page_title: History of the iPhone
section_title: United States release
hierarchical_section_title: History of the iPhone / United States release
caption_attribution_description: Mac addicts line up at an AT&amp;T store on Broadway for iPhone debut.
context_page_description: The history of the iPhone development by Apple Inc. spans from the early 2000s to about 2010. The first iPhone was released in 2007. By the end of 2009, iPhone models had been released in all major markets.
context_section_description: On June 28, 2007, during an address to Apple employees, Steve Jobs announced that all full-time Apple employees and those part-time employees who had been with the company for at least one year would receive a free iPhone. Employees received their phones in July after the initial demand for iPhones subsided.
  Initially priced at $499 (equivalent to $615 in 2019) and $599 (equivalent to $739 in 2019) for the 4GB models and 8GB models respectively, the iPhone went on sale on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00pm local time to prepare for the 6:00pm iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide.
  In the US and some other countries, iPhones could be acquired only with a credit card, preventing completely anonymous purchases of iPhones. At the time, there was no way to opt out of the bundled AT&T data plan. At first, iPhones could not be added to an AT&T Business account, and any existing business account discounts could not be applied to an iPhone AT&T account. AT&T changed these restrictions in late January 2008.
  The Associated Press also reported in 2007 that some users were unable to activate their phones because, according to AT&T, "[a] high volume of activation requests [was] taxing the company's computer servers." On October 29, 2007, the Usenet newsgroup misc.phone.mobile.iphone was created.
  Early estimates by technology analysts estimated sales of between 250,000 and 700,000 iPhones in the first weekend alone, with strong sales continuing after the initial weekend. As part of their quarterly earnings announcement, AT&T reported that 146,000 iPhones were activated in the first weekend. Though this figure does not include units that were purchased for resale on eBay or otherwise not activated until after the opening weekend, it is still less than most initial estimates. It is also estimated that 95% of the units sold are the 8GB model.
caption: People waiting to buy the iPhone upon release in New York City, June 29, 2007
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