Today’s A.I. is a Nokia 3310. And the iPhones are coming.

Seventeen years ago this week, Steve Jobs took the stage at the annual Macworld conference and introduced the first iPhone to the world.

The launch edition came with a multi-touch interface, a web browser that actually worked, and instant access to both music (via an inbuilt iPod), and video (through a native YouTube app).

Within 18 months, all iPhones included GPS, motion detection, an accelerometer, and a video camera.

Yet the biggest breakthrough of that early period wasn’t a feature, but a tertiary service.

‘Appy Campers

The App Store marketplace sparked not just a surge of innovation, but an entirely new economy. Developers across the globe were empowered to build and release their own products to a worldwide audience. Within a…