Why Steve Jobs suddenly changed the iPhone screen before release

During an interview with the Wall Street Journal à Apple Park, Tim Cook reviewed documents and historical objects, admitting that some of these elements had remained unknown to him until the preparation of this anniversary. In particular, we learn a little more about behind the scenes of the launch of the first iPhone.

The iPhone prototype: “a cutting board”

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of this retrospective is the early prototype of the iPhone, which Tim Cook himself describes as resembling a “cutting board.” This giant circuit board served as a proof of concept to demonstrate that the touch interface and basic functionality could work before seeking to miniaturize them. The objective was then to create a device with an intuitive touchscreen interface. Cook also confides that he did not imagine, at the time of development, that the company would sell billions of units.

Initially, the prototypes used by employees, including Tim Cook himself, were scratched by contact with coins or car keys in their pockets. A problem that pushed Steve Jobs to make a radical decision: to replace the material previously used for the screen with glass. Cook describes this change as a “mission vers la lune »because it had to be produced in record time between January and June 2007, just before the official launch of the iPhone.

The iPod revolution and the Apple Watch prototype

Tim Cook also returns to the iPod, launched in 2001. He remembers the promise of being able to transport “a thousand songs in his pocket“, which was enormous compared to CD players of the time. Tim Cook also talks about a subject that he knows perfectly: the supply chain. For the iPod, the latter had to meet a huge demand of 14 or 15 million units just a few months after the launch.

We also discover a prototype of Apple Watch, which had to be powered directly by an iPhone to work. Tim Cook underlines the fact that he had not anticipated the uses around health and sport which are today the main arguments for Apple Watches, and connected watches in general. Like the iPod or the iPhone, the watch was not an instant success, but ended up finding a place among fans of the Apple brand.

Asked what Apple’s next major product might look like, Tim Cook said it would sit at the intersection of hardware, software and services, while remaining evasive on the possibility of smart glasses. Apple’s CEO will surely be the last to give clues about the brand’s future products, recalling with the media training of which he has become a master “that we cannot have a boat that takes on water from the top ”.

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