Cheddar Connected takes a deep dive into the last 15 years of Apple’s iPhone on the market, focusing on the impact the device has made ever since it debuted on June 29, 2007.

Closing Bell

Celebrating 15 Years of the Apple iPhone

Welcome back to closing bell and cheddar cheddar news. I'm headed over with kristen Schouler and it's great to see you. So let's take a deep dive here in the cheddar connected segment. It might seem like a long time ago, but on this day, 15 years ago, a little device you may have heard of his doors were talking about the iphone And some of us might take our iphones for granted now, considering they're as much a part of our lives as food and shelter practically back in 2007, it wasn't such a sure thing. Apple is taking a risk with this big pivot to phones. Blackberry and Nokia had a stranglehold on the phone market then. And in terms of music players, mp three players reigned supreme. Well, the ipod had revolutionized the way that we consume music while imax offered a completely different and unique way of personal computing. Not surprisingly, ipods and imacs were apples, bread and butter in those years, but it wasn't clear whether consumers would want their music and their phone all in one location, especially if they already had an ipod looking at that ipod. I just got so nostalgic. I haven't seen that screen in years over a decade. Music phone and camera. We gotta mention the camera too. I think people just associate the phone with the camera. Absolutely, that's what they look for and we know the company had peaked into the future and ceo steve jobs knew it to the product was announced in january of that year by jobs, look at how small that phone looks. He of course, was dressed in his signature jeans and a black turtleneck at a Macworld convention in san Francisco. He described the phone as a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone. The phone had a 3.5 inch screen and a sleek, eye catching design. Not everyone was convinced though. Microsoft Ceo steve Ballmer laughed off the launch saying the phone had no appeal to business customers because it lacked a keyboard. Also noting the high price point, it started at $500 at the time which of course seems like a steal now. But by the time June 29 hit it was clear this was something people were ready for with palpable excitement in the tech world and hours long lines outside of Apple stores. It is so tiny, it's incredible. I just see you Steve just and I know it's like a little wallet, credit card, it looks like a credit card right now. You can buy the plus the pro the max everything much bigger than the original. But the iphone henna certainly made its mark on the world and on the company Almost immediately It was named Time Magazine's invention of the year in 2007 and by 2008 it was boosting Apple's top and bottom lines in a big way, quickly becoming Apple's most valuable product and main source of revenue selling a million units in the 1st 74 days and 10 million devices sold by September of 2008. Well in the years since the iphone has only become more important for Apple. Take a look at iphone revenue over this past decade and a half, continued updating and advancing the phone's capabilities and it's become even more in demand even as other companies do introduce powerful new smartphones of their own. Well, it quickly took over that top spot, becoming the best selling smartphone of all time. With more than 2.2 billion iPhones sold since 2007, the popularity of the iphone helping propel Apple to become one of the most valuable companies in the world with the current market cap of more than $2.2 trillion. It's still its most important product. Hands down for Apple, you know, and I feel whether you're an android user or google phone user, you can't deny just what Apple brought to this marketplace. And obviously the price for an iphone Kristin has jumped a lot since its launch. Take a look at this comparison. We told you the original price was around 500 bucks for about four gigabytes of storage. Meanwhile, the iphone 13, which sports 100 and 28 gigabytes of storage and a 6.1 inch display Costing $800 factoring in inflation and the fact that new iPhones have more than 50 times the computing capabilities of the first generation phone, the increase is understandable. And even though Apple has diversified its product line, the iPhone is still at the top of the list in recent years, Apple has unveiled products like the Apple Watch airpods and services like iCloud and Apple tv plus, but as you can see the iphone is still responsible for 50% of Apple's revenue, even as its other products gained steam in that department. One thing, Apple is one of those companies that has going for them, it's consumers, its customers are loyal to Apple, they might switch here and there. But if you buy an Apple phone chances are you're gonna buy the airpods, you're gonna buy the watch. And I think that's what Apple has figured out so well and I think the ecosystem Hannah to your point is so important, right? If you are on a family who all operates on the Apple system, all of your messages are free, right? You're on wifi, you're able to message, it's just an easy system for everyone to be on. But this is incredibly important because basically has become a personal computer in our hands, right? So everyone always staring down, I feel like at their iphone or co anchor baker Machado has called it his extra limb and that's how I feel, I panic if I don't have my phone around me, it's not a healthy relationship but I know I'm not alone there. It's a good point. Okay, so the big question now is where is Apple? And where did the iphone go from here? Well new iphones have added new features like front facing and high tech cameras and ai powered voice assistant face and fingerprint I. D. And many others that have quickly become essential tools for users. Apple now makes iphones in different shapes and sizes with different capabilities based on what consumers desire from their devices Instead of just an iPhone 13, there's the 13 pro, the 13 mini for example and the company also trying to push further into the future with each new iteration of Apple IOS but by now consumers may be ready for another revolution as the metaverse gains esteem. So we know Apple planning to enter virtual reality with the VR headset rumored to launch in 2023 but only time will tell if this rocks the world like the iphone has either way it's safe to say that Apple will keep pushing the boundaries in the tech space you brought up. Such a good point Hannah, I mean it is a personal computer so we all rely on it, it's a communication and information mechanism. Um for some of us a way to detox as well whether that's listening to music, listening to an audiobook, you name it when it comes to the metaverse and a R. I think is it an absolute necessity in our lives or is it just entertainment and that's I guess what time probably will tell. Yeah, metaverse is going to be a game changer and we were talking about this earlier, it's something I didn't put together but a lot of tech experts and if you remember kristen before the iphone a lot of carriers were in charge of what they wanted from their phone, what what you know, features came with the phone, it's Apple that came in and said no we're doing it our way, this is what consumers like and of course changing the mobile game All in what all in one swoop and I just feel like it's gonna be it's gonna be expensive, right? So we're in an inflationary environment certainly there's a lot more you can do with your iphone these days, even though it's at a higher price point, there's a lot more storage as you mentioned, which I think people, you know, they do again, they use it for a personal computer. But certainly if you're looking to save your money, if you want to get it on this new technology, I think you're gonna have to save some of that piggy bank Hannah start now guys start now, that's right