Apple launched iOS—then called iPhone OS—on June 29, 2007, with the very first iPhone. Since then, the mobile operating system has gone through some major upgrades. But it didn’t happen overnight. Ever year in the summer, Apple has reinvented the OS, adding new features and redefining what’s possible on all its iDevices.
In 2016, we’re probably going to see the tenth version of iOS. But to really appreciate the new stuff Apple’s about to trot on stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco next Monday, remembering the software’s history gives some much-needed perspective. Here’s a look at every version of iOS, the features they introduced, and how it changed the computers in our pockets—year after year.
iPhone OS 1
What was new: In 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone and iPhone OS 1 along with it. During the press conference, Jobs referred to the operating system as OS X because it shared a similar Unix core compared to the full-fledged desktop version of the operating system. When Apple launched the iPhone SDK one year later, the name changed to iPhone OS.Why it was important: The first iPhone is one of the most important gadgets of all time. It took ideas from within the budding mobile industry and made them more people-friendly. The candy bar-sized display defines smartphone design to this day (sorry BlackBerry). It also created the basic “SpringBoard” app—a grid of apps on a screen—that hasn’t changed much in nine years.
Sure, iPhone OS introduced multi-touch and the general underpinnings of Apple’s ideas for mobile computing, but the operating system’s greatest triumph was selling the idea that an iPod, camera, phone, and internet machine could really be packed into one device that fits inside your pocket—and that’d you’d actually want to use it.
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