Despite Apple's ongoing success with iPhones, co-founder Steve Jobs originally thought the concept of the company making a phone was a bad idea.
New Delhi,UPDATED: May 10, 2024 18:37 IST
Apple is currently one of the top smartphone manufacturers globally due to the ongoing success of its iPhones year after year. However, the creation of the iPhone was the result of a team of brilliant minds and a sceptical CEO. Although Apple now enjoys record-breaking iPhone sales, its co-founder, Steve Jobs, did not always support the idea. In fact, he initially thought the concept of Apple making a phone "sucked."
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In his book "The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone," author Brian Merchant reveals that Steve Jobs was not always in favour of Apple developing smartphones. As Merchant writes, "The problem with a phone," Steve Jobs said in 2005, "is that we're not very good at going through carriers to reach the end users." Jobs had concerns about dealing with carriers such as Verizon and AT&T, which controlled which phones could access their networks. Additionally, he wasn't convinced about the potential of the emerging smartphone market, believing it might be limited to a niche audience.
And while pushing Jobs for the iPhone concept, iPhone engineers secretly continued developing its revolutionary multi-touch technology. They kept it hidden until confident enough to present it to Jobs, revealing it only once sure of its potential.
In his book, Merchant quotes a senior iPhone engineer, Andy Grignon, who says "the executive team was trying to convince Steve that building a phone was a great idea for Apple. He didn't really see a clear path to success." Later, after the iPhone's final development, Andy Grignon became the first person to make a call using it.
Nevertheless, while Apple staff was convincing Jobs, Apple's Vice President Michael Bell also wrote late-night email to Jobs on November 7, 2004, advocating for the phone's development, which later led to a lengthy conversation that eventually convinced Jobs. After receiving the email, Jobs immediately called Bell, and after hours of conversation, Jobs finally gave his approval, saying, "Okay, I think we should do it."
Jobs approval on iPhones was also partly due to the disruption smartphones posed to the iPod market. However, as Merchant revealed in an interview with CNBC, Jobs needed to see an intuitive and exciting user interface before being sold on entering the phone market.
And even after giving his approval, Jobs kept the iPhone project a secret from the entire Apple organisation and the Cupertino office. Only the exclusive team working on the development knew about it, as Jobs trusted the team he had assembled. "There would be no iPhone if it weren't for the work of people on every layer here ," said Merchant in his interview.
Published By:
Divya Bhati
Published On:
May 10, 2024
