What were you doing five years ago this Friday? Let’s put things in a little bit of perspective: George W. Bush was President of the United States, Pixar’s Ratatouille was in theaters, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was less than a month away from hitting stores, the San Antonio Spurs had just swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and the Boston Red Sox were just a few months away from winning their second World Series in four years after an 86 year drought.
In the midst of all this, something else significant was going on. On June 29th, 2007, Apple’s first iPhone finally launched, over six months after Steve Jobs took the stage to announce it. Here’s what Apple’s website looked like back then:
A lot has changed in the five years since the first iPhone hit stores. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Apple’s smartphone – which many experts thought would be a flop – has completely revolutionized the smartphone market. Google completely overhauled their Android operating system to incorporate touchscreen technology following the iPhone’s launch and the once mighty BlackBerry is in the midst of a slow, painful death.
If you pay much attention to Apple – particularly to Apple’s earnings reports – you know that the iPhone is their biggest moneymaker. Last quarter they sold 35.1 million iPhones. That’s 12 million more units than the iPad, iPod, and all Mac models combined. In the previous quarter the iPhone accounted for more than half of Apple’s revenues. In fact, it generated more revenue by itself than all of Microsoft.
All told, according to recent data released by Strategy Analytics, Apple has sold 250 million iPhones in the first five years of the device’s life. Those 250 million iPhones have brought the company a staggering $150 billion in revenue. That, for those of you who don’t feel like doing the math, comes out to $600 in revenue per iPhone.
To put the iPhone’s impact in a little bit of perspective, the folks at VoucherCodes.co.uk have put together an infographic with some interesting facts about the iPhone’s 5-year history. Check it out below:
Source: VoucherCodes.co.uk
