What Really Made the iPhone So Transformative?

The first iPhone hit store shelves on June 29, 2007. Credit: Krystof Sasek/Shutterstock This

article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. When the iPhone emerged in 2007, it came with all the promise and pomp of a major Steve Jobs announcement, highlighting its user interface and slick design as key selling points. We know now that the iPhone transformed the mobile phone business, the internet economy and, in many ways, society as a whole. But technically speaking, the iPhone was not very innovative. Its software and the interface idea were based on the iPod, which was already reinventing the digital music industry. Touchscreens had appeared on earlier phone and tablet models, including Apple's own Newton. And top-line Nokia phones had more memory, better cameras and faster mobile connectivity. What made the iPhone transformative was the shift in concept underpinning the entire iPhone project: Its designers did not create a telephone with some extra features, but rather a full-fledged hand-held computer that could also make calls and browse the internet.