The Smartphone

 The first smartphone was invented in 2007 by Steve Jobs and soon became a world phenomenon users can’t live without. The first debut of this life-changing phone was on January 9th, 2007 at the Macworld convention in San Francisco. Jobs' exact words about the new phone being, “An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone … Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.” (Jobs) While Steve Jobs seems to state being the first inventor of the modern smartphone we use today, Frank Canova was the first to lay claim to the title of the smartphone with his device in 1992. Canova claimed his idea of this smartphone, a wireless hand-held device to be “the phone of the future”. Canova demonstrated his prototype at the November 1992 COMDEX technology trade show in Las Vegas. On August 16, 1994, his product went on sale to the public. His smartphone was sold for only $899 with a two-year contract to BellSouth. 

The features of this smartphone included a touchscreen, a PCMCIA expansion slot, and multiple apps that included a calculator, address book, fax, calendar, mail, to-do, and a notepad. The battery only lasted for an hour and its large size, 8” H x 2.5” W x 1.5” D had limited the sales to only 50,000 units. And because of this, it resulted in the product being pulled from the market only after 6 months of being on the market.

            

When Steve Jobs released his new and improved iPhone, thousands of customers lined up at Apple Stores all across the country to purchase the iPhone. By November 2007 more than 1.4 million iPhones had been sold. The invention of the year was a 4.8-ounce device, originally available in 4 GB, a $499 model, and an 8 GB, $599 model. It was a revolutionary phenomenon for the technology industry. The features of the Jobs iPhone were the phone, weather, notes, calendar, photos, and a calculator. Similar to Canova's phone but more modern and advanced for the time being. This phone also has a touchscreen unlike the other. The iPhone is a combination of a computer, iPod, digital camera, and cellular phone all into one device with a touchscreen interface. This iPhone was created to combine all these devices into one handled device that people could take with them everywhere. 

The first iPhone laid down the foundation for the modern smartphone we use now. This pocket-sized computer is a necessity for all and contains everything you could need in the palm of your hand. The iPhone was the first modern smartphone that turned all of us into photographers, put the internet in our pockets, and shaped modern social media. Now more than 5 billion people around the world are using these handheld smartphone devices on a daily basis according to estimates from GSMA Intelligence. 

The smartphone changed the game of communication by becoming a handheld communicator device that people could take with them everywhere. No more wires, or antennas to help capture the best cell signals. This iPhone changed how we communicate and made it so much easier for us. The only negative effect of the iPhone would be the addiction that comes with it. 75.4 of users of the iPhone would state they have become “addicted “ to their iPhones (Reviews.org, 2020). It seems as if our generation can't go without their iPhone and personally I would say the same. My iPhone has become the first thing I use in the morning to the last thing I use before I go to bed. It has become an addictive tool that is only advancing as the years go on.