What the first iPhone tells us about tech's future

See how Apple's iPhone ignited the evolution of mobile devices. In this Jan. 9, 2007, file photo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an iPhone at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco. NEW YORK--In my review of the first iPhone 10 years ago, I called it a "glitzy wunderkind" and a "prodigy". The thing about prodigies, no matter how gifted, is they often flame out. For all the hype that surrounded Apple's prized new device, there was no guarantee in 2007 that it, too, wouldn't burn out before it really took off.