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Apr 12, 2001
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During the introduction of the first iPhone, in a moment that got one of the biggest laughs of his career, Steve Jobs made a prank phone call. In front of thousands of Apple fans at the Macworld Expo in 2007, Jobs called a local Starbucks outlet and ordered 4,000 lattes -- to go.

He quickly hung up, telling the barista who answered "No, just kidding. Wrong number. Goodbye!" Fast Company found the barista and interviewed her about her moment of fame -- only she didn't realize who she was talking to, nor why people have continued to call that store for the past six years asking for 4,000 lattes.
With help from Starbucks, Fast Company was able to track down Zhang, a soft-spoken barista who goes by "Hannah." Sincere and sweet, Hannah has been working at the same Starbucks for more than a half-decade. "Honestly, I was shocked," she recalls. "I have never heard somebody order 4,000 lattes to go. I didn't say anything because I was shocked. But my first impression was that he was just being humorous. He sounded like a gentleman."
The incident in question occurs roughly five minutes into this clip:

Hannah and her manager didn't know the reason for the recurring prank calls until Fast Company contacted them, but she says it makes more sense now. "Before, it was like, 'Who would order thousands of lattes?'" They figured out that with each latte taking around 44 seconds to prepare, Jobs would need to wait some 48-hours before picking up his 4,000 lattes.

It isn't the only prank call that Jobs made in his lifetime however -- when Jobs was in high school, he and Steve Wozniak famously tried to call the Pope, with Wozniak pretending to be Henry Kissinger.

Article Link: Steve Jobs' 4,000-Latte Prank Order Lives On at San Francisco Starbucks
 

brooklyn360

macrumors member
Jun 24, 2010
78
52
ha! It's funny, wish they would release the video from the store camera at that moment. we could find out what she said afterwards.
 

nav92

macrumors member
Feb 25, 2013
69
64
One of the greatest Keynotes ever. Miss you Steve! This moment still makes me laugh. RIP.:apple:
 
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Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,055
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Funny enough, I was watching that clip this morning.

Remember that horrible partnership where the Starbucks icon would show up and you could download music that was playing? Man, that was ages ago.
 

jontech

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2010
447
204
Hawaii
Would be be really funny is hiding code into Starbucks Passbook that orders 4000 latte's automatically when it detects its not using Apple hardware


That would show those Samsung Engineers....
 

Hexiii

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2011
1,113
373
Prague, Czech Republic
"Before, it was like, 'Who would order thousands of lattes?'" They figured out that with each latte taking around 44 seconds to prepare, Jobs would need to wait some 48-hours before picking up his 4,000 lattes.

Seriously?
 

coltman75

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2010
117
163
Funny enough, I was watching that clip this morning.

Remember that horrible partnership where the Starbucks icon would show up and you could download music that was playing? Man, that was ages ago.

Remember when it was called the "iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store" because you could only download music over Wi-Fi? Oh, lord, those were the dark ages.
 

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
Cute story - but something doesn't add up - is it just me?

"She first found out from customers making a pilgrimage to the location, and now feels a sense of pride that the Apple cofounder chose her store. "Customers would sometimes come up to me and go, 'Did you know somebody at your store actually talked to Steve Jobs?' I feel very happy and lucky that I had a chance to actually talk to him. It means a lot to me that he picked our Starbucks," explains Hannah, wearing her green Starbucks apron. "My friends were surprised and jealous, like, 'Wow, you got a chance to talk to Steve Jobs?"

and yet the article states, "Kimiko Barbour, the store's manager, realized the reason for the recurring prank calls only after Fast Company made inquiries for this story. "

Sounds like Fast Company is taking credit for something they didn't really play a part in, no?

Are we to believe that from 2007 until 2013, the prank calls (given what I quoted before) weren't attributed?
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
Watching Steve do it during a live Keynote was funny, sure.

The fact that other people have continued to call to do the same is ... lame. You watched someone else make a prank call and you think it'd be funny to call the same store and do the exact same thing?
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,110
3,977
What they talk about here is what should be done.

Each company should concentrate all it's efforts onto what it does best.

You (Apple or anyone else) can connect to others and bring together, if you will, all the cherries into one pie.

So Why are Apple trying to do everything themselves now?
 

UnfetteredMind

macrumors 6502
Jun 6, 2012
451
77
I can't believe people actually call up to prank them in the same manner. It does prove George Carlin's statement though, "Some people are really ****** stupid."
 

SkippyThorson

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2007
1,662
917
Utica, NY
This was the day that I recognized Steve as not just a tech icon, but as an icon of our time. That was perhaps the most significant, most well done, and perhaps one of the most anticipated product launches of our time. I immediately recognized that then, and I will never forget it. Still a shame he's gone. That prank was just historical in it's own right!
 

Popeye206

macrumors 68040
Sep 6, 2007
3,148
836
NE PA USA
This video is a great reminder of how innovative all this was... I remember myself watching this keynote and being blown away by what Steve was showing.

No one was even close to what was being shown here.
 

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020
Jan 26, 2008
2,211
715
The CEO of Google does a quick speech a few minutes later. He should have just stuck a knife in Steve's back right there. What a sleezeball.
 
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