So it was 10y ago today ³ that I got my first iPhone. Seems weird that a cell phone with a glass screen has affected my life so much. At first it was the anticipation of getting the original iPhone for the first time. I spent an entire 3 hour flight on the day of the release planning and thinking on where would be the best place to go to get one. ¹ I sat at my parent’s home, using their, wifi to connect and set up the iPhone for the first time. I was a recent convert to the Mac and seeing the devices work together, over everything else I had used to date, was like space magic.

As new versions were released, there continued to be excitement around how Steve Jobs & Co. have evolved the iPhone. I was pre-ordered the 2nd iPhone because I had a full tilt case of "gotta have it" fever. This continued for a couple more iterations because the glow of the new screen and functionality was too enticing to pass up. ⁴

Then around the iPhone 4 things took a subtle change. This little device had now become part of my life. I used it at work and at home to keep my life organized. Disrupting this flow now poised to be an obstacle on the upgrade merry-go-round cycle I had been on for the past 4 years.

So I got off.

I stopped doing the annual upgrade each year. I started on the 's' upgrade cycle.² The slower pace felt less disruptive and the innovational changes from device to device felt more like the updates you got from the original iPhone to the iPhone 2 and onto the iPhone 3, etc. Right now I’m still rocking an iPhone 6s and feel less and less stressed about missing the annual trip the Apple store and the sizable hit to my bank account.

What has changed has been how I get my work done and versatility this little black box⁵ has on my day to day activities. I can now dictate mental notes when my hands aren’t free, I can chat with my parents half way across the country, and I can run programs nearly on par to those on my Mac.

So as the 10 year anniversary draws closer, and everyone starts peaking at their calendar for Apple’s presumed September release, rumors continue to build up on what we’ll see. Even if the next iPhone includes all that’s been flying around the interwebs is true - full screen display, behind the glass finger print reader, wireless charging, etc. - it will never live up to the moment you opened the box on the original iPhone and saw that screen light up for the first time.