But as the world was being swept away by the sheer awesomeness of the technologically advanced device, tensions backstage were through the roof.
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| Andy Grignon |
The demo that blew the world away was, in reality, very limited in its capabilities. For example, it could play parts of a video, but the screen would go black if the video was played for too long. It could switch from Safari to iTunes but might freeze if the switch was reversed.
In order to avoid such an incident from occurring, preventative measures were taken. After hours of meticulous trial and error, Apple's engineers eventually devised a "golden path" that Jobs had to take to avoid the phone crashing. The golden path consisted of specific instructions on when to use a certain feature, how long to use the feature for, and even what to do in that application. If he failed to do so, there was a high chance the demo would crash.
In addition to Jobs having to follow a strict set of instructions, there was yet another precaution in place to ensure that the demo went smoothly. Throughout the presentation, Jobs would discreetly switch to new, unused iPhones. For example, if he was going to demonstrate the web browsing feature of the phone, he would reach underneath the lectern, put down the old phone, and pick up the phone next to it meant to specifically demonstrate the phone's internet capabilities. Then, when he wanted to move onto the next feature, he would repeat the process.
Even after all the precautions were taken, Jobs still had difficulty achieving a successful practice run. In fact, through the over 100 rehearsals, Jobs was unable to get make it through even once without something going wrong. It was for this reason that the iPhone team brought a bottle of alcohol to the presentation to calm their nerves. Whenever Jobs demonstrated a feature that someone worked on, that person would take a shot. So when Jobs finished the entire live presentation - complete with a grand finale where he ran all the apps simultaneously before sending a live phone call to a local Starbucks - without a hitch, the entire team, although wasted, felt on top of the world.
Half a year later, the iPhone launched around the world and changed technology forever, selling millions of units in mere months. But without the crucial reveal of the product with the slimmest chance of success, society as we know it would be a much different place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVO45BZbt2s
https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/04/behind-the-scenes-details-reveal-steve-jobs-first-iphone-announcement
https://gizmodo.com/the-iphones-first-demo-was-buggy-as-hell-1441324523
Wow! Very interesting post! Smart phones have have become such an important part of modern life, it's hard to imagine a world without them. I find it really funny that Steve Jobs couldn't even get through a practice run without the iPhone crashing. Our phones have certainly come a long way since then. After the reveal of the iPhone, critics said that "Apple was entering a bear bit where profit margins were low and tastes changed quickly." Ten years later, it's easy to see that the critics were clearly wrong. Today, many people's lives revolve around smart phones.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/01/09/world-reacted-first-iphone-10-years-ago/
DeleteCharles- Cool post! Thanks for highlighting the history behind the integration of the iphone in daily life. I had no idea that upon the day of the initial launch, tensions were running high and there was actually a chance that the iphone would not become a smash success. Looking back several years earlier from that release, it is also interesting to note that Steve Jobs was moved out of his job at Apple because he was spending huge amounts of money on projects that never reached the market. This genius- who many associate with the creation of Silicon Valley- may not have even been a household name if he were not brought back on the team. It is so cool to see how technological companies and CEOs evolved with the times. Speaking of technological evolution, I was reading an article about "things Steve Jobs Would Hate About Apple Now". This includes the mega Iphone 6+ screen (Jobs believed the perfect iPhone length was 3.5 inches), and the fact that apple buys much of its "innovation instead of building it". On a certain note, it would be interesting to see how Apple would be different if Steve Jobs were still alive, but the evolution of the company happening so rapidly during our lifetimes is a special thing to be able to witness.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cultofmac.com/307629/7-things-steve-jobs-hated-apple-today/