It all started with the original iPhone, which came out in mid 2007. Other cellphone manufacturers were still far behind Apple, making it stand out amongst the other consumer smart phones. The first thing that seemed to attract attention was the simplistic design. It was everything you’d find in a Mac computer, but in the form of a mobile phone. Apple made the bold choice of forgoing the keyboard altogether and relying on a touchscreen for all of the phone’s functions. Luckily, the Apple touchscreen is still one of the best on the market today, unlike others before it which were frustrating to use. The iPhone made it easy for most people to go without a physical keyboard. The new user interface introduced refreshing minimalist style to the world of mobile devices, presenting everything the user needs to access with chiclet-shaped icons on pages that could be flipped through with ease by swiping over the screen. The features on the original iPhone met most expectations and the attractive Apple design added to its appeal. Six million of these iPhones models ended up being sold within the first year.

As other mobile devices began to mimic the first iPhone, Apple came out with the next generation iPhone in July 2008, the 3G. This model’s release caused the iPhone to rise significantly in popularity. After the first week, one million units were already sold. Many improvements were made with the 3G, including a faster network speed, increased audio quality, GPS, and MobileMe support. The most exciting improvement Apple made however, was the addition of a downloadable application store. With this feature, users could access a marketplace which allowed them to download a wide variety of games and programs to their device. This feature is currently one of the major selling points of the iPhone and iPod touch and has caught on with other high end smart phones. All of this was offered at half the price of the original iPhone, making it more accessible to the public and therefore more popular. In June of 2009, Apple upped its ante once again with the iPhone 3GS. While the design remained the same, a hearty list of improvements were made with this model’s hardware and software. The 2.0 megapixel camera on the 3G was replaced with a 3.0 megapixel with added features like autofocus, macro, and automatic white balance. The processor was upgraded from 412 megahertz to 600. Voice commands and audio recording capabilities were added to the phone as well. The iPhone 3GS quickly became Apple’s best selling phone, with one million sold in just the first few days on the market.

The newly released iPhone 4G has to be one of Apple’s most anticipated products. Though it was supposedly unveiled earlier than intended thanks to a forgetful product tester, the public’s reaction to the phone’s release was far from disappointing, and for good reason. The all new iPhone seems to have had some serious work done. No longer donning a rounded-off look, the 4G is completely flat in the back and has thinned out quite a bit. Its plastic trim and buttons have been replaced with a sophisticated stainless steel finish. Though it’s quite attractive, The 4G’s most impressive improvements have been made internally. Antennas integrated to the stainless steel trim serve to clean up the design of the phone as well as adding stability and strength. The display has been improved significantly, with an astounding resolution of over 300 pixels per inch. A built in gyroscope allows for unbelievably interactive applications which can read the gravitational position of the phone. A much higher quality 5 megapixel camera along with the much anticipated front-facing camera for video chatting have been added. The list of features goes on for miles, making this iPhone model one of the most advanced and desirable releases by Apple to date. Surely, many more innovative ideas by Apple, Inc. will continue to provide the mobile device market with highly sophisticated smart phones.