The IPhone and all of its Capabilities

In 2007, a new device was released that changed the lives of so many people around us. During this year, Steve Jobs released the very first iPhone. Steve Jobs and his teamed worked on perfecting this device for nearly three years, and at the time it was cutting edge for all of technology. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, dreamed of the idea of creating a multitouch screen computer where he could type on the screen in 2005. Jobs knew to make this happen he would need to create a triple layer touch screen.

A triple layer touch screen was something that had never been heard or thought of before. Jobs then recruited a team of engineers to put his project in motion. During this meeting with the engineers, Jobs came up with the idea of implementing all of these ideas into a mobile phone instead of a computer. “The project became known as the Purple Project and began in 2005.” (Dalrymple, 2018) The iPhone 2G was released on June 29th, 2007. (Leigh, 2017) Seventy four days after the release Apple sold their millionth iPhone 2G, after they dropped the price to three hundred and ninety nine dollars with a two year contract with a service provider. (Pogue, 2007) The iPhone 2g featured Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a three and a half inch touchscreen. The first Apple iPhone did not feature GPS or 3G, yet people still referred to it as the “Jesus phone.” (Leigh, 2017) On July 11th, 2018 the next iPhone was released. The iPhone 3G was released exactly one year after the iPhone 2G was released. This iPhone featured assisted GPS and a 3G connection, which the iPhone 2G did not encompass. This was the first Apple product to have the Apple App Store which is highly loved and valued now. (Dalrymple, 2018) Another year later, Apple released the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3GS did not have a lot of new features. The only two that were highly regarded were a higher resolution camera and a faster processor. (Dalrymple, 2018) From here, the iPhone 4 was released on June 24th, 2010. For my generation, this is probably one of the first iPhones that we owned. In 2010, Apple made the first high resolution display, known as the Retina display. They also updated the camera on the iPhone 4 to one that included megapixels and added the front facing camera. The iPhone 4 is the iPhone that most of the new models are based on. When released, the iPhone 4 was known as the thinnest smartphone ever. (Dalrymple, 2018) The shape and design of this phone has stayed basically the same throughout all of the years and improvements. When it was released, Jobs claimed that it would “reinvent the phone,” and it is safe to say that is just what he has done. In 2017, a poll was conducted on how many people have an iPhone in The United States. “It resulted in 223 million people, which is about 83.8 percent of all mobile phone users.” (de Looper, 2018) About 80 percent of teenagers use an iPhone in 2018, which is an increase from 60 percent in 2016. The amount of mobile phone users using an iPhone rises yearly, with increase mostly being in teenagers. This is a great thing for Apple because people who Apple products from a young age a more likely to sick with Apple products going forward. This has also helped Apple because many of the teenagers and young adults who started out with an iPhone have now moved onto other Apple products such as the MacBooks and Apple Watches. Apple watches are the second most desirable watch brand right behind Rolex. Many people explain Apple Products as being “addicting.” Once you use an Apple product, it is hard to go back to other products such as Microsoft. One of the reasons for this is because Apple has made it possible to have all of your Apple products linked together. For example, I have an Apple Watch, an iPhone, a MacBook Pro, and an Apple television. All of these products are linked together and anything that I have on one is on all of the others. It is extremely useful to have everything at the palm of your fingertips no matter where you are.

Overall, Apple has created a very successful business for themselves. They now dominate the whole world of technology and many people (like myself) could not see themselves without all of their Apple products. Apple is now coming out with at least one iPhone per year and in general, they have all been very successful. I believe that their popularity will continue to grow as the years go on. Steve Jobs is one of the most brilliant men and I believe that he deserves so much recognition for all of the great inventions that he has been the creator of.

“Cultivation theorists argue that mass media has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant. The Cultivation theory in a basic form states that iPhones (or smartphones in general) are responsible for shaping or cultivating viewers conceptions of social reality.” (Whitney, 2016) Most people in The United States have their phone on them everywhere they go and rely on it for just about everything that they do. Our phones are useful for getting news and looking at social media, along with other things. Most of us rely on our phones to keep us updated on what is going on around us. The Cultivation Theory explains how this is an issue because news and social media give you false perceptions of how your life could/should be and also many internet news articles contain false news or news that is twisted due to somebody’s personal beliefs. Either way, iPhones are a huge reason why many people have false or extremely high expectations for how their life should go. Many people become far to entangled in their iPhone to look up and realize life around them. iPhones make it extremely easy to create an internet view of yourself and total neglect who you are in real life. Mobile phones have made us extremely tied to our phones and many people like myself could not go without their phone for half of a day. Not only does the Cultivation theory state that iPhones impact our perceptions, but they also impact our day to day actions. Many people have become so surrounded by media all of the time that they have famous icons that they look up to. Now days, everybody posts just about everything on social media. People who look up to these icons tend to mimic the actions that these icons represent on their social media. In general, iPhones (or other smartphones), have made it so easy to get tangled up in a life based on social media rather than living day to day in reality.

The iPhone was popular with many types of consumers because “it has the functionality of a mobile phone, portable media player, game console and handheld computer in a single device.” (Artman, 2018) The iPhone is able to be used in so many different ways, it is great for the business world and it is great for online gamers, making it appeal to all ages, genders, and types of people. People are extremely drawn to the iPhone because of its sleek, slim, and overall clean design. The design of the iPhone is very appealing to the eye and has no specific gender appeal. The clean design of the iPhone makes it possible for people to customize it by adding stickers or colorful cases if that is something that they are interested in. The iPhone was significantly different from the design of all other phones at the time that it was released. It featured a single button that displayed the devices menu with a single click. Overall, the design for the iPhone is very user friend people of all ages can pretty easily figure out how to use it. This is one of the largest reasons that iPhone was able to appeal to people of all ages and genders. Creating such a sleek design was a great idea for Apple because it overall made it the most popular phone for all ages.

The iPhone has been the first mobile device to release all of the new features that other smart phone producers end up replicating short after. In 2011, Apple sued Samsung for “copying the design of the iPhone with their Galaxy S 4G phone.” (Artman, 2018) iPhone was also the first company to release the 3D version of Face ID. Other phone companies released phones with Face ID that was 2D. Apple created a Face ID that recognizes facial features instead of just basing it off of an image like other developers. This is just another way that Apple has become more appealing to everybody. In general, as soon as something new comes out everybody wants it. If apple is the first company to produce something new, people are going to want it and may opt to go with an iPhone even if that was not their previous favorite phone brand. Another way that apple is able to hook customers is their iMessage. Since most young adults have an iPhone, it is weird when I start texting somebody and their messages pop up green. It honestly becomes hard to text them. Once you have an iPhone, it is extremely hard to switch to a different brand due to features like iMessage and Facetime being such a hit and extremely popular among most people with an iPhone.

The iPhone has reinvented the way that people live around us. It so extremely common to see phone texting while driving and paying no attention to what is going on around them or to be walking on the side walk and paying no attention to what is in front of them. People on average spend twenty four hours a week on their iPhone. This is twice as long as people spent on their phones before the iPhone came out. (Hymas, 2018) The iPhone created a way for people to create an online version of themselves and how they want to be rather than living their life how they are. Many studies say that people spend so much time on their phone and on the internet a week because they like their online reality more than their actual reality. The younger generation is the most addicted to their phones and experts say they do not see the addiction decreasing as they grow older. We now use our iPhones for their GPS features, social media, texting, calling, Facetime, and for many other reasons. It is a handheld device that is extremely easy to carry around and take wherever you go. The iPhone has reinvented the way that people live their lives in all ways.

The iPhone was a great invention and it just keeps on getting better. It is amazing to have a device in the palm of your hand that can do just about anything that you need it to. Overall, I believe that people have become to indulgent in the iPhone and all of its capabilities. Spending over a whole day a week looking at a phone screen is to much. The iPhone should accommodate our lives, not consume them.

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