The iPhone is an internet-connected multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Its minimal hardware interface lacks a physical keyboard, so a virtual keyboard is rendered on the multi-touch screen instead. The iPhone functions as a camera phone (including text messaging and visual voicemail), a portable media player (equivalent to an iPod), and an Internet client (with email, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity). The first-generation phone hardware was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation added UMTS with HSDPA.

Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007, after months of rumors and speculation. The iPhone was introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007 before being marketed worldwide. Time magazine named it the "Invention of the Year" in 2007. Released July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G supports faster 3G data speeds and assisted GPS. On March 17, 2009, Apple announced the iPhone firmware version 3.0, due to be released in mid 2009.

History and availability

main: History of the iPhone iPhone quarterly sales Worldwide iPhone availability:legend: Original iPhone was available; now 3Glegend: iPhone 3G onlylegend: Available later Development of 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

Jobs unveiled iPhone to the public on January 9, 2007 in a keynote address. Apple was required to file for operating permits with the FCC, but such filings are available to the public, so the announcement came several months before the iPhone received approval. The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00 pm local time to prepare for the 6:00 pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. On launch weekend, Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first thirty hours. 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 sold 1 million iPhone 3Gs in its first 3 days on sale, enough to overload Apple's United States iTunes servers. Apple has since released the iPhone 3G in upwards of eighty countries and territories. In April 2009, rumors surfaced that Verizon Wireless had spoken to Apple regarding the possible development of an iPhone for their network in the United States, breaking AT&T's monopoly.

Over 3 million units were sold in the first month after the 3G launch, at a "blistering sales pace". The phenomenon of popular willingness to upgrade to the 3G so soon after purchase of an earlier model was attributed to Apple's popularity and its frequent imitators. The anomalously high demand for the first-generation iPhone was reflected in free-market prices for older models that began to rise steadily within days of the 3G launch resetting the price baselines.