http://www.cultofmac.com/author/dwmartin

When the original iPhone was released in 2007, I was traveling through Daphne, Alabama right on the Gulf coast and there wasn’t an Apple Store within a reasonable distance. In fact, I don’t think Alabama even had an Apple Store back then, but I might [...]]]> Extracted from Where Were You When The iPhone Was Born? [Feature]:

David Martin

When the original iPhone was released in 2007, I was traveling through Daphne, Alabama right on the Gulf coast and there wasn’t an Apple Store within a reasonable distance. In fact, I don’t think Alabama even had an Apple Store back then, but I might be wrong about that.

However, there was an AT&T store and it had a line outside the first time I drove past it. I didn’t even stop. I didn’t think the iPhone was going to be that big of a deal back then, but I know a lot better now. The line there wasn’t anything like the other lines I was hearing about all over the U.S.

I waited until almost closing time and returned to the AT&T store. I picked up the iPhone that was on display and I was honestly not that impressed. I was carrying a Palm Treo 755 back then and I was a solid Palm advocate who happened to also be locked into my contract with Sprint. The new iPhone back then was nice, but it was the fact that initially you could not add apps to it that made it a turn off to me. I had a whole library of apps on my Palm that were hard to let go of.

Months later my Sprint contract ran out and I’d heard about people who had hacked their iPhone, installed their own software, and I was immediately interested. I purchased one not soon after that and I haven’t looked back since. I’ll admit that my first impressions about the phone were tepid, but after the first jailbreak and later Apple’s official embrace of apps I was hooked.

I’ll also share a little secret with you. The iPhone is the reason I got back into writing again. I scooped someone on a story about iPhone grey market sales – recall the time when Apple refused to take cash for iPhones? Limited the quantity purchased and demanded a credit card? I do. All these events, the iPhone, and the Macs I’ve personally owned and used brought new life and resurrected a writing career I left behind in 1992.

So 2007 was just as much a big year for me as it was for the iPhone. I got back into something I sorely missed — which was writing for people like all of you. I also got a really nice new iPhone that quickly made me forget all about my Palm Treo.

This coming week things will start to ramp up once I figure out a few things…

I have been serving up news, break fixes, tips, etc. to more users than I ever could have imagined, and I’m [...]]]> Today will be my last day writing for iPhone Atlas. It’s hard to imagine that I’ve written or contributed to more than 450 posts during my nearly two-year tour of duty with CNET’s iPhone Atlas.

I have been serving up news, break fixes, tips, etc. to more users than I ever could have imagined, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to do so. I have always been greatly humbled by your reader responses, and I have had an amazing time meeting some really great people along the way.

If you would like to stay in touch, please follow me on Twitter or visit my personal Web site for updates on my next iPhone and iPad projects.