A decade ago I was here, on Coolsmartphone, writing about Windows Mobile phones. They were the king of the castle back then. Every business had Windows Mobile handsets. Everyone used Pocket PCs for their business email and the Microsoft Smartphone was making good headway into the consumer space.
Then we got word that Apple were about to release a phone version of their iPod. The hype surrounding the launch in June 2007 was huge, and I knew it would prove popular because the iPod had already secured a big following.
We were a Microsoft website, following and writing about all the latest Windows Mobile gadgets. I was a little disparaging of the new kid on the block, and wondered if it was a threat to Windows Mobile. It’s easy to look back now and see the seismic change that happened after that, but back then I said..
It has no copy and paste function, no A2DP support, Office document reading but no editing, no MMS, no voice dialing and no video recording facility. Oh, and you can’t use any music as a ringtone – not even plain MP3’s!
The egg was about to hit my face in a big way, and I quickly realised that the iPhone was far and away a better experience than the Windows Mobile devices of the time.
I was lucky though, because Microsoft were keen to hear my thoughts on their Windows Mobile Operating System, so I gently mentioned that perhaps, in the next version, they should enhance the GUI and make it more touch-friendly. The speed of change and the take-up of the iPhone quickly became worrying, and it was apparent that Microsoft were not reacting in any way – let alone slowly. After much longer, Microsoft started to shift, but it was at a glacial pace and by then the iPhone had already knocked it out of the way, with Android scooping up any remaining Windows Mobile fans.
Now, along with an Android device, I use an iPhone every day. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that the control Apple have over the product has proved successful, with direct-to-device updates appearing without network involvement and apps behaving and looking as they should within strict limits in order to maintain the user experience.
Companies involved with the iPhone are now celebrating the last 10 years, and Contact Numbers UK are launching their #iPhoneIs10 campaign to join in on the fun. They have a vast directory of customer service contact numbers that cover a variety of different industries, including the Apple contact number. If you ever need to get hold of a company and actually have a real conversation, they’re the people to turn to when you want to find the right number.
You can also see, via the Infographic below, some of the key moments in the history of the iPhone …
