The iPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet- and multimedia-enabled smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It functions as a camera phone (also including text messaging and visual voicemail), a portable media player (equivalent to a video iPod), and an Internet client (with e-mail, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity). The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard. Third-party applications are available from the App Store, which launched in mid-2008 and now has well over 100,000 "apps" approved by Apple, with functionalities ranging from games to reference to productivity.Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007,after months of rumors and speculation. The original (labeled retroactively) iPhone was introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007 before being marketed in Europe. It featured quad-band GSM with EDGE. Time magazine named it the Invention of the Year in 2007.Released July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G supports faster 3G data speeds via UMTS with 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, and assisted GPS. Apple released version 3.0 of the iPhone OS for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) on June 17, 2009.The iPhone 3GS has improved performance, a camera with higher resolution and video capability, voice control, and support for 7.2 Mbps HSDPA downloading (but remains limited to 384 Kbps uploading as Apple has not implemented the HSPA protocol) It was released in the U.S., Canada and six European countries on June 19, 2009,in Australia and Japan on June 26,and internationally in July and August 2009. The original iPhone was discontinued with the introduction of the iPhone 3G, which remains available alongside the iPhone 3GS.

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History and availability

Development of the iPhone began with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' direction that Apple engineers investigate touchscreens.Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time—at an estimated development cost of US$150 million over thirty months. Apple rejected the "design by committee" approach that had yielded the Motorola ROKR E1, a largely unsuccessful collaboration with Motorola. Instead, Cingular gave Apple the liberty to develop the iPhone's hardware and software in-house.
Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the public on January 9, 2007 in a keynote address. Apple was required to file for operating permits with the FCC, but since such filings are made available to the public, the announcement came months before the iPhone had received approval. The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, at 6:00 pm local time, while hundreds of customers lined up outside the stores nationwide. The original iPhone was made available in the UK, France, and Germany in November 2007, and Ireland and Austria in the spring of 2008.

On July 11, 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six.Apple has since released the iPhone 3G in upwards of eighty countries and territories.Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on June 8, 2009, along with plans to release it later in June, July, and August, starting with the U.S., Canada and major European countries on June 19. Many would-be users have objected to the iPhone's cost, and 40% of users have household incomes over 100,000 USD. In an attempt to gain a wider market, Apple has retained the 8 GB iPhone 3G at a lower price point. This is the latest of several price reductions since the iPhone's release in 2007; it now sells for one-sixth of the price of the original 8 GB iPhone when it first became available. In the U.S., it now costs $99, down from $599, although it requires a two-year contract and a SIM lock.
Apple sold 6.1 million original iPhone units over five quarters.The company sold 3.8 million iPhone 3G units in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, ending March 2009, and 12.6 million 3G and 3GS combined, totaling 33.75 million iPhones sold to date (Q4 2009). Sales in Q4 2008 surpassed temporarily those of RIM's BlackBerry sales of 5.2 million units, which made Apple briefly the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue, after Nokia and Samsung. Approximately 6.4 million iPhones are active in the U.S. alone. While iPhone sales constitute a significant portion of Apple's revenue, some of this income is deferred.
The iPhone has garnered positive reviews from critics like David Pogue and Walter Mossberg. The iPhone attracts

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