Which company popularized the smartphone with its iPhone in 2007?

Apple Inc. popularized the modern smartphone with its iPhone in 2007.

Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPhone on January 9, 2007, at Macworld in San Francisco. Apple presented it as three products in one: a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and an internet communications device. Its large multitouch display replaced the physical keyboards and styluses common on many earlier smartphones.

The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, through Apple and AT&T. Its software combined web browsing, email, maps, music, and phone functions in a tightly integrated device. The App Store arrived in 2008, turning the phone into a broader software platform for third-party developers.

Apple did not invent the smartphone; companies such as BlackBerry, Nokia, and IBM had produced earlier smartphones. The iPhone's importance was its influence on the touchscreen, app-based smartphone design that became mainstream. “Apple Inc.” is the company answer, while iPhone is the product name.