1 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Technology with tech Stuff from work dot com. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I am your host, Jonathan Strickland, 3 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: senior writer for how stuff works dot com, the podcasting 4 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: company extraordinaire. We're all grown up, y'all. I don't know 5 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: if you saw the news, but yeah, how stuff Works 6 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: has spun off. It is a podcasting company, and of 7 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: course tech Stuff being one of the first of the 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: podcasts to UH to launch way back in the day, 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: one of the first three major podcasts out of How 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: stuff Works. I thought today we could talk about something 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: that's iconic in today's technology, the iPhone, And it's really 12 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: a matter of timing. It's important to talk about the 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 1: iPhone came out ten years ago as of the recording 14 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: of this podcast. Anyway, if you're listening in the future, 15 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: it was more than that. But at the time of 16 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: the recording, we're talking about ten years since the iPhone 17 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: came out, and we have the tenth anniversary iPhone coming 18 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: out right around the corner. In fact, on September twelve, seventeen, 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: Apple is going to unveil the tenth anniversary version of 20 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: the iPhone, and by the time you listen to this, 21 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: maybe that's already happened. I don't know when you've when 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: you've subscribed, but this episode should publish before September, and 23 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: I thought it would be a good idea to trace 24 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: the history of the iPhone and talk about impact on 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: technology and culture. So I was gonna do an episode 26 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: that just kind of went through the evolution of the iPhone. However, 27 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: something happened. I started researching, and when I really got 28 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: into the origins of the iPhone, I realized that, holy cow, 29 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: just that story, just the story of how the first 30 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: iPhone came to be, is so incredible and so complicated 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: it justified an entire episode. So I concentrated on that, 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: and then I found out that, surprise, surprise, it was 33 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: such a huge story that it's more than one episode. 34 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: This is actually part one of a two part episode 35 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: about the origins of the iPhone. So this story will continue. 36 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: In the next episode of tech Stuff. We will conclude 37 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: the story of the origin of the iPhone. I have 38 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: a little bit to say about how the iPhone evolved 39 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: in its impact on technology in general at the end 40 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: of the next episode. But this story is bonkers, y'all. Now, 41 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: before I get into it, I've got to give some 42 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: credit out there, actually a lot of credit to a 43 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: particular writer, Brian Merchant. Mr. Merchant is an editor over 44 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: at Motherboard. That's one of the sites I love to visit. 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: Motherboards a great site. And he's been published by gosh, 46 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: just about everyone everywhere, and he has a book out 47 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: now titled The One Device, The Secret History of the iPhone. 48 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: And I used a lot of different sources when I 49 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: was researching this episode, but I would say that that 50 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: book was my primary source. It's incredible. It's got an 51 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: enormous amount, an exhaustive amount, you might say, of information 52 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: about the iPhone and its development, including things like details 53 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: about the manufacturing process and the materials that go into 54 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: the iPhone, so not just the story of how it 55 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: was created, but the actual story of the stuff used 56 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: to create it, the physical materials. I'm not going to 57 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: dive into that part because it's outside the scope of 58 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: what I wanted to talk about, But if you find 59 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: this discussion at all interesting, I recommend you hunt down 60 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: a copy of Brian Merchant's book again, that's uh, The 61 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: One Device. Check that out because he goes into way 62 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: more detail than I am going to go into. And 63 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: I've got two episodes to talk about here. Now, the 64 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: iPhone origin story is incredibly complex and there are a 65 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: lot of different layers involved in it. It's a story 66 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: of innovation, it's a story about advances in technology, but 67 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: it's also a story about corporate politics and personality clashes 68 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: and personal tragedy as it turns out. So this isn't 69 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: a story about how some guy at Apple cobbled a 70 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,160 Speaker 1: phone together out of I don't know, shoe polish and dreams. 71 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: The iPhone project involved dozens of people, sometimes working at 72 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: cross purposes toward one another, So you had groups that 73 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: were trying to compete with each other within Apple in 74 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: order to produce this iPhone. And really it's it's very 75 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: challenging to find a spot to begin, I mean, and 76 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: that's because real history rarely has a clearly cut beginning 77 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: or a middle. Really, the only thing that history has 78 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: a clear cut defining feature is an end, because one 79 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: day there will be an end to at least human history, 80 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: I mean, the heat death of the universe pretty spells 81 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: it out for us. But until that day, whenever it 82 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: may be, it is hard to find a point where 83 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: you can have a clear cut beginning it's we like 84 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: our stories to have nice beginnings. That's just not the 85 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: way real history works. So I thought it might be 86 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: fun to go back and talk about an earlier mobile 87 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: device Apple tried to launch in an effort to define 88 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: a new era in computing, because I think it's a 89 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: great way to compare and contrast the iPhone and I'm 90 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: talking about the unfortunate Apple Newton. Now, the Apple Newton 91 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: story is valuable because it illustrates how the iPhone project 92 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: could have gone really wrong, and the story begins more 93 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: than a decade before the iPhone project got the official 94 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 1: nod from Steve Jobs. In fact, this story begins back 95 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: when Steve Jobs wasn't even part of Apple. So if 96 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,239 Speaker 1: you've listened to my podcasts about Apple, you know that 97 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: this is part of their story. A right that John Scully, 98 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: who was brought into Apple to be their CEO, had 99 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: progressively pushed Steve Jobs towards the outskirts of the company, 100 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: both figuratively and literally, putting him in a remote part 101 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: of the Apple campus and giving him fewer and fewer responsibilities. 102 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: Jobs had alienated Scully, and he was notorious for his 103 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: managerial style, which I think we could generously describe as difficult. 104 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: So Jobs left Apple in nineteen five. Effectively he was 105 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: forced out, and Scully turned his sites to finding a 106 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: new product to transform the computing space. Now. Scully became 107 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: enamored with this idea of a tablet like computing device 108 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: that would rely upon artificial intelligence to help users navigate 109 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: and complete tasks. And it was a really far out 110 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: futuristic idea that would turn out to be a bit 111 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: beyond the technological grasp of Apple or anyone else for 112 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: that matter at that time, and it just couldn't take 113 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: on a format that would be consumer ready, but it 114 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: did set in motion the events that would lead to 115 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: the Apple Newton. Scully's version of this device was called 116 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: the Knowledge Navigator. Apple even created a concept video to 117 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: show off what the Knowledge Navigator would one day be 118 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: able to do, and you can find this on YouTube, 119 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: and it's fascinating if you watch this. It is an 120 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: amazing piece of of a video because it has a 121 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: lot of prescience about where technology was going to be 122 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: headed over the next couple of decades. It took a 123 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,239 Speaker 1: couple of decades to get there, but you can see 124 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: ideas that are now becoming commonplace. In that concept video. 125 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: The actual knowledge navigator in that video was like a magazine. 126 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: It was actually a folded over computer. You could unfold 127 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: it like you would a magazine as if you were 128 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: opening it, and it had screens on both sides where 129 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,559 Speaker 1: images and show up. It could talk to you, so 130 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: it had a voice capability, and it it had a 131 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: touch screen and voice activation system, so you could either 132 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: use touch commands or talk to it and make it 133 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: do things like add in scheduling, UH conflicts or anything 134 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: like that, or just schedule events on your calendar. You 135 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: might hear a message and say, hey, put a note 136 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: in my calendar surprise birthday party tomorrow. So it was 137 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: really incredible because it incorporated features that later on we 138 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,959 Speaker 1: would see in actual real world devices like the iPad 139 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: or things like Amazon's Echo or Google Home. But it 140 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: was very much in that concept phase back in the 141 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. There was no way to really make this 142 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: at that point. It was just sort of a dream 143 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: that Scully had. He just wanted to see something akin 144 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: to that. And one person who was brought over to 145 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: Apple around this time who saw the potential in creating 146 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: a handheld computing device was Jean Luis Gassy and I 147 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: also talked about Jean Luis guess Ay in those Apple 148 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: episodes I referred to earlier. Guess A worked with a 149 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: guy named Steve Sikaman who used to work for HP, 150 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: and he really wanted to create special new technology, but 151 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: no one over at HP was interested. So then he 152 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: came over to Apple and for a while he was 153 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: trying to work that over at Apple. Didn't get a 154 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: lot of headway there either, and was about to leave 155 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: the company when he and guess A got an amazing opportunity. 156 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: Guess A got permission from Scully to work on a 157 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: project without actually telling him what that project was. He 158 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: essentially said, I have this idea. I think it could 159 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: be incredible. I need your go ahead for me to 160 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: to bring some people over into this project and work 161 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: on it, and then I'll have something to show you 162 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: in the future and maybe it's something we can move 163 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: on as a product. And Scully said, all right, I 164 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: trust you, go ahead. So guess And and Segament began 165 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: to work on a project check that would eventually become 166 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: the Apple Newton. The idea was that segment. He had 167 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: a real interest in handwriting recognition technology, and so they 168 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: were talking about making a handheld device that would have 169 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: a stylists and a writing surface, and you could write 170 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: on the device and it would translate it into digital text, 171 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: among other things. And so they started work on this 172 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: and it would evolve into the Apple Newton. And even 173 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: back then, Segment said there were very early problems right 174 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: out of the gate with the Apple Newton. Big one 175 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: of those problems was that Guess didn't really set any 176 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: restrictions on what should go into the device. He didn't 177 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: have any hard and fast rules about that. So you 178 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: get a bunch of engineers together and you tell them 179 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: your general idea, you don't set restrictions on it. Everyone 180 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: immediately starts to brainstorm different features and functions that quote 181 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: unquote should go into that device. And then it just 182 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: becomes a Morga's board of people adding in functionality, making 183 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: the device more and more complex over time, and it 184 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: became bloated with features as engineers kept thinking of other 185 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: stuff the device should be able to do. The more 186 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,719 Speaker 1: features they gave the Newton, the more power it was 187 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: going to require, and the more expensive components it would 188 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: require in order to do this sort of processing, and 189 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: the more strain on its battery it would create because 190 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: you're requiring more power. So, in other words, it was 191 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: just making the whole thing more complicated and more expensive, 192 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: and it was strangling the development of the project. So 193 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: in those early designs, before they had anything really to 194 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: show for it, the team determined that the size of 195 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: the Newton would be about the same as a four 196 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: standard paper size. At Secondment felt it was already getting 197 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: bigger than it was supposed to be. He wanted a 198 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: smaller form factor, and the projected price for the gadget, 199 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: based upon the elements that they were brainstorming at that time, 200 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 1: was looked at it about six thousand dollars six thousand 201 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:10,079 Speaker 1: dollars for a handheld device, essentially a personal digital assistant 202 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: or p d A that could read your handwriting. Six 203 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: grand and we're talking nineteen eighties money here, so if 204 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: you adjusted for inflation, you're talking about ten thousand dollars 205 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: in today's cash for this device. Ten grand. I mean, 206 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: Apple was known for selling premium products at a high price. 207 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: But come on, well, Guessa and Sigaman would both end 208 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 1: up leaving Apple before the Newton was finished. They would 209 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,439 Speaker 1: go on to found a new company called be Incorporated. 210 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: That's b E. They created the b box platform. But 211 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: a side note here segment would eventually rejoin our story 212 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: because he would come back to Apple in two thousand 213 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: three as vice president of Software Technology, so he would 214 00:12:57,480 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: actually play an important role in the development of the 215 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: iPhone later on, but his role in the Newton had 216 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 1: come to an end. He and guess A left, So 217 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: even though they got the project started, they left before 218 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: it was finished. But by then Scully was completely behind 219 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: it and the ball was rolling and there were there 220 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: was a team hard at work trying to make this 221 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: become a reality. Now on the software side of things, 222 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: the Apple Newton pioneered some really cool technology, including elements 223 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: of that assist of AI that Scully had been dreaming about. 224 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,160 Speaker 1: The software could search through text, and it could identify 225 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: names and cross reference that with a context list. It 226 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: could identify phone numbers, It could send hyperlinks for email 227 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 1: addresses and more and make it more useful by recognizing 228 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 1: these elements within text. And it could also pull up 229 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 1: scheduling information based upon text within messages about meeting times. 230 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: So short it had early versions of the features you 231 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: find in a lot of email apps and smart devices 232 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:57,959 Speaker 1: out there. So, for example, if I get an email 233 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: that uh confer arms that I've purchased tickets for something 234 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: and it's going to my Gmail account, that will put 235 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: in a Gmail entry in my out or my my 236 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: Google calendar and say, all right, well, because I've got 237 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: this message and because it had this time and this time, 238 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: this date on it, I can put in an entry 239 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: in that calendar. Well, the Apple Newton had a rudimentary 240 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: form of that technology in it, which was years ahead 241 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: of anyone else at that point. It also had the 242 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: infamous handwriting recognition algorithm. Now, the algorithm was designed to 243 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 1: learn over time how to recognize specific characters written onto 244 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: the message pad, but it wasn't terribly accurate right out 245 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: of the gate, and that would end up causing some 246 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: major major problems for Apple. The development process was stretching 247 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: on for years, and Scully eventually put his foot down 248 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: and demanded that the team produced a Newton device that 249 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: would be ready for consumers by April second, and he 250 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: wanted it to cost less than of teen hundred dollars. Meanwhile, 251 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: within the teams that were about three different models that 252 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: were being proposed for the Apple Newton and They ranged 253 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: from the bare bones version that would be the cheapest 254 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: to a full featured version that would be more than 255 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: seven thousand dollars. Teams broke out in support of those 256 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: different models, and the two teams that had the most 257 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: support were the extreme ends. You had the junior end 258 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: on one side and the senior end on the other side. Uh, 259 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: and it became a battle of wills, and apparently it 260 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 1: got a bit heated. The senior version of the Newton 261 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: was way more feature heavy and included some stuff like 262 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: the ability to network with other Newton's. The problem was 263 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: the way it networked was through infrared communication, and the 264 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: infrared sensors did not work well under fluorescent lights, which 265 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: led the junior team to jokingly state that the only 266 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: way you could use the Newton networking function in the 267 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: senior model would be if you turned all the lights 268 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: off inside your office, which seems a bit counterproductive. So 269 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: is this kind of sniping that was going on back 270 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,360 Speaker 1: and forth. The junior version, like I said, was not 271 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 1: quite so latent with features and would cost less than 272 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: a thousand dollars, and eventually it became the front runner 273 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: among all the models, but it didn't get there without 274 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: a lot of arguments on all sides. April came and 275 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: went and the team still didn't have a Shippa Bowl 276 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: product yet, though they had performed a few successful demos, 277 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: so Scully was assuaged a little bit, although he kept 278 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: on setting new deadlines so that the team would have 279 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: something to work toward. He laid down the law again 280 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: and kept creating these deadlines, saying pressure the team, he said, 281 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: produced some results for me, and it caused a great 282 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: deal of problems among the team and likely contributed to 283 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 1: one absolute tragedy. One of the programmers on the project 284 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: was a guy named Ko who moved from Japan with 285 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: his wife to be part of the programming community in 286 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: Silicon Valley and joined Apple. On December twelfth, Iszono went 287 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 1: home after work and he committed suicide. The assumption is 288 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: that the intense pressure at work to create the Apple 289 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: Newton led to this breakdown. Now, that was the absolute 290 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: worst of the tragedies associated with Newton's development, but it 291 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: was not the only one. There was another event that 292 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: happened where one of the developers had some sort of 293 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: mental breakdown and assaulted his roommate and was charged with 294 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 1: assault and sent to jail as a result, so John 295 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: Scully would not be in charge by the time the 296 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,280 Speaker 1: Newton was finally ready to debut. He stepped down as 297 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 1: CEO of Apple on June seven. That was two months 298 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: before the Newton went gold, so it's just too much 299 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: shy of the Newton actually launching. He was effectively forced 300 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,480 Speaker 1: to resign by the board of directors, and he became 301 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: the chairman of Apple, but his position was reduced to 302 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: being largely ceremonial, which was an that was somewhat ironic 303 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: because Scully had effectively done the same thing to Steve 304 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: Jobs a decade earlier when he was forced out of 305 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: the company. Michael Spindler would step in as the new 306 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: CEO of Apple and he would oversee the launch of 307 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: the Newton. The team did finish the Newton, and it 308 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: shipped in August, I should say, but the handwriting recognition 309 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,120 Speaker 1: was faulty, as you probably know if you've ever heard 310 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: anything about the Newton, and since the handwriting feature was 311 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 1: supposed to be the core feature of the Newton, it 312 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: led to massive criticism and ridicule. Steve Jobs was fuming 313 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: over it. He was not part of Apple, but he 314 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: was furious to see a product make Apple the laughing 315 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 1: stock of the tech community. He hated seeing this company 316 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: that he had co found and held up to ridicule, 317 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: and he had made no secret of his disdain towards 318 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: Scully throughout Scully's tenure as CEO. Of course, a couple 319 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: of years later, Steve Jobs would rejoin Apple, and what 320 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: happened was that Apple acquired Jobs as company Next. So 321 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: Jobs that created a company called Next Computers, and Jobs 322 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: had failed to produce a commercially successful computer with his 323 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,400 Speaker 1: next company, but uh, and it was because that computer 324 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: was incredibly expensive and a lot of people thought it 325 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: was limited in what it could do. But mostly it 326 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: was the cost of the computer that made people bulk. 327 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 1: But the operating system innovations that his company had created 328 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: were undeniable, and Apple was really in need of that innovation. 329 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: So Apple acquired Next, and Jobs came along with the company, 330 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: and before long he was able to maneuver the board 331 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: into making him the interim CEO, and eventually he became 332 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: the permanent CEO of Apple. So that's the Newton's story, 333 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 1: and I'll talk more about how that impacts the iPhone 334 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: story in just a moment. But first let's take a 335 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsor. You know, the reason 336 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: I spent so much time on that story of the 337 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: Newton in a podcast about the iPhone is to set 338 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: that stage and explain why the iPhone was such a 339 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: big risk for Apple. The company's reputation had already been damaged. 340 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 1: The Newton was literally a punchline. I distinctly remember a 341 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: Simpsons episode that used it as a throwaway joke. And 342 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: again I mean that literally, as Nelson throws a Newton 343 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: away after it misinterprets handwriting. So trying to get a 344 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: new type of computing device out the door was going 345 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: to have big obstacles, not just from technology but also 346 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: from a corporate culture standpoint. And Steve Jobs was, as 347 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you are aware, a notoriously difficult 348 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: person to work for. He had very strong convictions, very 349 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: strong opinions, and he was not terribly concerned with how 350 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: they came across in his interactions with other people. Uh 351 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: he would he could be incredibly blunt and sometimes extremely critical, 352 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: and it was a tough environment. Now, in the early 353 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: two thousand's, before anyone had even proposed a formal phone project, 354 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: at Apple, employees were talking about how cell phones were 355 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 1: a potential opportunity for the company because there was a 356 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: general consensus that cell phones kind of stunk at the time. 357 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: They had really bad call quality, many of the handsets 358 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 1: were not good at holding onto a signal, you would 359 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 1: have calls dropping left and right, and the internet features 360 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: were anemic. But while there was a general desire to 361 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: look into developing a cell phone under Apple's brand, it 362 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: remained mostly wishful thinking, including among people who had worked 363 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,160 Speaker 1: on the Newton project and who were still at Apple. Meanwhile, 364 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: Apple was launching a device that would revolutionize electronics as 365 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: well as an entirely different industry, namely the music industry. 366 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 1: I am talking, of course, about the iPod, and I've 367 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: done a full episode about that device, so I'm not 368 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,159 Speaker 1: going to retread it here, But the iPod it wasn't 369 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: a home run right away. The two thousand one iPod 370 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: had some hefty limitations. Now. The biggest limitation was that 371 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: it was only compatible with Mac computers, and that was 372 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: a problem because at the time, Max represented a very 373 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: small percentage of the overall computer market. The overwhelming majority 374 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: of computer owners were using Windows based devices, and so 375 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: the iPods customer base was limited by that compatibility issue. 376 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,119 Speaker 1: Now Tony Fidell, who sometimes is referred to as the 377 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: pod Father, oversaw the development and launch of the iPod, 378 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: and he thought that Apple should make the iPod work 379 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: with PCs, which would mean developing iTunes software that could 380 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: run on Windows based machines. Steve Jobs was really reluctant. Actually, 381 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: that's too gentle word to use. Steve Jobs refused to 382 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: do this for a long time, but after a couple 383 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: of years of lackluster iPod sales, Jobs had to admit 384 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: that they needed to explore other options if the iPod 385 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 1: were to be a real success. Now, Luckily, in this case, 386 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: Fidel had kind of gone behind Steve Jobs back and 387 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: he had been working with a group of people to 388 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: develop iTunes for Windows machines without Jobs being aware of it. 389 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: So once Steve Jobs actually came around to this idea 390 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: of a Windows compatible iPod, Fidel already had the iTunes 391 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: build ready to go essentially, and once Apple allowed for 392 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: this connectivity, iPod sales exploded. It suddenly became extremely popular 393 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 1: because now it was compatible with the overwhelming majority of 394 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: computers out there, and by two thousand four, the iPod 395 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: sales accounted for fifty percent of all revenue for Apple. 396 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,479 Speaker 1: So Apple was no longer just a computer company. Had 397 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: a new mobile product that was in just as much 398 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: money as their computer sales were bringing in. So this 399 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: was revolutionary, and that revolution would of course ripple out 400 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,479 Speaker 1: to affect the entire music industry as well. It really 401 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,440 Speaker 1: changed the way the music industry works. So you have 402 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: Fidel and he starts thinking about this possibility of making 403 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: a phone similar to the iPod, so would essentially be 404 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,360 Speaker 1: an iPod with a phone kind of glommed onto it. 405 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: And I've got a lot more to say about that 406 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: in this episode. But as I mentioned earlier, there had 407 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: been talks at Apple about phones and phone like devices, 408 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,119 Speaker 1: but no definitive move to develop one. No one had 409 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,400 Speaker 1: actually launched a project in Apple to do this, though. 410 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: There were a lot of different proposals out there, and 411 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: some of those talks involved not building a phone, but 412 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: rather acquiring a handset manufacturing company, one that was already 413 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: in the business of building phones. So in two thousand three, 414 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: Apple executives were seriously considering the possibility of making a 415 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: move on Motorola, but ultimately they decided that the cost 416 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: of the acquisition would be too high, the payoff was 417 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: too uncertain, and so they decided they couldn't go forward. 418 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,440 Speaker 1: They abandoned the idea to purchase Motorola, but they did 419 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,719 Speaker 1: see another way that they could partner with Motorola. So 420 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs really like the design of a Motorola phone 421 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: called the Razor are A z R. This is a 422 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: feature phone and it was pretty popular back when it 423 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: was released. I know a lot of people who held 424 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: onto their Razors well into the smartphone era, even though 425 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,679 Speaker 1: the Razors really more of a feature phone than a smartphone. 426 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,160 Speaker 1: And so Apple and Motorola had some discussions and decided 427 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: to partner to develop a new phone. Motorola would build 428 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: the device and Apple would incorporate some iTunes functionality on 429 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: the phone, and this would become the Motorola Rocker R 430 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: O c k R I guess we really hate final 431 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: vowels in Motorola products. Singular would become the partnered carrier 432 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,119 Speaker 1: for this phone. So you really have three big companies 433 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: all working together to create something new. You had the 434 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: hardware and the operating system coming from Motorola. You had 435 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: the iTunes functionality coming from Apple and the service coming 436 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: from Singular. Now. The Rocker was meant to be a 437 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: bridge between phones and m P three players, but Apple 438 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,960 Speaker 1: developers didn't really want to give Motorola too much, so 439 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: they purposefully designed the iTunes functionality with limitations so that 440 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: Apple wouldn't go and create its own product rival. It 441 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,919 Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense for Apple to help Motorola create a 442 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: product that would complete compete directly with the iPod, and 443 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: so the iTunes functionality was severely limited as a result. 444 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: Fidella essentially confirmed this when he talked with Merchant during 445 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,439 Speaker 1: interviews for that book. I was mentioning earlier in the 446 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: episode that this was pretty much the planet Apple all along, 447 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,959 Speaker 1: that they had purposefully nerfed the iTunes functionality so that 448 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,640 Speaker 1: they could avoid cannibalizing their own sales and also possibly 449 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,919 Speaker 1: set up a phone project at Apple later on. And 450 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: when Steve Jobs finally debuted the Motorola Rocker, which some 451 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: were calling the iTunes Phone, and this happened in two 452 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: thousand five, he was visibly not into it and there 453 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: were some glitches during his presentation that did not help, 454 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: and so Jobs did kind of a pivot during the event. 455 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: He was also there to talk about the iPod Nano, 456 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,159 Speaker 1: that particularly small version of the iPod with some limited 457 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: functionality that at a lower price point than the other 458 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: iPod lines, and he kind of buried the Rocker, and 459 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: he kind of talked about how the Nano could hold 460 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: just as many songs as the Rocker could, and Motorola 461 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,239 Speaker 1: executives were not thrilled by this, to be honest, they 462 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: were a little steamed about it. Fidel, on the other hand, 463 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: was pleased as punch because he figured he could get 464 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,439 Speaker 1: jobs to back phone projects at Apple so that the 465 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,200 Speaker 1: company could show how to do phones the right way 466 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: and not depend upon a partner for the hardware. And 467 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: for that was right about that. The Rocker turned into 468 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: a flop, and at a return rate six times higher 469 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,360 Speaker 1: than other phones on the market, which means people were 470 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,720 Speaker 1: six times more likely to return their Motorola Rocker in 471 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,159 Speaker 1: exchange for something else than they would any other phone, 472 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,680 Speaker 1: which is not great. But now I got a backtrack 473 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,239 Speaker 1: just a bit, because I was just talking about two 474 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: thousand five. But again, this is a complicated story, and 475 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff is happening at around the same 476 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: time or a little bit earlier, So while the Motorola 477 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: deal was kind of forming within Apple before it was 478 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 1: actually created. Around two thousand four or so, you had 479 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: different groups with an Apple all getting more serious about 480 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: actually developing a phone for Apple itself, and they were 481 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: taking very different philosophical pathways towards this goal. Meanwhile, Steve 482 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: Jobs was showing reluctance to get into that industry. He 483 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: had publicly said that smartphones were problematic because carriers tend 484 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: to get really intrusive, the carriers being the companies that 485 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: provide the cell service to phones, and as such, they 486 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: have high demands regarding the capabilities of handsets that run 487 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: on their respective networks, and Steve Jobs bristled at the 488 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: thought of some other company coming in and dictating which 489 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: features he could and couldn't include in his phone, and 490 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: he didn't really want to deal with that mess. He 491 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: preferred to be the master of Apple and not have 492 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: other people tell him what he could and couldn't do. 493 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 1: And on top of that, within Apple, not publicly, but 494 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: within the company, Jobs said he wasn't really keen on 495 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: smartphones because he thought they only would appeal to quote 496 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: the pocket protector crowd end quote. So essentially he was 497 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: saying only nerds are gonna want smartphones, it's not really 498 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: a viable industry, And honestly, at the time he was 499 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: saying this, he was mostly right, because smartphone of that 500 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: era were clunky. They were chunky, they were burdened by 501 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 1: physical keyboards and controls, They weren't easy or intuitive to use, 502 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: They had limited functionality, and even with features like email 503 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: and web access, they were limited in what they could 504 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: actually display or how you could interact with those Internet features. 505 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: And the only people who are really willing to put 506 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 1: up with all of that nonsense in return for a 507 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: smartphone that was typically incredibly expensive were either executives or 508 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: bleeding edge techno buffs. Jobs felt the market just wouldn't 509 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: support a smartphone, at least not to the level where 510 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: it would be profitable. Still, all that being said, Fidel 511 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: wanted to give it a go, and other groups did too, 512 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: and Jobs eventually gave his permission for preliminary development to 513 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: begin at around two thousand four. This was around the 514 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: same time Apple was working with Motorola. Now, these early 515 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: days were blue sky, and by that I mean no 516 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: one was really sure what form the phone would ultimately take, 517 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: what the user interface was going to be like what 518 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: sort of operating system it would have, what features it 519 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: would support, or really anything about it. Now, Jobs was 520 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: holding conversations with various carriers and exploring options at this time, 521 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,720 Speaker 1: and initial conversations with Verizon we're going nowhere. Jobs felt 522 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: that Verizon just wanted too much input in the development 523 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: of the phone. Project Singular seemed a little more favorable. 524 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,480 Speaker 1: The carrier said that in return for exclusivity, they would 525 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: place no demands or restrictions on the phone. Now, eventually, 526 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,120 Speaker 1: Apple would end up partnering with a T and T 527 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: and an exclusive deal that lasted a few years here 528 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: in the United States. Now, the story behind that is 529 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: so complicated that I might actually have to do another 530 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: episode about that specifically in the future, But for now, 531 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: let's just acknowledge that when the phone finally did debut, 532 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: a T and T was the carrier partner in the 533 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: United States. So Fidel and team began working on an 534 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: idea that would eventually really turn into the iPod Touch 535 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,840 Speaker 1: as opposed to the iPhone, because he was thinking about 536 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: adding radio frequency capability to an iPod, but in this 537 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: case that our ff ability was WiFi, not cellular service. Uh, 538 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 1: that's ultimately what would come out of Fidel's group. Fidel's 539 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: team began to work on this and started with existing 540 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 1: iPod design. So this is before the iPod touch. It 541 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: was back in the old user interface of the iPod. 542 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: I'm talking about that click wheel design of the old iPods. 543 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: So yeah, the first iPhone sort of had a rotary 544 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: dial on the front of them in a sense. Because 545 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: it had that click wheel, you would navigate the phone's 546 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 1: features using the clickwheel. Now, jobs ultimately would feel that 547 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: this was not a particularly good user experience, but Fidel's 548 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: team really went for it, building out the operating system 549 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,480 Speaker 1: and user interface to support the click wheel navigation system. 550 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: Fidel's approach was much more conservative than what the iPhone 551 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: would turn out to be, not just because of the 552 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: user interface and navigation, but also in its features. The 553 00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: Fidel version was really an MP three player that was 554 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: all so a phone, So it wasn't a pocket computer 555 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: or an Internet connected device in the way the iPhone is. 556 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: It really just had two modes of operation. It had 557 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: iPod mode and in that mode. Eventually, once they settled 558 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: on a particular user interface and an appearance, the screen 559 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: would turn blue and you could listen to your music. 560 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: If you switched it to phone mode, the screen would 561 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 1: turn kind of an amber color, and then you can 562 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: make calls. Meanwhile, there were other people like Michael Bell, 563 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: who were arguing for an entirely different approach to phone design. 564 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: Bell felt that the future was in convergence, with devices 565 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: like the iPod, telephones, and computers all merging into a 566 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: single form factor, and Bell and Jobs had numerous discussions 567 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: some might call them arguments about this. Bell used some 568 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: of Johnny i'ves designs for future iPod models as leverage. 569 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: He said, don't think about the way mobile devices look 570 00:33:58,200 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: right now. Take a look at some of these design 571 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: for future iPods and imagine a Mac style device, something 572 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: running a Mac operating system in this warm factor. It 573 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,799 Speaker 1: would be a surefire hit. And it's definitely where things 574 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: are headed anyway. And if we jump on it, if 575 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: Apple becomes the company to make this, we could be 576 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:23,719 Speaker 1: pioneers and lead the space. Steve Jobs was not immediately 577 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: convinced of this. He actually held out for a while, 578 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: but he did get broken down by Michael Bell's arguments, 579 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,279 Speaker 1: and Bell insisted that there was value in developing a 580 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,840 Speaker 1: product that could merge the qualities of a phone and 581 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,320 Speaker 1: NB three player and a network computer, and Jobs would 582 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 1: allow Bell to work on this idea. He agreed to 583 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:46,360 Speaker 1: it on November seven, two thousand four. And thus you 584 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: had two different groups trying to go in two different 585 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: pathways to create the same in the goal a phone, 586 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: but they were taking very different pathways to get there. 587 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: And that began the rate mystery at Apple. You can 588 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: kind of think of it as like a murder mystery 589 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: in a way, because employees were disappearing left and right, 590 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: only they weren't getting killed, they were getting cherry picked 591 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:15,959 Speaker 1: for one of these two different projects. Uh Fidel's team, 592 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: which would become known as P one, started to try 593 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: and create their iPod phone, and then the team that 594 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: Bell argued for and Scott Forstaul would end up working with, 595 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: was trying to create this new piece of merged technology. 596 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,279 Speaker 1: They became known as P two. So had P one 597 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: and P two, and both teams began rating Apple talent. Now. 598 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: Jobs was incredibly paranoid about this phone project. He insisted 599 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: on the utmost secrecy, and he forbade anyone from recruiting 600 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: from outside the company, so instead teams were free to 601 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,239 Speaker 1: pick and choose among existing Apple employees. But there was 602 00:35:55,280 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 1: a big catch. Those employees could not be told they 603 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: would be working on until after they had already agreed 604 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 1: to do the work. I've got a lot more to 605 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 1: say about that, but before I jump into it, let's 606 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: take another quick break to thank our sponsor. So the 607 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 1: secrecy did not end just in this whole process of 608 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: picking members for your team. Bit by bit, sections of 609 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,320 Speaker 1: Cooper Tino's offices were being converted over to development rooms 610 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: for the iPhone project. Now, a very early version of 611 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,319 Speaker 1: this was a room where the Human Interface team went, 612 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: or the HI team as they were called. They were 613 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: in a unique position and that they worked with both 614 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 1: the P one and the P two teams. They helped 615 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,359 Speaker 1: both teams out. They were kind of in between these 616 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:56,560 Speaker 1: competing groups, and their office was a room that had 617 00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:00,320 Speaker 1: no windows, and the only real thing it had inside 618 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,840 Speaker 1: of it was a white board and apparently, according to Merchant, 619 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: a poster of a chicken for some reason. And they 620 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: would put up their ideas on the whiteboard, and anything 621 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,200 Speaker 1: that was considered a really good, strong idea that was 622 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,239 Speaker 1: going to be the one of the central pillars of 623 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 1: the Human Interface components of the phone project would stay 624 00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,120 Speaker 1: up on the white board, and then other ideas they 625 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: would erase if they figured that they weren't that important, 626 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 1: pertinent or whatever, and they ended up seeing also increased 627 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 1: security around the campus. An entire floor of one of 628 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,760 Speaker 1: Apple's buildings eventually became the home of the various teams, 629 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: and to get there you had to have a badge. 630 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 1: You had to have a specific security badge to be 631 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 1: able to access that part of the office, and according 632 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,399 Speaker 1: to some people, you had to go through as many 633 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: as four different secure doors before you could actually get 634 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: to anything remotely related to the iPhone, and janitorial staff 635 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,840 Speaker 1: wasn't even allowed in the space. Job did not want 636 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: any information about the phone leaking out, even to other 637 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 1: Apple employees until he was ready to pull the trigger 638 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 1: on it now. One of the people who worked on 639 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,120 Speaker 1: the human interface team was Greg Christie. He actually was 640 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,839 Speaker 1: one of the leads on this team, and he had 641 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 1: also worked on the Newton back in the day. Steve 642 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: Sackelman also got involved again. Sackeman he he was the 643 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 1: guy who had worked on the Newton with Guessa back 644 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 1: in the day and then left Apple before the Newton debuted. Well, 645 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: he came back in two thousand three and he found 646 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,520 Speaker 1: it inspiring to work on the phone project. So the 647 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,439 Speaker 1: P two team, you know, the P one was trying 648 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: to make the iPod phone. The P two team became 649 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,359 Speaker 1: known as the Next Mafia because it included a few 650 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,799 Speaker 1: of the engineers who had worked with Steve Jobs over 651 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,040 Speaker 1: at the Next Company, and they had come over to 652 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 1: Apple along with the acquisition, and they were known for 653 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,719 Speaker 1: being really secretive and doing what they had to do 654 00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:01,480 Speaker 1: in order to accomplish goals, so kind of like legendary 655 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: mafioso types, the P two group had some enormous challenges. 656 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 1: So unlike the iPod group, the P one group, they 657 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,400 Speaker 1: did not have a set method for navigation. Like the 658 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,400 Speaker 1: iPod group, they knew they were going to use the 659 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,800 Speaker 1: same functions of the iPod in order to move around 660 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: on the phone features. But the P two group, it 661 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,759 Speaker 1: was more wide open. So they wanted to explore the 662 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: possibility of using multi touch interfaces. And Apple likes to 663 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: boast it invented multi touch. It's certainly patented approaches to 664 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: multi touch, but it's not really true that the company 665 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,280 Speaker 1: invented it. There had been multi touch interfaces in various 666 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: stages of development at different places, including Xerox Park for 667 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:47,120 Speaker 1: more than a decade, but no one had created a 668 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: multi touch tool that could work in a small form 669 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: factor in a commercial consumer product. Now, Apple had acquired 670 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,680 Speaker 1: a company called finger Works that was founded by a 671 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:02,879 Speaker 1: man named Wayne Westerman. Westerman wanted to create an alternative 672 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:07,959 Speaker 1: two keyboard interfaces because he had a repetitive strain injury 673 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: and that made it really painful to use a keyboard 674 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,680 Speaker 1: for any kind of extended time. So he began to 675 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 1: pioneer work in multi touch interfaces alternatives to keyboards, and 676 00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:20,719 Speaker 1: he became an important key player in the technology that 677 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: would allow for iPhones revolutionary interface. Another group that worked 678 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: on this touch screen technology was the Q seventy nine group, 679 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,320 Speaker 1: and originally they were trying to build a multi touch tablet, 680 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,759 Speaker 1: although that ultimately didn't pan out, at least not in 681 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: its initial form factor. They had been working on multi 682 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: touch since two thousand three with an Apple and Bass 683 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 1: Ordering was one of those engineers b A. S O R. 684 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,960 Speaker 1: D I N G. And he played an important role 685 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: in developing the technology used in the iPhone. These engineers 686 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 1: reached relished this challenge rather of scaling the technology down 687 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:00,200 Speaker 1: so they could fit inside the form factor of a 688 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,120 Speaker 1: mobile device, although most of their initial work was with 689 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: full size computers, and then they were saying, well, worry, 690 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,120 Speaker 1: We'll worry about making it smaller later. Let's just worry 691 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: about making it work right now. Ordering had been told 692 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:14,600 Speaker 1: by Jobs that the goal was to create a phone 693 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: that would have no physical buttons and relied solely on 694 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: touch screen gestures, and Ording was intrigued and at the 695 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,360 Speaker 1: time wasn't really sure if this was going to be possible, 696 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: but he felt it was a worthy challenge, and so 697 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:29,839 Speaker 1: he joined the iPhone project, and it was Ordering who 698 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,279 Speaker 1: created a few of the features that became standard in 699 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,640 Speaker 1: touch screen navigation. So, for example, if you've ever used 700 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: an app that had a bit of a rubber band 701 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 1: effect whenever you got to the end of a page, 702 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:41,759 Speaker 1: whether it was the top or the bottom, that was 703 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: Ording's idea. The Ording was using a touch interface with 704 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: his Mac for testing purposes and found out that if 705 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,439 Speaker 1: he navigated a page, he would often find that once 706 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,839 Speaker 1: he reached the top or bottom of the page, he'd 707 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: be misled for a few moments into thinking that his 708 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,200 Speaker 1: interface had broken because he'd get to the end and 709 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 1: he'd be trying to scroll end up would happen, and 710 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:05,120 Speaker 1: you think, oh gosh, it's broken. And then he figured, oh, wait, no, no, no, 711 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: I just got to the end of all the text 712 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:09,840 Speaker 1: or all the images or whatever it might have been, 713 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:11,799 Speaker 1: and he decided there needed to be some sort of 714 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:15,920 Speaker 1: visual representation that you had reached the end, and that 715 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,840 Speaker 1: way you wouldn't think that the scrolling was just broken. 716 00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 1: And so it had this rubber band effect where it 717 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: would it would come down as if you were continuing 718 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: to scroll, but as soon as you let go, it 719 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,400 Speaker 1: would snap back up. His team also created the momentum 720 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:34,040 Speaker 1: effect of scrolling on the iPhone, so that's when you 721 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,120 Speaker 1: flick your finger down or up the screen and the 722 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: scrolling continues for a bit before it slows to a halt, 723 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:43,280 Speaker 1: which makes it feel like the virtual pages you're looking 724 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,600 Speaker 1: at are obeying the laws of physics, as if the 725 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,880 Speaker 1: stuff you're seeing is actually a physical object. And it 726 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,319 Speaker 1: seems totally obvious now, but someone actually had to come 727 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:55,480 Speaker 1: up with that, and then they had to build it, 728 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,000 Speaker 1: and that was Ardings Group. Now there's a ton I 729 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: need to talk about with this iPhone. But I am 730 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,799 Speaker 1: running out of time for this episode. So what we're 731 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,280 Speaker 1: going to do is we're going to conclude this episode today. 732 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,520 Speaker 1: We will rejoin at this part in our next episode, 733 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,360 Speaker 1: and we're gonna have our part two of the Origin 734 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:17,280 Speaker 1: of the iPhone. If you guys have suggestions for topics 735 00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,040 Speaker 1: you would like me to cover in future episodes. Maybe 736 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,239 Speaker 1: it's a specific technology, maybe it's a person in tech, 737 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: maybe it's a company, let me know. Send me a message. 738 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,920 Speaker 1: The email address you should use is tech Stuff at 739 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,319 Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot com, or drop me a line on 740 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:34,879 Speaker 1: the facebooks or the twitters. I have the handled tech 741 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,239 Speaker 1: Stuff hsw for the show at both of those locations. 742 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:41,759 Speaker 1: And remember you can watch me stream live as I 743 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: record these episodes and stumble all over myself and occasionally 744 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:48,799 Speaker 1: spill coffee on myself, entertaining things like that, but you 745 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,240 Speaker 1: can only see it if you go to twitch dot 746 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:55,360 Speaker 1: tv slash tech Stuff. I typically stream on Wednesdays and Fridays. 747 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: You can go to twitch dot tv slash tech stuff 748 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,880 Speaker 1: and you'll see the schedule there and I'll talk to 749 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: you again really soon for more on this and thousands 750 00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:21,520 Speaker 1: of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com,