had its problems (like dropped calls).

Above: Stan Sigman, the chief executive of AT&T at the time.

Image Credit: Screenshot

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There was no App Store, so there was no Angry Birds, no Instagram, no Candy Crush, no anything fun!

What makes the iPhone the iPhone is all the apps. When Apple first launched the iPhone it had no App Store. Steve Jobs wasn’t sure if he wanted to have one because of his desire to totally control the experience. Eventually he relented. But even if Jobs had been on board with an App Store from day one, there’s no way it could have been ready right away. It’s a major undertaking.

Above: Angry Birds GO!
Image Credit: Rovio

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Hopefully you liked a black background, because that was the only choice you had! You couldn’t change the iPhone’s wallpaper picture.

Above: iPhone 3G

Image Credit: AP

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It took three years for Apple to add cut, copy, and paste.

Above: Cut or copy.

Image Credit: Flickr/Robert S. Donovan

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You had to plug the iPhone into a computer to set it up. You had to do this for five years!

Above: PC Free

Image Credit: Screenshot

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The keyboards in the email and text-messaging apps didn’t work in landscape mode.

Above: Messaging in action.

Image Credit: Screenshot

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You couldn’t send people images in your text messages!

Above: Text message
Image Credit: Aaron Moodie

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There were no turn-by-turn directions apps. It’s not just that Apple didn’t have turn-by-turn — it didn’t let other app developers do it for years, either.

Above: You still needed this if you had an iPhone.
Image Credit: Flickr/John.Karakatsanis

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The camera was 2 megapixels!

Above: 8 GB iPhone.
Image Credit: Flickr/Carl Berkeley>

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The camera also couldn’t do video. (Which means it couldn’t do adorable Vines like the one below.)

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There was no notification center, no Siri, and no control center. These are all complicated features, so this isn’t surprising — but it’s still a reminder of how many huge features Apple has added since 2007.

Above: Siri.
Image Credit: Screenshot

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And it cost $499 for a 4GB model! There was no $200 or $0 subsidized option.

Image Credit: Screenshot

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“So what?” (You may be saying … )

You’re not wrong to ask “So what?” The point here is that technology takes time to fully form. While the iPhone was a miracle when it was released, it still had a long way to go. So remember that the next time a tech company releases a new product. Assuming the fundamental product vision is sound, the first version is just a starting point.

Above: Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus
Image Credit: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

[Swordmaker]

The iPhone has come a long way in the 8 years since it was first announced by Steve Jobs on January 8, 2007. Here is a retrospective look at the limitations of that first model. — PING!

Apple Original iPhone Limitations Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[Vince Ferrer]

I still like this:

iPhone4 vs HTC Evo

Profanity warning, but funny.

[Blue Highway]

So basically you are agreeing with people that have said for years the iphone sucks. Welcome to 2006!

Great article by the way, glad to see all the drawbacks of that phone for so long, but strange that at that time the Apple cult were ONLY singing praises for it. And the lack of storage upgrade is STILL one of their drawbacks. I wonder how long it will take for them to add an SD card slot?

[ziravan]

If I could just get a USB port on my IPad, it’d be awesome. I’m not sure why Apple insists on no data interface.

[ziravan]

We have three computers in house. IPad, my wife’s Win7, and my piece of garbage Win8. My wife wants to drop her Win7 for an IPad.

We both agree, like it or not, we have to keep the Win8 for storage and stick drive maker.

If Apple would just reconsider a USB port, I could ditch windows forever. I know this is a thread about IPhones and how far they’ve come....

But. If Apple could just come this little bit further with the IPad......

Sigh.

[fireman15]

I purchased a Sprint PPC-6700 in December of 2005. It had the Windows Mobile 5 operating system. It was very tweakable right from the start and in town it got approximately 1000 kbps download speed on the Sprint EVDO Network. At that time this was nearly as fast as my cable modem.

At that time Sprint customer support actually gave me instructions on how to “tether” the phone to my laptop through a USB cable. Calls would still ring through while the phone was tethered to the laptop. I had a very reasonably priced truly unlimited data plan from Sprint and this was one of the primary uses for the phone.

By the time the first iPhone approximately 2 years later, I knew how to get the most out of the PPC-6700 and I wasn’t very impressed with the capabilities of the iPhone. I especially could not figure out why the iPhone didn’t come with high speed cellular data as the PPC-6700 did.

For our next “smart phones” we picked Sprint Touch Pro 2 phones. They had the “Windows Mobile 6” operating system which had a few small improvements over WM5 which came on the PPC-6700. The TP2s had better screens than the PPC-6700s and faster processors, but functionally there were only evolutionary changes. It was a very easy transition for us and we used them for several years before switching to Android Phones.

The Android phones were more capable than the Windows Mobile phones but there was a bit of a learning curve. So we didn’t appreciate the improvements as much as we might have.

Flash forward a couple more years and my wife and I have retired and we switched to Ting which is a low cost reseller of Sprint cell phone service. They charge by your actual usage. There is no activation fee and it is only $6 a month to add an additional cell phone to your account. So I re-activated one of the Touch Pro 2 phones. I had fond memories from when we were using them and I still remembered how to get the most from one.

Now that we are accustomed to using Android phones using the TP2 again was a pain in the butt. Within a couple of months I replaced it with a used Samsung S3 Android phone that I purchased for $90 on eBay. The newer phones are much better compared to the older phones. Functionally the TP2s will do most of what the Androids will do, but the experience is not nearly as pleasant, and if I hadn’t spent several years using Windows Mobile OS phones it would have been worse.

It is about the same as switching back to an older computer. There are all of the little conveniences that speed and power provide that you get used to. When you go back it is a difficult adjustment to make.

[Swordmaker]

By the time the first iPhone approximately 2 years later, I knew how to get the most out of the PPC-6700 and I wasn’t very impressed with the capabilities of the iPhone. I especially could not figure out why the iPhone didn’t come with high speed cellular data as the PPC-6700 did.

The primary reason was that AT&T was the only cellular carrier that would play ball with Apple. . . all the rest wanted Apple to play the old way. . . allow carrier apps, carrier logos, and limited functionality unless the subscriber paid extra for each addition. Apple refused to go along with that program and persuaded AT&T to go with the whole enchilada for a single price structure. However, AT&T was fearful of load on their infrastructure, especially their newly installed and growing 3G network which was only available in certain core markets. . . so AT&T insisted that as part of their price to agree to accepting Apple's terms, Apple could NOT install a 3G radio in their new phone. . . lest it overwhelm AT&T's networks. Only 2G Edge connection would be allowed.

Apple had to force a re-negotiation of their contract with AT&T before the iPhone 3G could be released, because the original agreement was a FIVE YEAR lock-in. Thank goodness that Apple had enough clout by then they could do that. Insiders say that Steve Jobs threatened to throttle manufacture of iPhones unless AT&T would renegotiate the onerous terms. . . AT&T blinked! Jobs also required that AT&T had to move aggressively on both expanding 3G and 3.75G (called 4G) in that new contract. . . and ended exclusivity in the US. That was one hell of a lot of clout! What kind? iPhone was accounting for better than 60% of the phones sold by AT&T!

[Swordmaker]

If I could just get a USB port on my IPad, it’d be awesome. I’m not sure why Apple insists on no data interface.

You can. There are adapters. Part of the reason is security. If the iPad and iPhone had such data interfaces, they would not be allowed in a lot of Enterprise environments. Same with removable cards. They are not secure with such ports or cards.

There are viable alternatives to get data on and off of your iPads such as DropBox, iCloud, Google Drive, etc., all of which work with the iPad and iPhone. . . that don't compromise security. Even Google has realized it's mistake and has removed support for memory cards in its latest official incarnation of Android.

[ziravan]

I agree with fireman, I’m a sprint customer so my evolution curve on smart phones ultimately went through android. Android only took me so far, I’ve switched my last three phones back to GS3.

Now, Sprint has royally hacked me. My last android phone, an HTC OneX, turned into a brick during a software upgrade and Sprint blew me off when I complained. (switched back to GS3.)

After 14 years of being a Sprint customer, I’m changing to Verizon (best cell at my rural home per several neighbors). I may even buy my first IPhone. Time and availability will tell...

[gunsequalfreedom]

Like you, I’m no Apple fan. But the point of the post is the revolution that Apple brought to computing in the palm of your hand while also being able to make a phone call.

This was a true revolution. You can hardly blame the Apple cult for heralding it - even though you and I know our Androids do so much more.

Threw the last part in there so you can have company being flamed. Get out your flame suit.

[Swordmaker]

Great article by the way, glad to see all the drawbacks of that phone for so long, but strange that at that time the Apple cult were ONLY singing praises for it. And the lack of storage upgrade is STILL one of their drawbacks. I wonder how long it will take for them to add an SD card slot?

Eight years ago it was light years ahead of anything else on the market. No other phone offered full screen surfing of the internet. None. Every other Internet experience on a mobile device was to crippled mobile sites. Not on the iPhone. The rest of the phones on the market were pains to surf the internet. . . The iPhone did not "suck" as you so blithely claim. it re-defined the smartphone completely. The point of this article is that Apple continually improved and added to the technology of the iPhone. They did not rest on their laurels. For example, the cut and paste was not a "slap dash" system but one that is considered the best in the mobile market. . . it works across ALL apps. They made it so that it would. That took time to get right.

SD card? Even Google has realized the error of supporting SD cards on their devices. They are not secure! Google has dropped support for SD cards in the latest incarnation of Android because it was making it difficult for Android devices to break into Enterprise use. They can easily be stolen, borrowed and copied, or they are a vector for malware. Storage upgrade? Why? As I have pointed out to you many times, for documents, music, videos, I have no need of storage upgrades. . . I have direct wireless access over WIFI or cellular to terabytes of encrypted storage on my home computer and my iCloud account at all times. Why would I want to stick anything on an unsecured SD card where it could be stolen, copied, or lost due to the flakiness of SD cards?

[wardaddy]

Ok

I have a large family

Two iPads

One iPad mini

Five iPhones

One MacBook

I finally gave up my 4 year old razr droid and bought a 6+

I owned a 4s long ago and gave it up because it had reverb on Bluetooth or auxiliary plug to truck speakers which is what I need to hear

499 with verizon upgrade....i have 11 lines

Plenty upgrade on my 100 gig plan

Data usage on verizon for business used to be unlimited free

Bastards

Pros on iPhone 6+:

graphics...of course

Siri....she cannot be overstated for us with southern accents....the rest only understand Yankee pitch and tone

The text keyboard is great

Text ergonomics good

Camera....I like

iTunes Bluetooth or wired to big driver speaker...great...much better....it’s like Klipsch versus Beats..no contest

Photos....good
Copy and paste magnifying glass...great

I don’t game....silly....grown men 45

I’m still learning good stuff.....overall ergonomics great....this is their raison de voire

Bad stuff on iphone6+:

Apple itself....snarky and arrogant paranoid uber proprietary outfit....if they don’t make it they make it difficult....if they do make it....u pay for

Droids are much more open ware technology...no cult club following

No scheduled auto text...with many businesses and 5 kids this matters....I can’t text workers at 4 when I recall something important

Will not work with 2014 Silverado Bluetooth.....this is simply unacceptable for a retail 1000 dollar phone

And I counted on it...I drive 130-150000 miles a year in this truck alone

Text message alert sounds....do not work....a well known issue......I live by text

I haven’t decided yet...I almost bought the big screen Galaxy Edge

A platform I know well....similar to Motorola

I bought this cause I love apple ergo but jury is out trending iffy

I chose this over the Samsung cause if I flare off one of my kids would prefer it over an android

Kids stuff and gaming...it rox

Business use....not so much...at least not yet

[Swordmaker]

This was a true revolution. You can hardly blame the Apple cult for heralding it - even though you and I know our Androids do so much more.

Threw the last part in there so you can have company being flamed. Get out your flame suit.

No flame from me. . . but you haven't used an iPhone, so you really don't know. Specs are really not the end of the story.

[Swordmaker]

499 with verizon upgrade....i have 11 lines

WOW, 11 lines. That's a lot. I thought my office was crazy. Two carriers, AT&T and Verizon . . .

Apple itself....snarky and arrogant paranoid uber proprietary outfit....if they don’t make it they make it difficult....if they do make it....u pay for

i think you will find they are not. Mostly Apple is very helpful and most of their stuff is very open standard. For example, Android uses Webkit, which was developed by Apple, is owned by Apple, and is maintained by Apple, but was placed in the open software licensing for anyone to use by Apple. Android also uses CUPS, as does Linux, the Apple developed Common Unix Printing System which Apple also placed into the commons. . . and that's just the beginning of what Apple has placed into common open source circulation. Even Safari is open source. This idea that Apple is completely closed is a myth. Parts of Apple's OS are closed, yes. But it's core OS is not.

But, across all your devices, you only have to pay for it once. . . and then never again. Upgrades are free. . . and the resale value of the devices will often pay for the upgrade of the device when it's time.

No scheduled auto text...with many businesses and 5 kids this matters....I can’t text workers at 4 when I recall something important

There are apps that will do auto text and scheduling for you. Apple leaves a lot of that stuff to 3rd party to do, interfacing with the Apple App or the API to do it. Look around, you'll find one you like. I don't need to do that, so I have no recommendations for you. Sorry.

Will not work with 2014 Silverado Bluetooth.....this is simply unacceptable for a retail 1000 dollar phone

Now that is odd. I have not run into a bluetooth an iPhone would not work with. I would check with your dealer on that. . . may be something set wrong. I've had trouble getting my Ford Sync on my 2009 Taurus Limited Edition to see my iPhone every time i have to re-sync the bluetooth but eventually it gets it. . . and then it reconnects solidly from then on. But then its had trouble syncing to every phone from friends who've tried it.

Kids stuff and gaming...it rox

I'm not a gamer either. . . but occasionally I will veg out and play Bookworm for hours on end until I burn out on it. . . got one game going in which my points are over 36 million. . . so every so often I will revisit it and add to that total. LOL!

Business use....not so much...at least not yet

For business use, you can download Microsoft Office for free now. That includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.. . but Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will do most anything you need and will sync to your MacBook.

[9thLife]

I still use a 3s.

[Swordmaker]

I still use a 3s.

3Gs? My original iPhone, bought on the first day it was available on June 29, 2007, was finally retired as a phone, after being handed down through various family members, last April or May. . . but it is STILL being used as an iPod by my 3 year old granddaughter. It is on it's original battery, which has never been changed, and has been in continuous use for 7 and a half years! That batter still takes a charge and holds about 80% of the standby and usage time it originally had. Utterly amazing. So much for all those naysayers who claimed the original iPhone battery would have to be replaced and would be a problem, being a non-user replaceable item. . . from day one.

[fwdude]

I’ve been an iPhone user for about a year and a half now, and it has made me an Apple product hater. Let me begin to list the problems with their products....

[2ndDivisionVet]