On June 29, 2007 took everything it had learned from its iPod line and released the first iPhone. There is a clear division of before and after the iPhone. Once all the fanboy and girl fawning is forgotten you can see the modern world that the iPhone gave rise to.
Rise of the Touch Screen.
Touch screens have always been the assumed successor to the mouse/keyboard combo. With fits, starts and stylist pens; touch screens had been trying to go mainstream for quite a while. First with the iPod touch then with the iPhone, the touch screen began its move into the mainstream.
Rise of the mobile.
Like touch screens, mobile devices had been trying to make the leap from the desk to the hand for years. With the iPhone, handheld computing was brought to the masses. It kick started development from many different companies that has created a world of connections.
Rise of One Device.
Again, a concept that we knew was coming. We didn’t know what form this device would take. Would your phone and wallet become part of your PDA? Instead, the phone became the base. It’s not just a telephone and messaging tool. It’s now your music player, personal and connected to your car and home stereo. It’s also your calendar, alarm, TV, wallet, game console, camera, video camera; and with apps, its limits are only people’s imagination.
Rise of the Cloud.
Once people were used to the idea of the one mobile device, connections became a priority. Not just connections to people, but to information, your own information. Music, documents, money and more. The iPhone helped power the movement of bits and bytes from drives to the cloud.
Rise of Social Media.
Before iPhones, social media was a side project for users, an end of the day check-in or distraction for cubical drones. When lives started to include a connected device, people’s lives became a social explosion. Facebook, Twitter, email; when the tools for connection were always with everyone, every platform for connection became a part of our lives rather than a separate life.
Rise of the Super Empowered individual.
From music to video to business, the iPhone has shown that mobile computing supercharges democratization. No longer is high quality output the sole province of giant organizations. An individual can have, and use, the tools to make great content and reach an audience. All on a device that goes in their pocket.
Rise of Transparency.
The combination of an interface that the average human can learn to use well, high quality video and picture cameras and the ability to connect to multiple people over multiple platforms has allowed an increase in transparency. Firsthand accounts and archiving of events is becoming the norm, disrupting many official narratives. People don’t have to rely on the official word, from official channels.
