Presented June 7, 2010 by Steve Jobs at WWDC 2010, iPhone 4 began his career on June 24 of that year: he thus celebrates its first anniversary. Contrary to what one might think, this is not the first time any iPhone passes the course of the marketing year without a successor has been presented: for a few days, the iPhone original holds the record for longevity.
The iPhone is 4 for the first time in the form of a photo stolen from the site Engadget, April 17, 2010. Two days later, the same model spread of Gizmodo. This is actually a prototype lost in a bar in Redwood City by Gray Powell, an Apple engineer. Whoever found it made the rounds of American media in search of a buyer: Gizmodo, a subsidiary of Gawker who made his fortune on the news "people", bought for $ 5 000. Thus begins the "case Gizmodo," culminating in a police raid in Jason Chen, the site editor a few days after he made the prototype to Apple. The investigation has since been suspended.
We forget sometimes, but a second prototype was circulated: Taoviet, a Vietnamese site, bought a $ 4000 iPhone4 out of production lines. He has determined the SoC (Apple A4), and confirms the definition (960x640px) and storage (16 GB or more) of the new model. We forget - or ignore - just as much: the first photos of four iPhone actually circulated on the Internet from February 21, 2010, through Twitter. So we feel about this old friend for a long time.
The beginning of the career of the iPhone 4 was assigned too many problems. From July 23, Apple announced the postponement of the release of the white model, with a terse press release: "The white models of the new Apple iPhone 4 continue to be more difficult to manufacture than expected and will be available later in the course of the year. The availability of the most popular iPhone model black 4 is not affected. "
Twenty days earlier, the Cupertino company had to publish a long letter to try to end a controversy now known as "Antennagate" the "problem of reception of the iPhone 4" makes a subtle blend between a software problem (incorrect calculation of the display of the number of bars of reception) and a material reality (the greater sensitivity of the external antenna system used by the iPhone 4). A case that caused a media outburst and made fodder for consumer, while experts antennas had explained the problem right out of the iPhone 4: a communication operation later (the now famous "Operation Case ") and" Antennagate "was almost forgotten.
This controversy summer, reinforced by other more compelling issues (problems of the camera, the screen, proximity sensor) and resolved by software updates and adjustments on assembly lines, n ' has not managed to scratch the image of the iPhone. Between June 24, 2010 and March 26, 2011, when the last count, Apple has sold as many as 50.69 million iPhones.
Sales growth is still very strong, allowing Apple to not lose or lose some market share against Android, which siphons RIM, now relegated to third place in the Smartphone industry. Better: Apple is now the fourth global manufacturer of mobile phones in all categories. Several milestones marked the continued success: the release of the iPhone 4 Verizon, which has finally managed to hinder Android United States (read: Android: Verizon iPhone effect) and the output symbol of the iPhone 4.
These sales figures include the iPhone 3G 8GB, valiant entry also presented June 24, 2010. This model derives in fact the iPhone 3G introduced in June 2009, itself very close to the iPhone 3G in July 2008. A cushioning device which raises the question of an entry-level iPhone next generation, which could be either an iPhone mini, iPhone is a low cost using components run in, the aim being to descend below 200 €.
Since we are talking about next generation, we must mention the successor to the iPhone 4: Will there an iPhone 4S, a simple variation improved 5 or iPhone, a rethinking of the concept? The balance leans rumors gradually to this hypothesis, reinforced by the history of Apple itself: early 2012, the iPhone will be five years. This is the life of a product cycle in Cupertino, when a concept needs to be overhauled to forge ahead: Apple prefers mediocrity product itself rather than leaving that task to competition.
The iPod nano, introduced a little less than five years after the first iPod, has announced the transition to flash memory. Steve Jobs himself, in 2007, estimated in advance of the iPhone to five years: Android is now on his heels almost everywhere, even to major markets. Anyway, the iPhone 5, if that is his name, will not arrive until late summer or early fall. It will replace a 4 iPhone contest, but the undeniable success.
