DescriptionThe iPhone is the first smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. After years of rumors and speculation, it was officially announced in January 2007, and was released in the United States in June. Development of the iPhone as a product began in 2005 and continued in complete secrecy until its public unveiling. The device broke with prevailing mobile phone designs by eliminating most physical hardware buttons, and eschewing a stylus for its screen-based interface, instead featuring only a few physical buttons and a touch screen. It featured quad-band GSM cellular connectivity with GPRS and EDGE support for data transfer, and made use of continuous internet access and onboard processing to support features unrelated to voice communication. This approach has been emulated by most new smartphone designs that followed. Its successor, the iPhone 3G, was announced in June 2008.