The iPhone Generation: An Inside Look at a 15-Year Journey | WSJ
On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. On that same day, a boy named Noah Schmick was born. Over the next 15 years, the iPhone grew…and so did Noah.
Through interviews with current and former Apple executives like Tony Fadell and Greg Joswiak, WSJ’s Joanna Stern traces how Apple’s invention matured and changed all of us - perhaps the youngest generation most of all.
Illustration: Ryan Trefes
Tech Things With Joanna Stern
Everything is now a tech thing. In creative and humorous videos, WSJ senior personal tech columnist Joanna Stern explains and reviews the products, services and trends that are changing our world.
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Wow, you guys are so nice! I honestly didn't this would be so popular that it reached my friend group, but that's how I found out it had gone semi-viral, so thank you all so much!
👉👉
The rich stay by spending like the poor and investing without stopping while the poor stay poor by spending like the yet not investing like the rich. INVEST NOW!
You're Right, this is the most intelligent word's I've heard
I came here to learn how to trade after listening to a guy on radio talk about the importance of investing and how he made $460,000 in 4 months from $160k. Somehow this video has helped shed more light on some things, but I'm confused, I'm a newbie and I'm open to ideas
@Ashraf Aryan HOW? I would appreciate if you show me how to do that, I'm interested.
@Haruno Mana I heard her Trading strategy are awesome.
Respect to the madlad watching Scott The Woz at 1:53.
Wooo! "I love the economy!"
Scott the Woz is now canon to WSJ
This is some high quality journalism !!!!!
What a video!!! And the journey of iPhones is incredible. I liked the idea that you humanised iPhone since it's now an integral part of our lives.
6
Dr fff did fff fff fff
It’s amazing how much the smartphone has changed within a 15 year span
I really love Joanna Stern’s POV when doing tech reviews!
I know Noah! I've been friends with him since elementary school.
The iPhone is an iconic device, it's what most people imagine the second you mention smart phone or technology.
In the US maybe
Lol no Maybe in the US
Can we just take a second to admire the format of this video?
Definitely dude!! WSJ videos are documentary-like
Juan, Lindisimo !
Outstanding video! You could easily make this into a two hour Netflix special.
I don’t understand the hype about Iphone. It is just a tool. I can use both iphone and android smartphone to the same thing. No need to get emotional about it. 🤨
@@iAfroTech if you use all apple ecosystem you can see the difference 🙃🙂
@@applefanboy7220 Why should i have to use all products of a brand to enjoy a smartphone ?
@@iAfroTech You don't have to use all products of a brand to enjoy a smartphone. It's just that the marketplace has lots of players. Many of whom want to press their own formats, technologies and philosophies. Apple makes a large suite of products that enhance the experience for customers that choose to use them. Other companies have not been as successful at creating a wide ranging set of products that work together as well. Apples suite is not perfect but Apple continually improves and expands it's "ecosystem" creating value for Users and Developers.
@@getserious5224 Hi 😊. I don't own neither a tablet nor a smartwatch but i do own an Iphone and a Windows laptop. Apple users always say this thing: you should buy iphone because the ecosystem and they try to sell you all the products. My answer is no: i bought 13 Pro because it is one of the best smartphone on the market but i could do the same thing with a Samsung. It's like you have to own an Ipad and Apple Watch to be happy 🤨 . It's like a run to always buy a product and another one and another one and another one and it really annoys me. It's a good strategy from Apple 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿 but i wish people be more aware but how to consume healthy.
my man watching Scott the Woz at 1:53
saw this on Scott's subreddit, I came here just to see that
wow such great work... love your tech series Joanna!
Petter, don't we all.
Ironic conclusion, because most of us are probably gonna be watching this video on our iPhones. I am.
Samsung pioneered the first introduction of water and dust resistance on an a smartphone? lol. It was Sony with Xperia Z in 2013. Only in 2015 did Samsung care about water resistance with the Galaxy S5
fun fact: at 1:53 you can see a short clip of the video "Mario Party 2: Party Harder | Scott the Woz"
One of the best videos I've ever watched on this channel. ❤️
I was about Noah's age when the iPhone came out. I had about 14 years where I didn't have a phone. Only my dad had a flip phone and was paying ATT like $80 a month. I got an android when I was 16 and an iPhone when I was 19. This is probably why I'm not as addicted as most of these kids. I can leave my phone at home and go on a run and not freak out about it.
80?!?! thats a rip off oml
@@TheWipal AT&T used to be super expensive back then. I'm with T-Mobile and I pay about $35 per line with unlimited everything. But back then the plan my dad had only had like 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts and no data.
I know Noah personally (he's been a friend of mine since elementary school). I'm a couple months older than him but I can't remember a time without smartphones. It's definitely become sort of like another body part to my generation, it's with us at pretty much at all times.
As always my favorite presenter for Apple related videos. Congrats
14:00 I did not expect him to be so bitter! iPhone took 2 more years to increase the screen size. As someone who loves both iOS and Android, I find that comment from Greg Joswiak poor taste. He can’t accept the fact that Samsung saw another opportunity to improve the smartphone by increasing the screen size. And Apple semi-ignored the market demand for larger screen smartphones. Fortunately Apple gave in and increased the screen sizes by 2014.
Steve Jobs didn’t want to increase the screen size from what I remember of that time. He wanted it to fit in your hand and he thought larger phones were going backwards. Jobs was of the phone era of smaller is better. In 2006 I bought the Motorola Razr which was the smallest flip phone and it was the hottest phone out there.
Steve Jobs didn’t want to increase the screen size from what I remember of that time. He wanted it to fit in your hand and he thought larger phones were going backwards. Jobs was of the phone era of smaller is better. In 2006 I bought the Motorola Razr which was the smallest flip phone and it was the hottest phone out there.
And they also mocked Samsung for their stylus and guess who made stylus...
Apparently thieves respect thieve.
Sadly, Apple still ignores USB-C port on iPhones~
How did JS even know about this boy?A great report/article/video. I spend hours in front of my computer watching YT.
That kid that said “when I received my first iPhone it was the best day of my life” that made me a little sad for him.. jeez …
To be fair, it's not a long life at 15 😛
Alot of adults are just as bad
The whole family is cringy af
Don't worry, they made me ham up a lot of the phone talk for the video, im not actually that much of a zombie, lol...
Brilliant video. Joanna Stern never fails!
such an amazing video making concept never boring
Outstanding documentary with questions and concerns with usage.
How cute, the first iPhone was released extremely close to my birthday as well. Nice interview!
I got a smart phone when i started working maybe 2011, just after university don't regret not having it earlier, but also.. now i cant imagine life without it
I am 64 years old and I can remember the days way back to no internet, a single telephone with a long cord. In my teenage years it was trying to experience the world and growing up in rural Iowa doing the normal things kids do. In 1989 I bought my first computer for home use. Fast forward to September 2007 and I was interested in it but after going to the Apple store a year later to buy a new iMac I got hooked and bought a iPhone 3G and so the journey began with the iPhone. Every 2-3 years I upgrade and this was the year I upgraded from a iPhone 11 Pro to a iPhone 14 Pro. The mobile pocket computers are just amazing devices. Driving a vehicle I have to CarPlay and maps going. I am not much for music but still have my favorite music right there in the phone. This device is amazing but there are limits. When my wife and traveled to the Philippines 3 years ago to see my wife's family it was amazing that just about everyone there had a phone and selfies and pictures were constantly being taken. My wife and I are also taking pictures but we tend to do it after we experienced the area then before leaving snapping away. the iPhone and similar devices sure have also changed the world. My wife was just talking to her niece in the Philippines on Facebook messenger tonight on a video call. Back in the time we were growing up it was the written letter or expensive overseas calls.
I’m only 46 and easily remember life without internet. In all honesty, the internet really didn’t take off until the 90’s and it was the late 90’s and 2000’s that it started to reach mass adoption as many people were starting to buy personal computers. If you weren’t well off or at least making decent money, this was your reality unless you had it in your school. With all that said, I didn’t really experience the internet until college. My generation(Gen X) was the last generation that had to rely on encyclopedia and the library for research! Maybe older millennials can relate.
Great video. Well-edited and told a fascinating story. Great work, Joanna!
I personally think phones certainly did have a big impact on screen however the real culprit are Platforms like KZhead, TikTok, Twitter or Reddit as they opened up the ability to easily create Content and democratized Content Creation. Linus from LTT for example built an entire Entertainment Network centered around PCs and other kind of Tech. Something a boss at a big TV Network never ever would have greenlit.
Inthylen
Should have also spent some time covering the revolution in location tracking and personal data collection that having such devices enabled, and its knock on effects.
Great content as always 👏🏼
amazing video
*As an Apple user, Apple has changed my life forever and it changed the world. I used android and it wasn’t the same as Apple’s ecosystem because it’s uniqueness is what makes it special*
it ain't changed the world 2/3 of this planet does not own nor can afford it. its not as life changing as you assume it is.
1:53 hey all! scott here
2:22 just a heads up that Android and Droid are two different things. Android is the OS that Google develops for their own phones as well as third parties that want to license it, and the Droid was a Motorola phone model in the late 2000’s/early 2010’s.
Great video
Great video. Hopefully they’ll follow up with Noah 5 years from now for the 20th anniversary.
This video is what I wanted🙏
It is safe to say, Joanna Stern is the best journalist in the world
Got excited seeing the key notes, competitors cameos, Tony faddel and Greg joswiak ! Isn’t it the biggest business case we’ve seen in a hundred years? Right there with the atom bomb, computer, and automobile.
This video made me quite nostalgic.
Absolutely brilliant WSJ loved it
This is good content
Another Joanna Stern classic
It’s interesting that Apple sued Samsung for patent infringement because multitouch existed before the iPhone. Jeff Hans, an NYU researcher, was also working on multitouch technology, and he actually revealed it to the world at a TED presentation in 2006. In fact, pinch-to-zoom goes all the way back to the 1980s.
This is great journalism. Humanize "the" important story with a child, and more importantly leave an open ended question to allow readers to reflect on their own opinion. Great job WSJ
I don't understand how newer iPhones can be so thick and not have a headphone jack, it's ridiculous
0:24 that’s the Regent Street, London store where it came out on 9th November ☺️
Its actually sad how we have become enslaved to our devices. I recently removed My Data Plan so i dont have internet if im not on a Wifi Network. Its been liberating. Really freeing
Good for you!
My smartphone has saved my life. Twice.
Good idea
You must not have a job.
@@user-vt6td9hp3g not sure why you assume that??
Sooo sorry for all those people
Most people are not aware of this but iPhone created millions of jobs around the world directly and indirectly. Inspiring many companies to integrate and push technology forward which in turn again created many many jobs.
And what about the jobs it took away
It did create many jobs but if people didn’t spend money on this they would have still spent money (and created jobs) at other companies for goods or services
@@iamabhirupdatta Technology ALWAYS eliminates some jobs and creates new ones. Always. And often transforms the home and the workplace. Going back to the wheel and the plow.
@@brachiator1 Yep but my point is net negative number of jobs.Suppose earlier 100 jobs were there ,now it will be 60.
@@iamabhirupdatta Entirely new industries are created because of technological innovation. The general trend seems to be an increase in jobs, but it is hard to do any simple net calculation. No society has successfully stifled innovation and prospered. There is also a huge shift into new areas. The Wright brothers and others made bicycles. Their innovations created the automobile and aviation industries. There were still bicycles, but entirely new industries and jobs as well.
Can’t escape it anymore. The world is stressful and as much as I would want to just wind down and spend time in scenic fields enjoying the air and view such a thing doesn’t exist anywhere near me. Point is, our phones have become the most accessible getaway car and ultimately escape.
i love how Samsung forced apple to make bigger screens
We often say the iPhone was the product of the decade, the 2000s or 2010s specifically, because of how impactful it was. I’m willingly to go as far as to say it’ll be the product of the century. I mean, there’s nothing right now that can seem to replace the iPhone, or smartphones in general, as the center of our lives. The smartphone is just way too versatile of a device. It will be really hard to create a new device that can do the job of a smartphone but somehow do more and better.
I totally agree with this! As they called it back then then, the Swiss Army nice of tech. It ended or severely impacted so many products and gadgets. Too many to list!
2007.06.29🍏❤❤❤
I can’t believe it’s already 15 years. I got my first iPhone this year after using Android for a decade.
I remember buying the first iPhone and thinking at the time that it was the greatest thing I'd ever bought. Totally revolutionary
Great video and the technology is still ever so scary! +handing personal devices to entertain kids in restaurants as well as my own son (now 18) using his device in a restaurant still irks me!
I see Joanna, I click. Never disappoints
Seems like a really lovely family, and what a great method for grounding this discussion of the history of the iPhone!
Thank you so much!
The phone that changed phones forever. 📱
Specifically in the US, so many people ended up with Androids and one of the biggest reasons for that was because the iPhone was only available on AT&T(Cingular) until the iPhone 4.
I started with an iPhone, but have switched to Android since then.
It’s your own concierge‘s. It’s your own library. It’s your connection is social media and the world
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke
It was an evolutionary of a smartphone thanks to Apple and its team.
I think people and company’s should respect the innovations of other company’s by making competition and trying to break the barriers of what we think phones are an example is that without Samsung making screens bigger people could still be using an iPhone the size of an iPhone 5 and also key components of the iPhone were developed by Samsung for the first three years of the iPhone Samsung made there chips and at some point they also made screens for them and also same for the iPod without Toshiba making the hard drives there would be no iPod and therefore no iPhone. What I want people to take from this is don’t criticize the competition try to expand on there invitations without infringing on there patents.
yea and with that i want the headphone jack back :,)
That’s how business work my friend. Apple for example have to rely on other companies to make screens and back then hard drives. Why? Because Apple is not a screen or hard drive manufacturer. This is the same for other companies. There is a supply chain for everything! Some body make brick, somebody cuts the wood, another company created the concrete. That doesn’t mean those companies will get credit for a masterpiece designed by a famous Architect!
1:53 IS THAT A SCOTT THE WOZ VIDEO!?!?!??!
Give her a pay rise she is an outstanding journalist.
There are now smartphone addiction programs and rehab centers. Kids have lost their minds over their phones being taken away. If I run a quick errand and leave my phone at home I feel vulnerable. Why must I be connected and available all the time? This comment was typed on an iPhone.
Noah is the real one watching scott the woz 😎
This is journalism
SCOTT
Watching this on an iPhone 📱
My husband and I are VERY worried about our future, gas and food prices rising daily. We’ve had our savings dwindle with the cost of living into the stratosphere, we are finding it impossible to replace them. We can get by, but we can’t seem to get ahead. My condolences to anyone retiring in this crisis, 40years nonstop just for a corrupt system to take all you worked for..
I feel your pain mate, as a fellow retiree, I’d suggest you look into passive index fund investing and learn some more. For me, I had my share of ups and downs when I first started looking for a consistent passive income so I hired an expert advisor( FA) for aid and following her advice, I poured $30k in value stocks and digital assets, over 200k in profits so far and pretty sure I'm ready for whatever comes.
@@eriklong6152 The crazy part is that those advisors are probably outperforming the market and raising good returns but some are charging fees over fees that drain your portfolio. Is this the case with yours too?
@@susangore7571 My advisor is ANNA HAMILTON I found her on Bloomberg where she was featured and reached out to her afterwards. You can look her up online if you care for supervision, just search her name.
No I Can't say I can relate, ANNA HAMILTON charges are one-off and pretty reasonable when compared to what I benefit in returns.
@@eriklong6152 Thanks for sharing, I just looked her up adding Financial Advisor to her name search online, found her and I would say she really does have an impressive background on Retirement /investing
Actually I was born at 2004 I used like feature phones up until 2012 then slow smartphones n iphone after 16 so I think the transition overtime make u go....so wat it a phone. Once u have it u get bored of it. That's how I'm managing a pass down 6s
Amount of ads in this video though 😑
HOLA SALUDOS DESDE ECUADOR ME GUSTA EL DOCUMENTAL 👍👍👍👍👍
this seems like another apple commercial blown out of proportion
I got my first iPhone in 2019. I was very late to this.
The iPhone Changed The Whole World
3:23 how?
How much did apple pay you guys to post this?
@Luke How much did Samsung pay you to post this comment?
1:52 Scott the Woz
I almost wonder what you guys as journalists would talk about if there was no apple!
How many were born I. That date?
I was 9 when it came out, I didn't get a smart device until I was 13 (an iPad for my b-day) my family was poor when I was a kid but in my teens my parents hit a come up 👌💯. Not gonna lie it was probably healthier that I only had access to a restricted Windows computer until I was 13 at least lol, the 7 year old children on TikTok I feel really bad for
15 years of data collection, data mining and social surveillance?! 🤣
Congrats, really well done!
I think I have taken like maybe three selfies. 😂
19:40 waiting till Apple launches their Ads platform
Im an IPhone fan! Tried android before but when i managed to try an iPhone, i never go back! Of and i purchased an iPad mini 6 as well, hail iPhone!
Whoever came up with the iPhone and made it happen shoulda been paid 1,000,000,000,000 trillion dollars and it woulda been a good deal for the payer.
wsj has 15 year contract with apple for advertising but what if smartphones become obsolete in some years?
About the contract is that ture?
@@efrenr81 no
The iPhone Changed The Whole 🌍
I have a strong feel there will be no phones by next decade.
the purple hair lady's up-speaking is killing me.
if noah is 15 years old he should be smart enough to update to windows 11..
ahh get them hooked early ...perfect
Grandma said the same about bathrooms inside the house.
❤️