‘iPhone is a revolutionary & magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile product,’ With these words, on 29th June 2007, Steve Jobs introduced iPhone & had prophetically added, ‘once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything’.
10 years later, the prophetic words of Jobs ring true. iPhone has sold over a billion phones & even today neither its magic nor its impact is showing signs of waning.
Here are the reasons why I feel that iPhone was born to be magical:
1. Intuitive: iPhone was designed to be intuitive - it did not require us to read a manual to use it.
2. Impossible: Impossible challenges were given by Jobs & accepted by designers. For example, Jobs wanted iPhone to be operated with ‘one’ button - at a time when users had to dial / punch innumerable buttons to make a call!
3. Vibration: In earlier generation of the communication device, the sound was used as a signal to get users to act. iPhone introduced ‘vibration’ to the armoury of phones to get its users to act!
4. Enrich: It enriched our lives in multiple ways for the better. It brought news, music, photography, and library & more to our fingertips; for us to savor & enjoy at our convenience. Take a simple feature like maps – it ensured that we would never get lost in any city!
5. Design & Assembly: iPhone boldly said - Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China. It separated the design & manufacturing of products.
6. 3 feet: iPhone set the tone that it was never more than 3 feet away from us even when we sleep!
7. Connected: Always - with friends & work!
8. Fast Following: Scores of companies started ‘copying’ iPhone & a euphemism was coined - fast following. It sounds so much better than ‘copying’!
9. Sharing: Made ‘sharing’ trendy!
10. Dent: It dented the power of mobile carriers.
11. Shift: Action (& life) shifted from desktop to mobile screen
12. Accessories: Sprouted an industry estimated to be over $ 100 billion compromising of covers, charging docks, earbuds & more
13. App Store: It gave birth to the App Store
14. Sharing Economy: It laid the foundation on which the Sharing Economy was born – giving birth to Uber, Airbnb …
15. New Industries: It spawned a new industry - mobile payment, Self-publishing …
16. Design: It was so well designed that at every touch point we had a memorable experience resulting in the creation of pleasurable experience, which made us fall in love with it!
17. Love: Sounds silly, but It made us not just fall in love with an inanimate object but 'lust' for it!
On the downside, iPhone has also resulted in:
18. Privacy: The concept of privacy has got redefined & unfortunately taken a back seat
19. Addiction: It gave us such a pleasurable experience when using it that many of us got addicted to it.
20. Orphans: It is on the rise. Many children have become ‘smartphone orphans’ because the parents instead of spending time with the children are glued to their smartphone!
Bottom Line: iPhone has changed our life forever & in many ways for the better, provided we do not get addicted to it!
It also put Apple on the road to becoming the world’s most valuable company (Market Cap: $ 800 billion) & on track to becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company.
What do you think? Has it changed the world – for the better or worse? How has it impacted your life? For better or worse? Please do share your thoughts & enrich the conversation.