June 29th may just be an ordinary day for some – perhaps a typical Friday.  But that date is significant for others as it very well could be someone’s birthday, anniversary, or the day that changed the entire world of tech.

For me, June 29th marks my first anniversary here at SiliconANGLE and that’s awesome in itself.  But I’ll be sharing this special day with a huge company’s product launch: the Apple’s iPhone.  This date marks the fifth year anniversary of the first widespread, touchscreen smartphone.

It was the 29th of June, 2007 when fanbois lined up to get their hands on the first ever iPhone.  In just three days, the company sold over one million units.  That number may be dwarfed by succeeding iPhone sales, but it was a huge boost for Apple and started the trend of falling in line, overnight, to be the first to get a new Apple device.

Doubters, Haters, and Skeptics

When the iPhone launched in the U.S., a user could only get cellular service from AT&T, which made then quite exclusive and deemed as a smartphone for the elite.  But critics saw this as Apple’s way of manipulating people, imprisoning consumers to a world crafted by Apple’s own motives.

“The closed iPhone,” wrote Columbia University Law Prof. Tim Wu, “stands in contrast to the open-platform design that has been the bedrock of both the personal computer and Internet revolutions. . . . Once Big Brother’s foe, [Apple is] now more like Little Brother, happy to sell cute little devices that are easy to use, make money, and spread false consciousness.”

Okay, so Prof. Wu didn’t like Apple’s business strategy, but lo and behold, a year later, Wu was one of the first people to get in line for the iPhone 3G.  Seems the professor couldn’t resist the charms of the iPhone.  But who can?  So you might argue that Fandroids hate the iPhone, so why are they using smartphones that looks and functions the same as the iPhone?   Let me back up a bit: maybe they don’t hate the iPhone, they just like other brands better.

And for all the iPhone haters, a lot of people love the device.  In fact, the iPhone has a cumulative revenue of $150 billion in just five years since it was released in 2007, and a quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide.

5 Things we like about the iPhone

iOS – When Apple makes a software available, the update is available to fanbois immediately – not six months after its initial release, as long as your iPhone generation is compatible with the update.  Fandroids have the unlucky circumstances of fragmentation updated due to network carriers and OEMs delaying the release of a given update.

Multitouch – This feature is just awesome.  I first experienced this with the iPod Touch and I fell in love with the pinch-to-zoom feature.

AssistiveTouch – We love this virtual button that allows you to perform multitouch functions with one finger or a compatible stylus, plus, it gives your physical home button a rest.  The home button is probably the most abused physical button on iDevices.

Spotlight Search – I download a lot of apps, enjoy a lot of music, and take a lot of photos.  But it’s such a pain going through so much content just to find my fave song.  So we’re very grateful for Spotlight Search – just type in what you’re looking for and it brings up the item and click!  There it is.  But what if you forget the title of the app or song I’m looking for?!

iTunes WiFi Sync – After you set this up for the first time, you can sync your device to your computer without connecting the USB cable.  So you can sync your iPhone’s content when you’re sleeping without being tied down in front of a computer.

iPhone 5

It would be great if Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 on the fifth anniversary of their device but I’m still betting that they’ll release the next iPhone around October or exactly on October 5, the day Steve Jobs passed away last year.  It would be like their tribute iPhone for the late Jobs.

Apple is famous for their secrecy surrounding any launch, so they haven’t confirmed if they will be releasing a new iPhone this year at all, nor what it will be called.  Nevertheless, the rumor mill just keeps on churning, giving our imaginations the full run of possible features, design, or whatever we desire of the next iPhone.

If you’re interested, some of the latest iPhone rumors are: a teardrop design with an oval-shaped home button, a 19-pin dock connector, in-cell touch panels for the touch functionality without adding an extra glass, Quantum Dot LED curved glass with edge-to-edge display, 3D display, A6 chip, iOS 6, quad core processor, 1GB RAM, Near Field Communication, 8MP or higher rear camera and a 2MP front camera.

Honestly, I can do without the 3D display.  Sure, it would make things look cooler but I just get headaches looking at 3D images and watching 3D movies regularly.

Whatever the next iPhone looks like, or whatever features it would have, there’s one certainty regarding the device – people from every part of the world would fall in line, for days, overnight or for a whole day, when the next iPhone is released.

For more Apple iPhone info, check out this cool infographic from VoucherCodes.