10th Anniversary of the iPhone Introduction and FileMaker Go

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the Macworld Expo. Here is that historic video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUIxyE2Ns8

The first iPhone was released later that year on June 29, 2007. It was a masterful presentation. Jobs starts out by saying that this was a day he was looking forward to for over 2.5 years. Every so often a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Someone would be considered fortunate to work on ONE of these. Apple had introduced two already:

• 1984 – The Macintosh changed the entire computer industry
• 2001 – The iPod changed the entire music industry

But this day, Jobs goes on, Apple would be “Introducing three revolutionary products: 1. Widescreen iPod with touch controls. 2. Revolutionary mobile phone. 3. Breakthrough internet communications device.” As he said that #1 Applause got some applause, #2 got a lot of applause, and with #3 there was less applause…as if people were confused “what is that?”. Jobs repeated himself “Three things: an iPod, a Phone, and an Internet Communicator.” It was revealed shortly that these were NOT three separate devices but all one device…the iPhone. Apple reinvents the phone and changes the entire phone industry.

“Smartphones” at the time had a Phone, email, and limited internet with ugly plastic clicky keyboards. They were not so smart and not so easy to use. The iPhone was the new leapfrog product that was really smart AND easy to use.

Enter the iPhone

So in 2007 Apple released the iPhone OS (eventually renamed iOS) with a revolutionary UI that took years of research and development and was made possible by an interplay of hardware and software. The plastic keyboards on existing devices stank. Every application needs something different or optimized. The buttons and controls couldn’t change.

Apple got rid of those buttons and made a giant screen. Instead of using a stylus, they used the best pointing device in the world…your finger. Multi-touch worked like magic. It was far more accurate, ignored unintended touches, and allowed for multi-finger gestures. Even though Apple patented it…it got copied soon after.

So the revolutionary user interfaces that Apple made popular were:

1. Mouse (Mac) in 1984
2. Click-Wheel (iPod) in 2001, and finally
3. Multi-Touch (iPhone) in 2007.

The iPhone OS software breakthrough was 5 years ahead of any other phone. It was based on OS X, a full featured operating system but running on a phone. The iPhone got advanced animation, power management, networking, multi-tasking, and many other things. For the first time, you had desktop class applications and networking on a mobile device.

Today this is old hat. We take for granted that we often carry a supercomputer in our pockets.

There are a few different ways to develop custom applications for the iPhone and iPad. There’s Xcode, Swift, and various other compilers that generate Xcode from web sites or other UI builders.

Enter FileMaker Go

But in July of 2010, FileMaker released FileMaker Go 1.0 for iOS. FileMaker Go makes it possible to build breakthrough apps for the iPhone and iPad faster than ANY other method. You can even update the application LIVE while a user is using the application without recompiling, packaging, and distributing a new application. G2 Crowd ranked FileMaker as the #1 rapid application development software.

Jump forward to today. FileMaker Go 15 was released in May of 2016 and it includes built-in support for advanced iPhone features like Touch ID, 3D Touch, App Extensions, and iBeacons.

If you are looking to build a custom mobile app for your business, FileMaker Go by far the most flexible and cost effective solution. FileMaker Go provides a low-cost way to rapidly develop and deploy mobile solutions to the iPad and iPhone. You can then use your iPhone or iPad to perform vital tasks for your organization. You can work in real-time or off-line until you get an internet connection to send and receive data to and from a shared FileMaker Server.

For example, With FileMaker Go, you can:

• Generate proposals and invoices on the go
• Capture customer signatures on documents
• Dispatch service tickets to technicians
• Inventory items by scanning barcodes
• Take photos and store them for easy retrieval
• Email PDF files as receipts
• View reports away from the office
• …and a lot more.

In early 2016, FileMaker released the FileMaker iOS SDK with the ability to create native iOS apps using FileMaker.

At Cimbura.com, we can take your existing FileMaker system to the next level by redesigning it for mobile users on  the iPad or iPhone…or we can build an entirely new solution from scratch targeted specifically for mobile users with FileMaker Go. To get started, contact us with a project request.

The iPhone has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.
Here’s a rundown of the original iPhone specifications in 2007:

• Color: Black/Chrome
• Screen: 3.5 inch at 160 ppi
• Storage: 4 GB or 8 GB
• Thickness: 11.6 mm thin
• Camera: 2 Megapixel camera
• Power and Battery: Up to 5 hours of talk

Sensors:

• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor
• Accelerometer – Portrait/landscape switching

Other Features:

• Home button
• Ring/Silent switch
• Sleep/Wake button
• Speaker, Microphone
• Headset jack
• SIM

What does 10 years of innovation provide?
Here are today’s iPhone 7 Plus specifications in 2017:

• Color: Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black
• Screen: 5.5 inch Retina HD display at 401 psi
• Storage: Up to 256 GB
• Thickness: 7.3 mm thin
• Camera: 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras
• Power and Battery: Up to 21 hours talk

Sensors:

• Touch ID fingerprint sensor
• Barometer
• Three-axis gyro
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor

Camera Features:

• Optical image stabilization
• Six‑element lens
• Quad-LED True Tone flash
• Panorama (up to 63 megapixels)
• Sapphire crystal lens cover
• Backside illumination sensor
• Hybrid IR filter
• Autofocus with Focus Pixels
• Tap to focus with Focus Pixels
• Live Photos with stabilization
• Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos
• Improved local tone mapping
• Body and face detection
• Exposure control
• Noise reduction
• Auto HDR for photos
• Auto image stabilization
• Burst mode
• Timer mode
• Photo geotagging

Video Recording:

• 4K video recording at 30 fps
• 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps
• 720p HD video recording at 30 fps
• Optical image stabilization for video
• Optical zoom at 2x; 6x digital zoom (iPhone 7 Plus only)
• Quad-LED True Tone flash
• Slo‑mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps
• Time‑lapse video with stabilization
• Cinematic video stabilization (1080p and 720p)
• Continuous autofocus video
• Body and face detection
• Noise reduction
• Take 8-megapixel still photos while recording 4K video
• Playback zoom
• Video geotagging
• FaceTime Camera:
• 7-megapixel photos
• 1080p HD video recording
• Retina Flash
• ƒ/2.2 aperture
• Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos
• Auto HDR
• Backside illumination sensor
• Body and face detection
• Auto image stabilization
• Burst mode
• Exposure control
• Timer mode

The iPhone 7 Plus is surely the most advanced mobile device of its kind. Combined with FileMaker Go, we have a powerful platform to build custom applications quickly and easily that provide your business a competitive edge.