What is Digg?240 Comments
- MBX1, on 01/10/2008, -9/+151Great article.
- tbatzel, on 01/10/2008, -8/+99You don't have to like the iPhone to appreciate what it has done for cell phone. There is a bar now, time to meet or beat it.
- waynesun, on 01/10/2008, -2/+85Wow, this is a very great article. It's amazing to imagine the feats that the engineers of apple had to accomplish in order to satisfy the demands of someone like Jobs. It shows that not all "pretty products" pop out of the sky.. perfectionism played a great role in creating this industry-refreshing device. I love it. Dugg.
- FoxOrian, on 01/10/2008, -2/+79This article is more about how Apple has effectively shifted the wireless industry into offering better quality items all around and how the it tiers priorities to the consumers better. It isn't a mere iPhone glorifying writeup. For the iPhone haters, you can seriously give Apple a little credit for their accomplishments. Someone had to break the mold.
- DaMacGamer, on 01/10/2008, -2/+69From the article:
"Jobs had reason to be confident. Apple's hardware engineers had spent about a year working on touchscreen technology for a tablet PC and had convinced him that they could build a similar interface for a phone."
Wow wow, working on a tablet? did i miss something here? - Raian, on 01/10/2008, -0/+43Some blowing up of the Canadian wireless industry would be appreciated... thanks!
- rmwimpee, on 01/10/2008, -4/+46Great article. Not sure how he got all of this info or how true it it but it is a very interesting story
- IslandSaint, on 01/10/2008, -2/+40Makes me excited to see what is at this years MWSF!
- jimgreer, on 01/10/2008, -0/+26I love that an aluminum baseball bat was a crucial tool in making the iPhone.
- Karmavs, on 01/10/2008, -0/+25Bottom of page 2: "Apple's hardware engineers had spent about a year working on touchscreen technology for a tablet PC" - If this story has sources - Hello MacBook touch!
- Getiki, on 01/10/2008, -2/+25Great article. One of the few lately that I've sat down and read word for word. (rather than just a skim)
I always thought companies like Apple would have really nice calm labs, but it sounds like hell working there. Jobs sounds like a dick.
It's also really cool to think Apple's first dive into the cellular market changed the game for everyone. - GregR, on 01/10/2008, -0/+20FTA: "What's more, the Cingular team could see that the wireless business model had to change."
Wow! If only the music industry could be so enlightened! - betterth, on 01/10/2008, -0/+18That's what I was thinking. Did this interview just inadvertently leak a new product thats been in development since 2005?? Lol.
- sandbird, on 01/10/2008, -2/+19A co-worker got a Moto Q a few months ago, and was just pleased as punch with it - at first. Then a couple of iPhones and an iPod Touch popped up around the office.. He was simply awestruck at how much easier these were to use than his Q, and how much more capable they were.
Everyone wants to check out the iPhone when someone brings one around. I haven't seen the same curiosity about any other smartphones. Apple did indeed raise the bar. - Alphapsi12, on 01/10/2008, -2/+18I'm an ECE for Apple as a long term contract engineer who worked on the hardware side of the iphone. To give you an idea on how it was to work for Apple during the "development" of the iPhone, I thought every other day there was going to be a fist fight in the halls on campus. Why? you make ask, imagine yourself working 6 days a week 12-15 hours a day and week after week stuff doesn't seem to fit together because all we had were dummy software that we thought our team completed the project, but only to be told that it didn't work the next morning meeting and things need to be retooled on a freaking circuit board that we didn't know what it was going into, just that it was part of the P2 project (we had no ***** clue what the P2 project was all about.) Also imagine your boss coming up to you while working with your fellow engineers on the dummy software and screaming at the top of his lungs that you we are worthless and need meet this deadline in two days or we are out of a job, but only to have breakfast & coffee ready the next morning treating us like new borns. Rollercoaster I tell you. The P2 project I bet has shorten some folkes life projection by a couple of years. Before you utterly slam a product that hundreds of people dedicated years of their lives to, think how hard it is to engineer and conceptualize the iPhone and start from scratch and you didn't know what the end product is suppose to be. Oh and if you hate the iPhone so badly, I would LOVE to see you come up with something better that has all the features on everyone's wish list while meeting a very very VERY strict deadline, meet FCC guildelines, apply for patents, test, retest, retest, retest, and then retest another week. What do the people who put their lives into this project get out of it? The thought that we all put in time to create a product that give the manufacturers the power rather than the pipes the power.
- garbs, on 01/10/2008, -0/+16"Jobs had reason to be confident. Apple's hardware engineers had spent about a year working on touchscreen technology for a tablet PC and had convinced him that they could build a similar interface for a phone."
If this article is factual, that is pretty interesting. - ophello, on 01/10/2008, -3/+17uh...its a wired article. theres no opinion there. its pretty much a re-telling of the story.
good job. - wild, on 01/10/2008, -0/+14Wired consistently writes great in depth articles. One of the few magazines I read cover to cover. Even the stuff that doesn't concern me is fascinating.
- betterth, on 01/10/2008, -2/+15I heartily disagree.
I bought mine at $600 and would do it again. I have 1200 songs with me, that i play in the car or in the gym. The music software is easy to access, well designed and intuitive. That makes a big difference because I've had to "fight" with other phones UI's. It's nice because I never miss calls in the car anymore, I always listen to music too loud and miss my phone. When I'm bored, I play Yahtzee, Blackjack or iPhysics. No mobile internet browser comes close. Nowhere close.
It's intuitive, easy to use and has a tons of well developed third party programs.
It may have it's faults (No 3G :( ) but you'd be hard pressed to find a better phone. - betterth, on 01/10/2008, -0/+13You ***** missed the whole point of the article. RTFA. For the love of God, please read it.
Here's a synopsis: Wireless carriers treat manufactorers like *****, leveraging their network and users to force the hardware companies into doing what they want. (Releasing cheap phones whose cost is covered by a 2 year contract). Apple makes iPod. Jobs sees people with multiple devices and says "Huh, someday those are going to replace my precious iPod. I need to tap that *****"
Jobs teams with Motorola and makes ROKR. Fails epicly. Jobs has secret meetings in suites in expensive hotels with AT&T peeps and says "listen foo, heres the deal. I want to make a phone and have complete creative control, and get some money from all the bills." AT&T says "Maybe. But we want money from iTunes purchases, and 5 years exclusive." 1 year later, AT&T agrees to deal.
Fast forward, 4 months MWSF 07 (where Iphone is introduced) Working copy of phone sucks. Jobs is passive aggressive to team. They churn out new better iphone a few weeks before the due date. AT&T Wireless boss calls it the best device he's ever seen.
The whole article is basically about how Apple scored an amazing deal with AT&T that gave them unheard of control over their device. Instead of forcing users to access AT&T content (ringtones, movies, downloads etc) they used AT&T as a dumb pipe to access online content. This is new and no carrier wanted to do this. Now, carriers realize that they can make a lot of money doing this. Now that it succeeded, other carriers want amazing devices and are giving much more creative freedom to companies like LG and Motorola to make these devices. Apple did this.
Also, there are very few "new cusomters" in America. Everyone who needs a cellphone has one. The name of the game isn't "heres a free phone, sign my contract", now carriers want "heres an amazing phone but its pricey, sign a contract". Cheap phones don't steal customers from other networks. Phones like the iPhone steal customers from other networks, and thats how they get new customers now, stealing them from other networks.
Theres, thats about as short as I can make it. - kcdstudios, on 01/10/2008, -2/+14I was there at MWSF 07. It was my first time and i, like a lot of macies, was disapointed by the lack of mac news. But knowing this gives it an interesting perspective.
- tarkam, on 01/10/2008, -2/+14Remember that Linux is not just for desktops, and it is steadily crawling its way on to a lot of devices, cellphones, tablets, etc.
Google, IBM, Asus, and a lot of other companies use it, not as their desktop OS but as a robust server and developing platform. Don't underestimate it. - jmeskimen, on 01/10/2008, -1/+13Yeah the whole iPhone introduction was lame. I was expecting a supercomputer that can read my mind.
- FoxOrian, on 01/10/2008, -1/+12Wow okay, let me restate that first sentence:
"This article is more about how Apple has effectively shifted the wireless industry to offer a better business model and higher quality products to the consumers." - tarkam, on 01/10/2008, -2/+12Everything that is happening with the software and hardware industry, plus Gate's retirement & Jobs stellar rise has me wishing for "Pirates of Silicon Valley Part 2". But the story should now also include Linus Torvalds.
- flightvector, on 01/10/2008, -9/+19You can almost bet on what Steve says he won't do or calls a hobby is something Apple's working on. Same was said about video on the iphone and the Appletv sure feels similar in light to the ROKR.
- sandbird, on 01/10/2008, -0/+10These guys are always working on things that may or may not be used. Sometimes they just want to see if they can actually engineer a specific capability (i.e. "Could we build product X if we wanted to?") Other times they're developing a product that management has already decided to sell (i.e. "We need to create a cell phone, so get cracking.") And sometimes the engineers are just trying to see what kind of crazy stuff they can come up with. (I imagine there are some wild products that get tested out on Apple's campus...) So while a tablet Mac would be awesome, I wouldn't read much into this. But, it is often the oddball stuff that the engineers play around with that end up sparking great products.
- jazzboyrules, on 01/10/2008, -0/+10Single page lovers: http://www.wired.com/print/gadgets/wireless/magazi ...
- luchid, on 01/10/2008, -2/+12You're complaining about the iPhone because it's locked to a carrier. Guess what? You're in a minority, cause most people buy their phones locked (they're cheaper).
Why we are happy? Other cellphone manufacturers are realizing that they won't be able to keep selling us under-featured, cheap plasticky phones, and are scrambling to get better looking and more functional ones out the door. As it's been said, the bar has been set higher now, and it's good for us the consumers. - ophello, on 01/10/2008, -1/+11why the ***** do you need one when theres the usb dock?
you represent...2% of users who actually care about such a feature. - ophello, on 01/10/2008, -3/+13anything else in the universe > this thread
- DavX, on 01/10/2008, -6/+15Except it doesn't. Linux is still nothing, even though that's not what most diggers would have you thinking.
- thesledman, on 01/10/2008, -1/+10"especially when it really is just a phone with storage, a bigger screen, and touch capabilities"
indeed. well, lets not forget a real web browser, real email, wifi connectivity, direct you-tube access, best iPod ever, iTunes store access, all in an attractive easy to use package the the average non smart phone user can actually use. Pretty run of the mill phone .. yawn. - betterth, on 01/10/2008, -0/+9I'm not using any other phone until they have what the iPhone has:
Intelligently designed UI. Visual voicemail. Usable desktop-class webbrowser. Sophisticated touch technology. Strong collection of useful third party programs including a NES emulator, SCUMM emulator, GBA emulator and PSX emulator. Capability to hold ~1500 songs and access a world-class music store wirelessly to purchase and download music. History of quick bugfixes and free introduction of new features.
To each their own, I suppose. - directive0, on 01/10/2008, -0/+9And this goes not just for Apple, but any other companies out there that want to help.
PLEASE NUKE OUR WIRELESS INDUSTRY AND REBUILD. K thx. - Henaege, on 01/10/2008, -0/+8That's because you're used to cricket. I'm guessing you're from England or Australia (aluminium vs. aluminum). For the most part baseball players don't use wooden bats until they get into the Majors. I can't see a game like cricket which is steeped in such tradition using aluminum, so I can understand the confusion. Now the presence of an aluminum bat in the office I can't explain, that is kind of weird.
- ophello, on 01/10/2008, -1/+9oh boo, is baby tired?
- chkdg8, on 01/10/2008, -1/+9I would love to see what Purple 1 looked like. Maybe several years from now we'll have the chance to see those early prototypes. What a great read. I'm more than sure that there was more to the story than what was written. Those boys over at Apple are so secretive that they can easily go into the intelligence business. Btw, anyone who thinks that the NSA doesn't see or approve any and all electronic devices, specially wireless ones, is truly kidding themselves. Either way, this device has barely scratched the service on the revolutionary scale. Wait until the constant beefy firmware updates and further generation iPhones. Forget about manufacturers and carriers releasing copycat units like verizon's voyager, just don't be surprised if you see companies pulling out entirely from the wireless industry. Exciting times!
- kmfischer, on 01/10/2008, -1/+8Awesome Article!
- drlha, on 01/10/2008, -0/+7Indeed, a quick check around my house finds two "devices" running Linux: a Linksys wireless box and a TiVo HD, I'm sure if I dig deeper I could find some more.
- Janv1er, on 01/10/2008, -1/+8Immaturity FTW...
- yazheirx, on 01/10/2008, -4/+10Agreed, for something that cost almost as much as an iPhone and is 10 times the volume (or more) you would think that it would be able to do the things that an iPhone could do (besides the cellphone part). One can not browse the internet. There is no wireless keyboard option. Additionally there is very little high definition content. The Apple TV is a start but I hope they come out with a truly improved version soon.
- tempusrob, on 01/10/2008, -1/+7"especially when it really is just a phone with storage, a bigger screen, and touch capabilities."
Right, and a car is just a carriage with a combustion engine. WTF? - badtz, on 01/10/2008, -0/+6but can Windows Mobile do it w/o ugliness?
- chaosium, on 01/10/2008, -0/+6"I wish it didn't have visual voicemail "
Are you retarded? That is one of the best features ever (I've always hated checking voicemail.) - TheYoshi, on 01/10/2008, -0/+6eh, why don't you like visual voicemail, I don't get what the problem with it is? You can always still call your voicemail number
- cruzlee, on 01/10/2008, -0/+6*sound of running feet, far away*
- betterth, on 01/10/2008, -0/+6Sprint joined the Open Handset Alliance and will support Android and is much more willing to give creative control to manufacturers to get well designed handsets that will steal customers from other networks. This is exactly what the article says the iPhone changed. RTFA.
Sprint lost a lot of customers to the iPhone (in the hundreds of thousands) and that stings for any carrier. They're much less willing to make that mistake again. - ophello, on 01/10/2008, -1/+7and you can thank him for making a product that actually will change the market.
- johnpaul191, on 01/10/2008, -0/+5In an interview over a year ago Jobs has said that Apple doesn't see the tablet as a viable platform right now. There is no question about Apple's ability to make a tablet (like most any other computer maker), it's just making one that people will use. You figure Apple has engineers that make crazy *****, and somebody else has to figure out if it's commercially viable based on market conditions and what it would cost. Who knows what dead end projects are in the R+D labs.
Tablet development was up on the radar a few years ago when Apple included Inkwell handwriting recognition in every copy of OS X (maybe around the 10.2 era? it's not there now i guess). How many people actually own graphics tablets? It could also be a sign they scrapped the tablet (at least for the time being) and decided to release Inkwell since they spent so much work on it. I used to use it just for kicks until i lost my tablet's pen. It works pretty well though, and i have wretched handwriting. -
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