On January 9, the world changed: it changed in 1894, when the first film received the copyright paving the way for a new industry. And in 2001, when Apple created iTunes and the iPod. Again: it changed in 2009, when the first version of the Bitcoin software was released on a mailing list.
Yes: it has changed all these times, but changed the most on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. It’s been 15 years today, and the iPhone has been celebrated countless times. What we could do in this Almanac is focus on the presentation that remains legendary, a storytelling masterpiece that contained epic, personal, visionary, business elements and a few fun moments. Technically perfect, it will be said years later, because then and there that product left many puzzled and others perplexed. And only when the iPhone really came out, a few months later, did we realize that it was really going to change everything.
Here you are the beginning of Steve Jobs’s speech, word for word: “This is the day I have been waiting for for two and a half years. Every so often a revolutionary product comes onto the market that changes everything and Apple has been – well, first of all, you’re very lucky if you happen to work on even one of these products in your career – Apple was very lucky, has been able to launch some of these products around the world.
1984, we launch the Macintosh. It didn’t just change Apple. It changed the entire computer industry. 2001, we launch the first iPod. And it hasn’t just changed the way we all listen to music. It changed the entire music industry.
Today we are here to present 3 equally revolutionary products. The first is an iPod with a large screen and touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. The third is a tool for surfing the Internet that has never been seen before. And then 3 products: an iPod with a large screen and touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a never-before-seen Internet browsing tool. An iPod, a telephone and an Internet browser. An iPod, a phone and… are you figuring out what we’re talking about? They are not three separate products, but only one product. We will call it iPhone. Today Apple is reinventing the phone. “
It wasn’t an exaggeration, but this it was understood only some time later.
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