I remember the first time I ever saw an iPhone.
It was the summer of 2007, my last year in the workforce. One of my colleagues had purchased one of the first ones, and I seem to recall it was the first phone to have all sorts of apps along with the regular stuff a phone does.
The initial model sold for $499 and had a 4 gigabyte hard drive. It looked very interesting, but I recall it was much more expensive to use than regular phones. Something life $40 a month for 60 prime-time minutes.
It was six or seven years before I bought one. They were up to iPhone 5 by then, and I had switched companies after something like 15 years with companies that grew up to be Verizon. I had actually been without a mobile phones for a year or so. Bein g retired and living in Georgia, I just found I didn’t have the need for it.
I don’t remember using it for much more than making phone calls. For one thing, I was still on the wrong side of the age gap for testing. Back then people said younger than 35 send texts, older than 35 doesn’t,
I’m way past 35, but at some point I started using text messages.
Of course I got hooked on all the various features, and the most amazing one turned out to be the built-in camera. In 2009 in France, Nicole and I purchased a Nikon D-90, the best camera we had ever owned. But eventually — maybe a couple of years ago — the camera in the iPhone improved to the point where it was as good or better than most of the SLR cameras out there.
And of course, other features have come along. The screens in the newer, larger iPhones are actually large enough to watch videos and surf the Internet more than I’ve ever done on a mobile phone. Between my iPhone and my new iPad, I no longer have any need — or any use — for a laptop.
Actually, my iPhone does even more than that. It serves as an Internet hot spot, which means I can use my iPad even if I’m nowhere near any other Wifi.
The first mobile phone I ever had — in 1995 — was basically a brick. It didn’t even have a screen, let alone apps, and I remember it was $35 a month for 20 prime-time minutes. I did get 1,500 minutes a month for nights (after 9 p.m.) and weekends.
Now I pay a lot more than $35 a month, but I have unlimited phone calls, unlimited text messages and unlimited Internet. As for the camera, it not only takes great pictures, I can also shoot and edit video with it.
Usually when i’ve upgraded to the newest model, I give the old one away to someone I love. This time, though, the phone I’m getting rid of has enough value as a trade-in that it gives me more than half off the price of the new one.
I hope the new one will be the last one, but I’m not counting on it.
Even if the hard drive has grown for 4 gigabytes to one terabyte.