There were dozens of incredible product introductions by Steve Jobs while he was CEO of Apple.
Like pulling the iPod nano out of his jeans coin pocket, or sliding the MacBook Air out
of a manila envelope.
But perhaps the most iconic product keynote he ever delivered was for the original iPhone
back in 2007.
Not only did the presentation feature an incredible narrative and setup for the iPhone’s reveal,
but it was a logistical nightmare to pull off.
And some people who worked on the introduction didn’t think it could be done successfully
at all.
So in this video we’re going to take a peak behind the curtain and investigate the drama
behind the original iPhones launch, and find out why it’s considered by many to be one
of the greatest product introductions of all time.
This is Greg with Apple Explained, and I want to thank Brilliant for sponsoring this video.
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Now if you were around to watch Steve Jobs reveal the original iPhone, you probably remember
how incredible his presentation was.
And if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend taking a look.
Jobs had an incredible amount of charisma on stage that was referred to as the reality
distortion field.
In fact, one of the top comments on the iPhone’s introduction video is, “Steve Jobs and the
power of persuasion: I'm convinced I need to buy an iPhone 2007 right now in 2019.”
So you can only imagine how excited people were about the iPhone back when it was introduced
for the first time.
But if you’re not familiar with tech product keynotes, you may have a hard time understanding
why the original iPhone’s introduction was so special.
So let’s start off by putting the entire event in perspective.
When tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, or Google want to reveal a new product, they
typically hold an event inside of an auditorium or theater, and invite the media, software
developers, and even students.
It’s a really effective way to generate excitement and hype for a new product, which
in turn gives the company a lot of free press.
Products are then revealed on stage, and usually visitors get to demo the new products after
the keynote, although this isn’t always the case.
So that’s the idea behind these product introductions, and Steve Jobs was known to
deliver the best presentations in the business.
Typically, companies don’t give live demos of new products or services on stage after
being revealed.
And there are a few reasons for this.
Live demos require a lot of extra preparation, it’s not uncommon for things to go wrong,
and the product or service may not be fully developed yet.
Which only increases the likelihood of it malfunctioning in front of the audience.
So many companies just explain how their new product works and leave out the live demo.
But Jobs did things a little differently.
He insisted on having live demos for major product introductions, and the original iPhone
was no exception.
Although, there were a few problems.
The iPhone wouldn’t go on sale for another six months, so the product was still being
developed and therefore it was riddled with bugs.
The software hadn’t been optimized for the iPhone’s hardware, which meant apps would
crash once the device ran out of memory.
Apps would also crash if tasks were done in a certain order.
If you used Safari and then the Mail app, the phone would crash.
But if you reversed those actions things would be just fine.
There was also a hardware issue, since only about one hundred iPhones even existed at
that point since the product hadn’t even entered production yet.
Wireless connectivity also posed a huge challenge for Apple.
There would be 5,000 people in the audience, many with their own wireless networks which
could interfere with the iPhone.
You also have to keep in mind that Apple needed their network to be hidden and secure to prevent
audience members from hacking into the signal.
And when it came to cellular connection, things got even more challenging since the iPhone’s
radio software was extremely buggy and crashed frequently, which means the device would lose
connection to the network and your call would drop.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Jobs wanted the demo iPhones displays to be mirrored on
the big screen, which was actually a lot harder than it may appear.
Now typically if a company wants their product to be shown on the big screen, they just set
up a live camera feed.
But that wasn’t good enough for Jobs.
He wanted the audience to feel like they were holding the phone in their hands while watching
the demo.
So you can see how much of a challenge it is to pull off a successful live demo, and
why most companies shy away from it.
But how exactly did Apple overcome all of these obstacles?
Well, to deal with the iPhones buggy software, they included multiple demo units on stage.
That way Jobs could switch between them before they crashed.
Engineers also had to painstakingly test hundreds of different demo paths to find the one that
had the smallest chance of crashing.
That’s why you see Jobs flipping through a booklet on stage, it guided him through
what was called the “golden path.”
That way he knew which apps to open when and minimize the chance of failure.
Apple also had to change the software that powered their AirPort Wireless Base Station
to allow it to run on a Japanese frequency that wasn’t permitted in the US.
This prevented audience members from locating the signal and possibly hacking it.
And when it came to keeping the iPhone connected to its cellular network, Apple actually had
Cingular, now AT&T, bring in a portable cell tower to ensure a strong reception.
But there was also an issue with the iPhone’s buggy radio software.
So in order to prevent the audience from noticing when the radio would crash and restart, Apple
hard-coded the phone to always show five bars, regardless of the actual signal strength or
radio status.
And when it came to mirroring the iPhone’s display, Apple engineers spent weeks adding
the circuit boards, video cables, and software necessary to flawlessly mirror everything
on the iPhone.
During practice runs before the big day, Jobs was only able to get through the entire presentation
smoothly a few times.
So when it came time to deliver the actual keynote, Apple’s managers and engineers
were extremely nervous.
They actually brought flasks of whisky and took a shot after each successful segment
of the demo.
And once Jobs made it through the entire presentation without a problem, the iPhone team went out
and spent the rest of the day drinking.
And it’s easy to see why what they’d accomplished was practically a miracle.
Not only was development of the iPhone a grueling process, but execution of its introduction
and live demo took things to another level.
And it’s important to point the effect it had on the entire industry.
The iPhone represented the biggest technological leap ever in the mobile phone market.
And I’m not sure if we’ll see anything like it again.
The fact that its technology is more comparable to today’s smartphones, rather than the
Blackberrys and Palm Treos of its time, is a true testament to how revolutionary the
iPhone was.
And you can imagine how other companies were feeling when the device was introduced.
Google engineer Chris DeSalvo said, “As a consumer I was blown away.
I wanted one immediately.
But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over.’”
And that’s exactly what several companies had to do after they saw the iPhone.
But there was one company in particular that wasn’t too bothered by the new smartphone:
RIM.
And if you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of them before, it’s because they
became irrelevant not long after saying this about the iPhone, “We’ll be fine, it has
rapid battery drain and a lousy digital keyboard.”
So RIM continued to make their Blackberry smartphone as usual.
With a fixed plastic keyboard, small low quality display, and clumsy control buttons.
And as you may’ve expected, sales of the Blackberry sharply declined.
RIM eventually changed their name to Blackberry Limited and began focusing on selling security
software to governments and corporations, rather than selling smartphones to consumers.
Microsoft’s CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, had a similar reaction to
the iPhone’s introduction.
[clip] And
while he liked Microsoft’s smartphone strategy, it was clear customers did not.
Eventually Microsoft discontinued their Windows Phone OS and exited the smartphone market
altogether.
So when you take a step back and look at how quickly the mobile phone industry has changed
since the iPhone’s introduction, you begin to understand that the companies who took
the device seriously, like Google, ended up at the forefront of the industry.
While those who dismissed the product, like RIM and Microsoft, were swept away by the
new wave of technology that customers ended up preferring, even if that wasn’t clear
at the start.
Because executives weren’t the only people who stuck their nose up at the original iPhone.
A huge number of people thought the iPhone was a bad idea.
Just take a look at these comments from 2007: “Apparently none of you guys realize how
bad of an idea a touch-screen is on a phone.
I foresee some pretty obvious and pretty major problems here.”
“I’ll be keeping my Samsung A707, thanks.
It’s smaller, it’s got a protected screen, and it’s got proper buttons.
And it’s got all the same features otherwise.
(Oh, but it doesn’t run a bloatware OS that was never designed for a phone.)”
“Im not impressed with the iPhone.
As a PDA user and a Windows Mobile user, this thing has nothing on my phone.
It sure is good at what it was designed for, a phone that entertains and talks… other
than that, i dont see much potential.
How the heck am I suppose to put appointments on the phone with no stylus or keyboard?!”
Now looking back today, these comments almost sound satirical.
But it’s great evidence that no matter how incredible a new product may be, change will
always upset some people.
After all, the people who made those comments hadn’t even used the iPhone yet.
And I’m willing to bet all of them own a smartphone with a touchscreen today.
So the effect of the iPhone and its introduction is immeasurable.
Its influence even spilled over into other industries and continues to shape the way
we use technology today.
Now I have a quick logic question for you, out of these four figures, which one can be
folded up to make a cube?
Take a moment to think about it and really visualize trying to fold them up.
If you figure out the answer, leave it in the comments.
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Alright guys thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.