What’s the difference half a decade makes.

Nobody really could’ve imagined what happened when Apple decided to announce that they were entering the mobile phone industry. Bringing with them years worth of knowledge of user experience and unparalleled expertise in manufacturing hardwire their entrance into the phone market in America with that AT&T network then named Cingular, marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Dumb Phone’ and the rise of the true smartphones. 

It was on the level of lust that could be generated from such a small and very expensive device. At one point myself and a former colleague actually considered travelling to America to retrieve one each on launch. We didn’t. What did happen, whilst I waited till the iPhone came over the pond, was befriend a rather affluent gentleman who had a jailbroken one in his possession. The iPhone was revolution.

I remember using my iPod touch every day after I bought it thinking to myself I can’t wait to actually have all of these functions in my telephone. I can’t wait to browse the web like this. Using any connection it had, not just the Wi-Fi. It was beginning of the future. The connected future.

Now the iPhone is easily the most sought-after mobile communication device advice available on the world market today. It’s hard to believe really, but also quite easy to understand. Nobody wanted MP3 players but everybody wanted an iPod. No one wanted smartphones but they wanted iPhones. That’s the kind of magic, the kind of brand loyalty that has been what Google, Microsoft, LG, Motorola, Nokia, HTC and Samsung have all been looking for. It’s taken them 5 years to come back with comparative products, but people don’t want smartphones. They still want iPhones. It just so happens that there are enough companies making lookalikes and similar glass slabs, that they can get ‘the same sort of thing’ for free on a two year contract.

There was only one phone i ever wanted more than my first iPhone, and it was a Nokia. the 8810. My how times change.