The original iPhone Steve Jobs unveiled in January 2007 could not record video, could not copy and paste text, could not run a single third-party app, and could only reach the internet over 2G — and Jobs spent ninety minutes on stage at Macworld arguing, one missing feature at a time, that every absence was actually a design decision. (opens in new tab)

Steve Jobs walked onto the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on January 9, 2007, held up a slab of glass and aluminum, and called it the best iPod, a revolutionary phone, and a breakthrough internet device — three products in one. The thing in his hand could not record a single second […]