I remember the launch of the first iPhone like it was yesterday. I think it was one of the first things I asked aloud while clutching my BlackBerry 8300 (RIP), "Where's the keyboard? And then, "What about 3G?

Of course, in hindsight, I missed Steve Jobs' point in 2007. This was not just a smartphone. He was reinventing the smartphone, and the entire smartphone category, and pushing it forward.

At the time, Apple was taking a big risk by not including a keyboard, which was used not only by the BlackBerry, but also by competitors like the Moto Q (remember that?), Palm Tree, and Nokia E62. Instead, it went in a completely different direction by adopting a revolutionary multi-touch interface and touchscreen keyboard. Fifteen years later, the iPhone 13 reigns at the top of our best phones list.

It is often forgotten that the iPhone was the first to enable that beautiful inertial scrolling animation that allows you to zoom in on websites and photos with a pinch, or quickly scroll through long lists with just a flick. The original iPhone was meant to leave all other cell phones behind.

As Steve Jobs said in his presentation: "It's an iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. [The iPod was exactly three devices in one, the closest thing to a complete Internet we had ever seen. I remember when Jobs was reading the "New York Times" in the Safari browser with the original iPhone in landscape mode. This was not the mobile web on a phone, but the full web experience, and it could be expanded with a simple double-tap.

Of course, it took many iterations of the iPhone's hardware and software for Apple to truly perfect this product and establish it as the best cell phone available. For example, the first iPhone did not have MMS. Nor could the first iPhone record video. Also, the App Store opened in 2008, and even then there were only 500 apps.

However, the first iPhone raised Apple's flag in a highly competitive field and made other companies take notice. At the time, Steve Jobs boldly stated that Apple was "five years ahead of any other cell phone. I wouldn't go that far, but it took a long time before its rivals mounted a serious challenge. The first was the Motorola Droid, which was not released until November 2009.

Samsung didn't really have a strong iPhone foe until the 2012 Samsung Galaxy S3, which featured a "huge" (for the time) 4.8-inch display with HD resolution.

So what about Apple after the original iPhone: is it following the example set by Steve Jobs 15 years ago? Is the company reinventing itself or just repeating itself? Actually, it is both.

I would argue that CEO Tim Cook's 2014 introduction of the Apple Watch reinvented the smartwatch category. While other companies were trying to turn the watch into a small cell phone (see the original Samsung Galaxy Gear and Moto 360), Apple focused on ease of use and ultimately health.

From the beginning, the Apple Watch focused on activity, workouts, and goal setting. And while the Apple Watch 7 is primarily due to the larger screen, several important features were added in the process, including ECG reading and fall detection, which began with the Apple Watch Series 4.

AirPods are ubiquitous now, but back in 2016 they were a big deal because they removed a pain point that none of the other best wireless earbuds could. airPods were incredibly easy to pair with an iPhone. All you had to do was open the charging case and your phone would prompt you. This is one of Apple's strengths, that the hardware and software work together, and is very difficult for other companies to imitate.

At the same time, there have been some pretty big misses over the past few years. First, HomePod, while offering excellent sound quality, was not worth the premium it justified over the best smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Nest; Apple's Siri, introduced in 2011, was far ahead of Alexa and Google Assistants. lead, but could not catch up in terms of knowledge, skill, and accuracy.

The MacBook line also lost its way in the 2010s, and Apple was unable to recapture the magic of the original MacBook Air line that Steve Jobs pulled out of a manila envelope in 2008. Instead, Apple allowed competitors such as the Dell XPS 13 to catch up and introduced questionable innovations such as the hated butterfly keyboard and Touch Bar.

But Apple redeemed itself with the MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Pro M1 Apple Silicon from 2020, reinventing the Mac for a new era with more power and battery life than most Windows machines. And the 14-inch MacBook Pro has a better Magic keyboard, along with ports that the pros missed.

As we head into 2022, I believe Apple is once again in a position to revolutionize the category. Apple will reportedly launch an Apple AR/VR headset this year, which could give real competition to existing players like Meta and its Oculus Quest 2.

Apple's headset is rumored to cost over $1,000 and will be out of reach for most shoppers first, but I'll be very interested to see how it blends virtual and augmented reality to provide a new type of user experience.

Indeed, this device has the potential to offer my first real "wow" moment since Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone. I'm told that Apple's headset could ditch the physical controller, employ hand-motion tracking, incorporate eye-detection, and offer M1 chip-like power in place of the smartphone's chip. In other words, by leaving behind features that Apple considers legacy, the headset may surpass everything that came before it.

And I think this is the lesson of the original iPhone and Steve Jobs. Go for the big leap or don't bother.