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[Spyxos]

Jobs, known for pushing boundaries, orchestrated a presentation that was more of an artful illusion than a demonstration of a fully functional product. To ensure the success of his ambitious plan, Apple’s development team devised a “golden path” — a carefully scripted sequence of actions designed to minimize the risk of malfunctions during the demonstration. Jobs also requested that the iPhones be configured to always display full signal strength, regardless of the actual signal quality.

Another major hurdle was the iPhone’s limited memory capacity of 128 megabytes, inadequate for unfinished, resource-heavy applications. To circumvent this, Jobs used multiple iPhones on stage, switching them out as needed to manage memory constraints.

Jobs dedicated five days to rehearse the presentation, a testament to the gravity of the event for Apple. On the day of the presentation, despite the high risk of technical failures, Jobs completed the 90-minute demonstration without any noticeable issues, a feat considered nearly miraculous by those aware of the backstage challenges.

The iPhone’s development was shrouded in secrecy. Apple’s culture of discretion was evident as engineers signed multiple nondisclosure agreements, disappearing into highly secure areas to work on what was internally seen as a moon-shot project. This intense environment led to a high-stress situation where engineers and managers were reportedly consuming alcohol and got drunk during the presentation to ease their nerves, fully aware of the device’s fragility and being "riddled with bugs."


I don't know if it was already known, but I found it interesting.

Steve Jobs Rigged The First iPhone Demo By Faking Full Signal Strength And Secretly Swapping Devices Because Of Fragile Prototypes And Bug-Riddled Software — The Engineers Were So Nervous They Got Drunk During Presentation To Calm Their Nerves

The late Steve Jobs, renowned for his innovative vision at Apple Inc., faced a unique challenge in 2007 with the first iPhone presentation. The device was a groundbreaking concept, but it wasn't ready for a public debut. Jobs, known for pushing boundaries, orchestrated a presentation that was...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Kilau]

Yes this is widely known, weird they drop this article like it's something new.

 

[RJMacready73]

Yes this is widely known, weird they drop this article like it's something new.

New to me, didn't know half the issues around it tbf

 

[Kilau]

New to me, didn't know half the issues around it tbf

I'm not attacking OP or downplaying the story, just responding to their question if it was already known.

 

[Chittagong]

It was an incredible keynote, may be never topped. It’s hard to remember how out of nowhere that device came despite all the rumours, and how much beyond anything we had seen it was.

Just scrolling the list with the bounce on your finger was revolutionary. Or easily doing call actions. Or double tapping to zoom into a column. Having cover flow and music with big cover art. Syncing and watching legally TV show episodes in good quality on your phone. Having the screen auto rotate. Having a map what you can swipe around and initiate calls from. Zooming into pictures with ease. Swiping between pictures and easily creating a wallpaper.

Android back then was a sad, utterly joyless looking soft key / hard key combo interface. Other phones had shitty styluses where you would pin an impossibly narrow bar to scroll.

 

[gothmog]

Everyone smart golden paths their demonstrations. I video my customer demos in case the live demo has issues. Saves you embarrassment and makes you look good when you can pivot quickly when there are issues.

 

[T-0800]

 

[dave_d]

Everyone smart golden paths their demonstrations. I video my customer demos in case the live demo has issues. Saves you embarrassment and makes you look good when you can pivot quickly when there are issues.

Unfortunately not every boss is smart enough to realize that. (Or to listen to their engineers.)

 

[DaleinCalgary]

and they pulled it off and changed the world

 

[Kamina]

You mean companies like, lie to us?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This story is famous and well known for decades, but whatever gets clicks I guess

If you watch the actual keynote today, you can see Jobs picking from a row of phones on stage one after the other. Amazing that he pulled it off without anyone realizing what was happening

 

[Revolutionary]

 

[Days like these...]

It was an incredible keynote, may be never topped. It’s hard to remember how out of nowhere that device came despite all the rumours, and how much beyond anything we had seen it was.

Just scrolling the list with the bounce on your finger was revolutionary. Or easily doing call actions. Or double tapping to zoom into a column. Having cover flow and music with big cover art. Syncing and watching legally TV show episodes in good quality on your phone. Having the screen auto rotate. Having a map what you can swipe around and initiate calls from. Zooming into pictures with ease. Swiping between pictures and easily creating a wallpaper.

Android back then was a sad, utterly joyless looking soft key / hard key combo interface. Other phones had shitty styluses where you would pin an impossibly narrow bar to scroll.

In 2009 the palm pre leapfrogged the iPhone in terms of innovation. It had wireless charging and webos which introduced swiping gestures and cards which iOS and android went on to copy.

 

[Tams]

Palm and Nokia have been done dirty by historical revisionists.

Nokia probably deserve some of it, especially their board at the time, but they did so much that the iPhone did years before.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

By the time Palm got around to making WebOS, they were already irrelevant. You can't just have something cool, you have to have something cool but not years too late to make an impact. Also Palm fucked up by going Sprint exclusive with the Palm Pre, that is the equivalent of going Xbox exclusive today.

Nokia is a classic example of the early leader never being able to adapt to a disruptive event. Blackberry had the same problem. Nokia deserve it for letting themselves get bamboozled and then bought out by Microsoft. Everyone knows the saying "Microsoft is a vampire" but Nokia literally thought they wouldn't get sucked dry and then thrown away afterwards like everyone else who interacts with MS. RIP in pieces Nokia.

 

[EverydayBeast]

1 Steve Jobs hater is having a party, he had his quirks but I still prefer Apple iPhone to anything android has.

 

[DeepEnigma]

All that matter is what was delivered into the hands of the consumer.

 

[newtypepilot]

COURAGE

 

[Days like these...]

By the time Palm got around to making WebOS, they were already irrelevant. You can't just have something cool, you have to have something cool but not years too late to make an impact. Also Palm fucked up by going Sprint exclusive with the Palm Pre, that is the equivalent of going Xbox exclusive today.

Yeah if they wouldn't have been exclusive to Sprint they might have had a chance. I bought a Pre the day it was launched I had a coworker with an iPhone and he was honestly truly impressed by Webos this was before they all drank the Kool aid and blue bubbles or green bubbles or whatever.

 

[PSYGN]

I feel like there are only few companies that can golden path their products with the end product being as good if not better and one of them is Apple.

 

[diffusionx]

I remember reading about this a long time ago, like when Jobs died. Worth noting that when the iPhone came out, it worked as advertised.

In 2009 the palm pre leapfrogged the iPhone in terms of innovation. It had wireless charging and webos which introduced swiping gestures and cards which iOS and android went on to copy.

I had a Palm Pre Plus, the interface was great and webOS was very clever but it was very slow. The iPhone was a far more usable machine even back then. But nerds were obsessed with not liking iPhone back then.

 

[ADiTAR]

Makes sense. Also 5 days rehearsal isn't that unheard of.

 

[Thaedolus]

Pretty sure he was on record admitting the whole thing was held together by duct tape and there was a risk of it going terribly wrong.

 

[MayauMiao]

Apple is not the only one doing this.

 

[Days like these...]

I remember reading about this a long time ago, like when Jobs died. Worth noting that when the iPhone came out, it worked as advertised.


I had a Palm Pre Plus, the interface was great and webOS was very clever but it was very slow. The iPhone was a far more usable machine even back then. But nerds were obsessed with not liking iPhone back then.

I disagree it wasn't slow at all and Kool aid drinkers have always thought the iPhone is the 2nd coming of Jesus.

 

[Chittagong]

Palm and Nokia have been done dirty by historical revisionists.

Nokia probably deserve some of it, especially their board at the time, but they did so much that the iPhone did years before.

Palm and Nokia N9 are brothers from another mother. Both UIs were lead by Peter Skillman. Both had excellent innovations, like the pattern of swiping the app away to home screen or multitasker, which is the default pattern today in both iPhone and Android. Much of the Nokia N9 UI team were ex-Metro designers from Microsoft, it’s all connected. And the influence of Metro in the modern iOS typography is clear, like the huge H1 headers in apps.

But even so, both innovated on the shoulders of iPhone UI patterns, and would not have happened without iPhone.

 

[Thaedolus]

I disagree it wasn't slow at all and Kool aid drinkers have always thought the iPhone is the 2nd coming of Jesus.

Every phone that wasn’t an iPhone felt slow and clunky in comparison 10 years ago. I can’t comment on what the competition is like now because once I jumped ship with a 5S, I never looked back.

 

[ClanOfNone]

My first smartphone was a Samsung Galaxy 3. I was pretty happy with it, and continued with that brand, upgrading every two or three years.

Last week I finally switched over to an iPhone 15 at the behest of my family. Apparently being the lone android user in our group chats was fucking shit up somehow.

I haven’t used any iOS product in quite a while, just an old iPad I had kept around for the kids. I kind of miss my Samsung tbh, but at least all the kids up at work think I’m cool. I do have Slay the Spire and Monster Train in my pocket now and that is a MASSIVE bonus I will say.

 

[Days like these...]

Every phone that wasn’t an iPhone felt slow and clunky in comparison 10 years ago.

That may have been be true of Android in 2013 but in 2009 the pre was not "slow and clunky" Swipe up gestures didn't start playing a big role in iPhones until IOS 7 in 2013. Webos had them along with the card system for apps and wireless charging 4 years earlier but tell me more about how Webos was clunky compared to iOS.

 

[Thaedolus]

That may have been be true of Android in 2013 but in 2009 the pre was not "slow and clunky" Swipe up gestures didn't start playing a big role in iPhones until IOS 7 in 2013. Webos had them along with the card system for apps and wireless charging 4 years earlier but tell me more about how Webos was clunky compared to iOS.

My recollection of my Palm/Android phones at the time was scrolling and opening apps was always slow, clunky, choppy frames, etc. iOS always seemed to instantly respond and do what you wanted it to do immediately. I stuck on the Android wagon and installed the nightly builds and shit and then realized…this is dumb. Clearly my then fiancé’s experience was better. So I got an iPhone and have never regretted the switch

 

[Trunx81]

The history of the iPhone development is fascinating, and the reveal is still the best presentation ever held. I watch it every time before I have a presentation myself to get pumped-up. So much to learn from it, in terms of storytelling, mannerisms, body language and speech.

 

[AJUMP23]

when you are showing off something new you want it to go extremely smooth. So you fake it where you can. Look at what happened when Miyamoto did not fake the Zelda Skyward Sword demo. There was too much IR interference.

 

[dottme]

I have done some new software live demo myself, and I can tell you each click is calculated.
I won’t be clicking on anything I didn’t plan and I won’t change or repeat my demo.

 

[diffusionx]

My recollection of my Palm/Android phones at the time was scrolling and opening apps was always slow, clunky, choppy frames, etc. iOS always seemed to instantly respond and do what you wanted it to do immediately. I stuck on the Android wagon and installed the nightly builds and shit and then realized…this is dumb. Clearly my then fiancé’s experience was better. So I got an iPhone and have never regretted the switch

At the time you either got a smooth phone experience that was generally lacking in power features (iPhone) or one with those features at the cost of battery life and consistent performance (everything else). Two or three major Android revisions were dedicated to performance and battery life, and of course iPhone added those features and frameworks over the years, but vestiges of the old design decisions still remain in both.

I don't want to re-litigate a failed phone fro m15 years ago that absolutely nobody is using today and is just going on memory, but Palm Pre reviews did cite some problems with performance. Of course individuals' experiences can vary.

 

[Thaedolus]

At the time you either got a smooth phone experience that was generally lacking in power features (iPhone) or one with those features at the cost of battery life and consistent performance (everything else).

Right- and I eventually got to the “I’m too old for this shit” point when it came to my phone.

I still custom build my own PC and have a Steam Deck and all that, but when it comes to shitposting here with bad autocorrects I need to fix later, Steve figured it out. We have one Android device for the kids now and every time I have to deal with it I’m like wtf let’s get another iPad

 

[Tams]

Palm and Nokia N9 are brothers from another mother. Both UIs were lead by Peter Skillman. Both had excellent innovations, like the pattern of swiping the app away to home screen or multitasker, which is the default pattern today in both iPhone and Android. Much of the Nokia N9 UI team were ex-Metro designers from Microsoft, it’s all connected. And the influence of Metro in the modern iOS typography is clear, like the huge H1 headers in apps.

But even so, both innovated on the shoulders of iPhone UI patterns, and would not have happened without iPhone.

Just ignore the innovations of Symbian and Maemo why don't you.

 

[22:22:22]

Shocked I tell you. Shocked.

What else could've been a farce I wonder.

Perhaps... Ehh nvm

 

[Sushi_Combo]

We knew this..

 

[ReBurn]

Negative input lag

 

[Drew1440]

Kind of similar to how he showcased the original Macintosh in 1984, apparently the model he demoed didn't have enough RAM to run the text to voice thing in real-time.

From what I remember of the iPhone, many considered its specs to be subpar with its 2G only support (3G was the norm for smartphones) and 2 Megapixel camera(The Sony Ericsson K800 had 3.2 in 2006, and Samsung had the G600 that had 5 Megapixels. Its user interface and capacitive touch were the main innovations, and giving the finger to carrier custom firmware.

 

[KrakenIPA]

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

You have to envision success before it can be manifested.

 

[HoodWinked]

Anyone with half a brain knows there are some things that are being simulated.

I remember in class when I would have to present any projects I would reherse every action and avoided improvising on aspects that were incomplete or error.

 

[Days like these...]

tommib you have a comment? Don't be scared this is a discussion forum.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Snake oil gonna snake oil

 

[Hudo]

This was and still is standard practice for every demo in a presentation. Shit is always faked.

Dunno why that's news.

 

[DR3AM]

Reminds me of the Xbox 360 dev kit at E3

 

[Raven117]

Oh man, iPhone will never make it now

 

[chromhound]

Not new