10 Years Later: A Look Back At The iPhone And Kindle

Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN are disruptive companies in their own right, having envisioned breakthrough product and services, which have come to redefine the way people use/consume the respective category of product/services.

Recently, Apple was in the spotlight, as it unveiled the latest iteration of iPhone, code-named the iPhone X, which also happens to be its tenth anniversary iPhone.

Even as Apple's iPhone X launch was done with much fanfare, Amazon has had a quiet announcement in the run up to the tenth anniversary of its Kindle e-reader.

To commemorate the anniversary, Amazon announced the launch of the Kindle Oasis, featuring a 7-inch, 300 ppi display and waterproof design. With Audible built in, it provides easy listening to audio books. The new Kindle is priced at $249.99 and will begin shipping on Oct. 31.

See Also: Apple Brand Estimated At 3 Times The Value Of Amazon's

Contribution To Top Line

iPhone accounted for roughly 63 percent of Apple's total sales in fiscal year 2016, having grown from a mere 2.8 percent in 2007, when it was launched. In the first full year after the launch, Apple contributed to 18 percent of the revenues.

According to estimates by Forbes, Kindle device sales accounted for $3.9 billion in revenues for Amazon in 2013, roughly about 6 percent of the total revenues. Apart from that, the firm estimated that digital content or e-books may have fetched the company anywhere between $265 million and $530 million.

Evolution Over Years

The specs of the first-generation iPhone released on June 29, 2007, were 4 GB or 8 GB capacity, 128 MB memory, 3.5-inch screen and 2.0 megapixels camera. It was priced at $499. With 3G technology catching up by then, Apple skipped the No. 2 and released the iPhone 3G in June 2008, with 8GB and 16 GB versions, priced at $199 and $299, respectively.

Then came the iPhone 3GS, which wasn't very different from its predecessor in its form factor, but was twice as faster. This model was released in June 2009. The iPhone 4 was released in June 2010, which had the FaceTime video chat and the first high-resolution Retina screen. The iPhone 4S was released in October 2011.

The 4-inch screen iPhone 5 followed in September 2012, and a year later the iPhone 5S and 5C were released, with 64-bit A7 SoC and Touch ID. In September 2014, Apple rolled out the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus came in September 2015, with 3D Touch.

September 2016 saw the release of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and earlier in September this year, Apple announced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus as well as the iPhone X.

Meanwhile, Kindle, which Amazon introduced on Nov. 19, 2007, is an e-reader that allows users to browse, buy, download and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, etc. Through wirelessly connecting to Kindle Store, it gives access to digital media.

The Kindle 2 was launched in 2009, which had more storage and a more user-friendly design. Subsequently, in 2010, Amazon launched the Kindle DX, which supported PDFs and could turn sideways. Kindle 3 or Kindle Keyboard was released in the same year.

In 2011, Amazon released the Kindle 4, which marked a shift to touchscreen capability. In the same year, Kindle Fire tablet was launched. The Kindle Touch came about in 2011.

Subsequently, Amazon rolled out Kindle Paperwhite 3 Generation, the Kindle Voyager and the Kindle Oasis.

Kindle, though not a big a revenue earner like the iPhone, it sure seems to be a vital cog in Amazon's wheels. The tenth anniversary, therefore, may be worth celebrating with a little more noise.

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