Apple's first iPhone went on sale
On this day · 29 June 2007
On a Friday evening in 2007, lines snaked outside Apple stores for a touchscreen device that redefined the phone.
Apple’s first iPhone went on sale on Friday, June 29, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. local time. Every one of the company’s 164 U.S. retail stores stayed open late, and customers could buy up to two each on a first-come, first-served basis after days of camping outside.
Unveiled by Steve Jobs that January, the iPhone fused a phone, a widescreen iPod, and an internet browser into a single slab of glass. It shipped in a 4GB model for $499 and an 8GB model for $599, each tied to a two-year carrier contract.
Apple called it “this Friday” — a phrase that turned out to mark the start of the smartphone era.
The gamble paid off quickly: Apple sold its one millionth iPhone within months. The full-touchscreen design it introduced soon became the default shape of the modern smartphone.
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