Apple Inc. advertising
Apple released the first advertisement for the iPhone in February 2007 during the national broadcast of the Academy Awards. The 30-second commercial featured cuts of famous figures answering their telephones, all saying “Hello”. As it progressed, the ad showed more recent versions of the telephone; it ended with a preview of the first generation iPhone to draw a connection between the iPhone and the newest technology available. To accompany the initial sneak peek at their latest product, Apple released several new ads for the iPhone through “television, web-based, and print ads designed to show off the disappearing and reappearing touch keypad”. Other features included in those advertisements were email, camera, and general touchscreen capabilities.
Linksys iPhone
The first iPhone was released in 1998 by InfoGear Technology Corporation. In 1997, prior to the release of iPhone, Infogear entered into a partnership with Cidco of Morgan Hill, California. The iPhone was an innovative internet appliance that featured a sliding keyboard and an LCD touchscreen that accessed an embedded web browser and an email client. It was one of the first wave of internet appliances, preceding the I-Opener, 3Com Audrey and a slew of similar devices from various manufacturers including Alcatel and Nortel. Reviewers praised it for offering a simple and "relatively inexpensive" way to access the Internet, but many criticized its size, lack of features, and US $5 per month in addition to the Internet access charge and the purchase price (US $299). Infogear was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2000, A new model was introduced in 2001, but the product was soon discontinued.