iPhone, not only phone !

Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007, after months of rumors and speculation. The iPhone was introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007 before being marketed worldwide. Time magazine named it the Invention of the Year in 2007. Released July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G supports faster 3G data speeds and assisted GPS. On March 17, 2009, Apple announced the iPhone firmware version 3.0, due to be released in mid 2009.

History and availability

Development of iPhone began with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' direction that Apple engineers investigate touchscreens. Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time—at an estimated development cost of US$150 million over thirty months. Apple rejected the "design by committee" approach that had yielded the Motorola ROKR E1, a largely unsuccessful collaboration with Motorola. Instead, Cingular gave Apple the liberty to develop the iPhone's hardware and software in-house. Numerous codenames and even fake prototypes were devised to keep the project secret.

Jobs unveiled iPhone to the public on January 9, 2007 in a keynote address. Apple was required to file for operating permits with the FCC, but such filings are available to the public, so the announcement came several months before the iPhone received approval. The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00 pm local time to prepare for the 6:00 pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. On launch weekend, Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first thirty hours. The original iPhone was made available in the UK, France, and Germany in November 2007, and Ireland and Austria in the spring of 2008.

On July 11, 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six. Apple sold 1 million iPhone 3Gs in its first 3 days on sale, enough to overload Apple's United States iTunes servers. Apple has since released the iPhone 3G in upwards of eighty countries and territories. In April 2009, rumors surfaced that Verizon Wireless had spoken to Apple regarding the possible development of an iPhone for their network in the United States, breaking AT&T's monopoly.

Over 3 million units were sold in the first month after the 3G launch, at a "blistering sales pace". The phenomenon of popular willingness to upgrade to the 3G so soon after purchase of an earlier model was attributed to Apple's popularity and its frequent imitators. The anomalously high demand for the first-generation iPhone was reflected in free-market prices for older models that began to rise steadily within days of the 3G launch resetting the price baselines.

Apple sold 6.1 million original iPhone units over five quarters. The company sold 3.8 million iPhone 3Gs in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, ending March 2009, totaling 21.4 million iPhones sold to date. Sales in Q4 2008 surpassed temporarily those of RIM's BlackBerry sales of 5.2 million units, which made Apple briefly the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue, after Nokia and Samsung. While iPhone sales constitute a significant portion of Apple's revenue, some of this income is deferred.

Hardware

Screen and input

The touchscreen is a 9 cm (3.5 in) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 6.3 px/mm, 160 ppi, HVGA) with scratch-resistant glass, and can render 262,144 colors. The capacitive touchscreen is designed for a bare finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. Most gloves and styluses prevent the necessary electrical conductivity.

The display responds to three sensors. A proximity sensor deactivates the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near the face during a call. This is done to save battery power and to prevent inadvertent inputs from the user's face and ears. An ambient light sensor adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power. A 3-axis accelerometer senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly, allowing the user to easily switch between portrait and landscape mode. Photo browsing, web browsing, and music playing support both upright and left or right widescreen orientations. The accelerometer can be used to control third party games, and the 3.0 update will introduce shaking the unit as a form of input. Later, a software update allowed the first generation iPhone to use cell towers and Wi-Fi networks for location finding despite lacking a hardware GPS. The iPhone 3G supplements those methods with A-GPS.

The iPhone has three physical switches on the sides: wake/sleep, volume up/down, and ringer on/off. These are made of plastic on the original iPhone and metal on the iPhone 3G. A single "home" hardware button below the display brings up the main menu. The touch screen furnishes the remainder of the user interface.

The back of the original iPhone was made of aluminum with a black plastic accent. The iPhone 3G features a full plastic back to increase GSM signal strength. The plastic is black for the 8 GB model, but the 16 GB version is also available in white.

Audio and output

Loudspeakers are located above the screen and the left side of the bottom of the unit; the microphone is located on the right. Volume controls are located on the left side of the unit and as a slider in the iPod application. Both speakers are used for handsfree operations and media playback.

The 3.5 mm TRRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner of the device. The headphone socket on the original iPhone is recessed into the casing, making it incompatible with most headsets without the use of an adapter. The iPhone 3G eliminates the issue with a flush mounted headphone socket.

While the iPhone is compatible with normal headphones, Apple provides a headset with additional functionality. A multipurpose button near the microphone can be used to play or pause music, skip tracks, and answer or end phone calls without touching the iPhone itself. A small number of third-party headsets specifically designed for the iPhone also include the microphone and control button. Apple sells headsets with volume controls, but they are not compatible with the iPhone.

The built-in Bluetooth 2.x+EDR supports wireless earpieces, which requires the HSP profile. Stereo audio will be added in the 3.0 update for hardware that supports A2DP. While illicit solutions exist, the iPhone does not officially support laptop tethering or the OBEX file transfer protocol. The lack of these profiles prevent iPhone users from exchanging multimedia files, such as pictures, music and videos, with other bluetooth-enabled cell phones.

Composite or component video at up to 576i and stereo audio can be output from the dock connector using an adapter sold by Apple. Unlike many similar phones, the iPhone currently requires third party software to support voice recording. Apple is planning such an application for the 3.0 software update.

SIM card

The SIM card is located in a slot at the top of the device. It can be ejected with a paperclip or a tool included with the iPhone 3G. In most countries, the iPhone is usually sold with a SIM lock, which prevents the iPhone from being used on a different mobile network.

Storage

The iPhone was initially released with two options for internal storage size: 4 GB or 8 GB. On September 5, 2007, Apple discontinued the 4 GB models. On February 5, 2008, Apple added a 16 GB model. All data is stored on the internal flash drive; the iPhone does not contain any memory card slots for expanded storage.

Included items

Both the iPhone and the iPhone 3G include written documentation, stereo earbuds with microphone, a dock connector to USB cable, and a cloth for cleaning the screen. The original iPhone also included a dock to hold the iPhone upright; it is not compatible with the iPhone 3G, for which a slightly different dock is sold separately. The iPhone 3G includes a tool to eject the SIM card; the original model required a paperclip. Both versions include a USB power adapter, although iPhone 3Gs sold in North America, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru include a more compact version than those bundled with iPhone 3Gs sold elsewhere, or the original model.