Apple released the iPhone 7 on September 16. The newest handset will cost at least 5,388 RMB for a brand new iPhone. However, if you are lucky enough to have kept your old iPhone 2G, you could get upwards of 10,000 RMB through reselling online.
After a quick investigation on eBay, we discovered a band new iPhone 2G selling for 89,800 RMB. As such, the iPhone 2G is not only a smart phone, it’s also a collection product. Prior to 2007, cell phones were a tool simply for one purpose – making phone calls, not a device for entertainment, social media or travel. A number of flagship cell phones may have had some limited additional functions such as games, music and basic social media before the launch of the iPhone. However, most of these were not commonplace and usage of these peripheral functions was still was still minimal. The iPhone changed the entire environment.
When the iPhone 2G released on June 29, 2007, Steve Jobs claimed that this was only the beginning. The iPhone 2G was the first multi-touch phone without any keyboard in the world. The functions of the early iPhone may not perfect, but it was the concept of the iPhone which thrust the entire industry into a new age. These days, you can find almost anything you can think of within your smart phone app store, whilst recent figures revealed that more than 20% of Chinese TV users have actually stopped using TV in 2016. Smart phones have become the only device for communication, social media and entertainment for a great number of people in China. Whereas a smart phone may cost around 2,000 RMB, the combined cost of a computer, TV and GPS will be upwards of 10,000 RMB. It is thanks to the smart phone’s domination of the tech market – catapulted into prominence by the iPhone 2G – that this technology has become the most prominent place for advertising and marketing campaign.
So if we look back in history, as Steve Jobs said, the iPhone 2G is only the beginning. It is a phone which changed the developmental history of handheld devices and shaped the way we communicate and go about our lives in 2o16. It also explains why a brand new handset can sell for such a vast amount and even out-price Apple’s latest release.
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