With a new iPhone arriving this month, I’m looking back at 30 moments that explain how Apple’s smartphone changed not just the phone business, but technology and culture around it. One moment, one number and one lasting impact each day .

Steve Jobs set the first major goal for Apple’s newly released smartphone: “ Sell ten million iPhones. ” To get there, it would have to replace the beloved iPod, and in the process, the market for MP3 players would be smothered.

The iPhone Slowly Took Over From The iPod

The iPhone was not an overnight success. Revealed on Jan. 9, 2007, but not reaching U.S. customers until June 29, 2007, it was a quiet debut compared to the worldwide financial impact the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro will deliver. Steve Jobs set that simple target for its first full year: ten million sales in 2008. Apple would surpass that mark in October, supported by July’s launch of the iPhone 3G.

2008 was also the strongest year ever for iPod sales, with the digital media player selling 54.83 million units. Yet the iPod’s contribution to Apple’s revenue was dropping. The iPod generated $8.3 billion in 2007 and a record $9.1 billion in 2008. It fell to $8 billion in 2009 as the iPhone’s revenue jumped from $1.8 billion in 2008 to $13 billion in 2009.

iPhone Killed The MP3 Player Market

2008 saw peak sales of digital audio players, with Apple representing 48% of the market. As the iPhone became more important to Apple, the iPod fell away , taking the whole category with it. With the iPhone, Apple defined the smartphone as the primary music player for the next 20 years.