<P> In 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs conceived an idea of using a multi-touch touchscreen to interact with a computer in a way in which he could directly type onto the display . He decided that it needed to have a triple layered touch screen, a very new and high tech technology at the time . This helped out with removing the physical keyboard and mouse, the same as a tablet computer . Jobs recruited a group of Apple engineers to investigate the idea as a side project . When Jobs reviewed the prototype and its user interface, he conceived a second idea of implementing the technology onto a mobile phone . The whole effort was called Project Purple 2 and began in 2005 . </P> <P> Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T, formerly Cingular Wireless . The development cost of the collaboration was estimated to have been $150 million over a thirty - month period . Apple rejected the "design by committee" approach that had yielded the Motorola ROKR E1, a largely unsuccessful collaboration with Motorola . Instead, Cingular Wireless gave Apple the liberty to develop the iPhone's hardware and software in - house . </P> <P> The original iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007 in a keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo held in Moscone West in San Francisco, California . In his address, Jobs said, "This is a day, that I have been looking forward to for two and a half years", and that "today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone ." Jobs introduced the iPhone as a combination of three devices: a "widescreen iPod with touch controls"; a "revolutionary mobile phone"; and a "breakthrough Internet communicator". </P> <P> The iPhone was released in the United States on June 29, 2007 at the price of $499 for the 4 GB model and $599 for the 8 GB model, both requiring a 2 - year contract . Thousands of people were reported to have waited outside Apple and AT&T retail stores days before the device's launch; many stores reported stock shortages within an hour of availability . To avoid repeating the problems of the PlayStation 3 launch, which caused burglaries and even a shooting, off - duty police officers were hired to guard stores overnight . </P>

When did the first touchscreen iphone come out