THE ONE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

This year marks the 10th year anniversary of the rst iPhone, and it’s hard to underscore how it changed everything.

First, imagine all that it has replaced in our everyday lives — not just the ‘nonsmart’ mobile phone, but also music players, cameras, maps, torchlights, personal calendars, calculators, newspapers, contact books, the list goes on. That list also includes titans Nokia, Palm and Blackberry, once the kings of mobile, now cautionary tales for business executives.

Second, remember all that the iPhone has advanced. The rst true mobile internet communicator drove the need for widespread mobile data infrastructure. Some of the most popular services in the world today, like Instagram and WhatsApp, launched on iOS, and others, like Uber, couldn’t exist without it. Every smartphone today resembles the iPhone, with a large multitouch glass screen, more than it does any pre-iPhone smartphone, with physical keyboards and capacitive screens.

Lastly, consider its success. In 2006, before it introduced the iPhone, Apple’s most popular product was the iPod, and the company was valued at a mean of US$60.39 billion dollars. At the time of this writing, Apple is valued at US$748.2 billion and the iPhone brings in most of its sales, with more than one billion iPhones sold in the last 10 years.

The word “revolutionary” has been overused, but it aptly ts the iPhone. The iPhone changed everything by kick-starting the smartphone revolution, and 10 years later, we’re still reeling from its impact.

The iPhone changed everything by kickstar ng the smartphone revolu on, and 10 years later, we’re s ll reeling from its impact.