2008 in review: The iPhone comes of age
If 2007 was Year Zero in the life of the Phone That Changed Everything, then 2008 skyrocketed forward to the year that the device truly came of age. A lot has changed in the world of Apple’s handset since our first glimpse of it almost two years ago at Macworld Expo 2007, and while the iPhone has climbed to even greater heights of success in the past year, the road hasn’t been without its fair share of pitfalls and potholes along the way.
The numbers
At Macworld Expo last January, Steve Jobs took the stage to dish iPhone sales figures. At that point, the original iPhone had sold about 4 million units, capturing around 20 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. That was impressive for a six-month-old phone, but throughout the year Apple executives repeatedly reaffirmed their goal—originally set by Jobs during his 2007 Macworld keynote—of selling 10 million iPhones in calendar year 2008.
With the original iPhone, that goal might have been a bit lofty, but as the year progressed, it quickly became apparent that Apple had, as usual, given a number it expected to hit. Among the major factors in boosting the iPhone's sales were the introduction of the iPhone 3G and the App Store (which we’ll get to below), but 2008 was also the year the iPhone became truly a global phenomenon.
As of the beginning of 2008, Apple sold the iPhone in only a handful of countries: the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany. Austria joined the club last February, followed by Ireland in March. That trickle turned into a deluge when, during the keynote at June’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Jobs announced that Apple planned to add 70 countries to the iPhone’s market by year’s end. And Apple delivered on that goal—the iPhone is now available in around 75 countries, with more still on their way. The most prominent omission remains China, where Apple remains in back-and-forth negotiations with the country's largest wireless operator, China Mobile.
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