The first iPhone, which made its debut on June 29, 2007, did not get rave reviews from tech experts. So a little flashback of the criticism that Apple and the iPhone, which is now 10 years old today, went through in the first days is worth mentioning now.
Experts ripped apart the first iPhone
Before the first iPhone was launched, Apple was primarily into computers, iPods and software. A few days before its release, Advertising Age had some scathing remarks, stating that the iPhone would be a “major disappointment.” In the article entitled “Why the iPhone will fail,” Advertising Age said that the it would be tough for the iPhone to achieve what the iPod had achieved because it was a multi-functional “convergence device,” and such devices “for the most part, have been spectacular failures.”
Seth Porges of TechCrunch also thought the iPhone would be a big-time failure. The expert noted that the iPhone was very thin at just 11.6 mm, and the front was fitted with glass, which gives way to breaking and cracking easily. Further, Porges stated that when a customer buys a shiny new iPhone and keeps it in their back pocket, they will find that the fragile screen cannot bear their weight.
There were many other tech experts and enthusiasts who also got everything about the first iPhone all wrong, but a biting comment from David Platt is worth mentioning and may even be the nastiest comment of all. Platt stated that Apple’s first iPhone would be a bigger failure than Ishtar and Waterworld combined because its “design is fundamentally flawed.” He stated that iPhone had too many functions, and it is just not possible to use one without “disrupting the operation of another.”
Many applauded Apple’s concept
Apple did receive some good reviews for its first iPhone as well, and a few experts were quick to identify all the unique things that came packed in the company’s first phone. Edward C. Braig of USA Today stated that the lack of a dialing keypad and conventional keyboard was the most remarkable thing about the iPhone, adding that the touchscreen keypad could be literally used for anything from entering a web address to inputting text or even making a call.
Braig acknowledged that it would take some time to get used to typing on a virtual keypad with fingers, but he added that the change was welcome.
“Best advice: Start typing with one finger before graduating to two thumbs.”
The world now knows how all the critics who predicted that the first iPhone would be a failure had to gulp down their own failure in reviewing the iPhone and misunderstanding consumer behavior and the market. In 2007, Apple sold more than 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours after it was released in the United States on June 29. Apple fans started lining up through the night and waited eagerly for their iPhone. And the rest, as it is said, is history.
