Tech Family Tree - History of the iPhone
ZDNet UK is extremely pleased to announce Tech Family Tree — the History of the iPhone.
It's a colourful, detailed, entertaining look at the technologies, events, discoveries and people who've helped create the modern smartphone over the past hundred years and more.
The centrepiece is an A1-sized full colour poster, bringing together multiple timelines with hundreds of facts and plenty of pictures, that shows how hardware, software, science, innovation and design have evolved over the years to the point that we can build a device of almost inconceivable complexity and use it without a second's thought.
There's an interactive timeline too, with more information on it — and room for your contributions and ideas. If you've been involved in any of the key areas, we want to hear your story. Although technology is all about innovation, it's easy to forget that this innovation has been going on for centuries, and that each wonderful new idea that changes our lives is built on a hundred wonderful ideas, just as revolutionary in their time. We know the headlines; those who were there know the details.
With Tech Family Trees, we're hoping to tell that story, and hopefully inspire people to look anew at the things we take for granted. That inspiration can lead to still more new thinking, and can equip us all to enjoy — even create — the stories yet to come.
We hope that you'll find plenty to chew on, and no matter how well you thought you knew the subject there'll be things you didn't know and aspects you'll want to find more about. You'll be able to download the PDF of the poster for free — and if you want a full-colour, professionally printed A1 copy for you, your office or your tech-savvy friends, we'll be happy to provide that too. Click through for details — and to see a short video about how we did it and why we love it.
We plan to bring you more Tech Family Trees in the near future, covering more aspects of our digital lives. We've already started work on the history of the internet - all comments and suggestions are welcome, either at www.zdnet.co.uk/infographics/, to me at rupert.goodwins@zdnet.co.uk, or @rupertg on Twitter.