Why is the time 10:15 on the Clock app? Why is the temperature 73º?

[Pink∆Floyd]

Always wanted to know this...

Anybody knows why or have an idea as to why those number specifically?

[saving107]

My guess has always been that this was probably the time that the app was developed or when the iPhone was functioning for the first time.

73º is probably the wether of that day

Same goes for the Stock app, it originally showed July Aug and Sept. The story goes that Cingular/AT&T didn't see a working unit until December and the iPhone was not shown to the public until January 2007, so I am guessing that sometime between July and Sept 2006 is when they were starting to put the Hardware and the Software together (the rumored story is that the Hardware team and the Software team were separated and kept in the dark about what the other team was doing).

[Dandrews524]

i have often wondered that myself. perhaps its some kind of inside joke with the apple programmers

[Surely]

Analog clocks are usually displayed set at 10:10 so that the hands are spread out. It's more aesthetically pleasing that way.

Apple probably wanted to be a bit different, so they went with 10:15.

[Zepaw]

"Room Temperature" tends to be 73º give or take a few.

[jav6454]

The 9:41 AM on the iPhone (not the clock app) is because of the time when Steve Jobs actually announced the iPhone. The Clock app time might be when Steve Jobs demonstrated the actual clock app to the audience.

The temperature on the Weather app is the temperature of that day.

[Mac'nCheese]

How come the icon for the calendar app can have the correct date but the clock and the weather apps have to one set time/temp?

[nitemare]

Originally Posted by Mac'nCheese

How come the icon for the calendar app can have the correct date but the clock and the weather apps have to one set time/temp?

on the first iPhone the calendar app used to show, i believe it was July 9 and never change.

[saving107]

Originally Posted by nitemare

on the first iPhone the calendar app used to show, i believe it was July 9 and never change.

It used to show Tuesday the 9th, the day the iPhone was introduced at MacWorld (Tuesday January 9, 2007), and the Calendar has always changed on the phone, but to promotional images always showed Tuesday the 9th.

Now promotional images for the iPhone 4 show Monday, June 7th, the day it was introduced at WWDC 2010.

[ct2k7]

Just noticed that the UK icon set uses 23 instead of 73.

[kdarling]

Originally Posted by Mac'nCheese

How come the icon for the calendar app can have the correct date but the clock and the weather apps have to one set time/temp?

The time would update every minute.

The weather would be updated every hour or three, or whenever you traveled to a different town.

Apple doesn't want us wasting battery on such things. Never mind that the time is already being updated on the status bar, or that background notifications use up more battery than the weather would.

OTOH, the date only changes once every 24 hours, so that's "okay".

[AIP5]

Yeah I'm gonna go with what someone else said on the thread:
10:15 AM is so the hands on the clock are spread apart and thus aesthetically pleasing. (I think 10:10 AM is supposed to be more aesthetically pleasing since it's symmetrical).

As for the temperature, 73 degrees is the average high temperature in Cupertino, CA for the entire year. (85 degrees is the average high in July and 60 degrees is the average high in January, which averages out to about 73 degrees). Source = TWC.


Personally, they should make those icons dynamic like the Calendar app. At least the weather app. If they allowed the developers to do that, it would be freaking amazing too. I'd love to see one of the App Store Stocks apps having 2 tickers of your choice being updated periodically on the home screen itself.

[Biolizard]

Originally Posted by ct2k7

Just noticed that the UK icon set uses 23 instead of 73.

Good old Celsius. Much more sturdy than marking 100 points between the difference of a dodgy brine solution and someone's body temperature at a given time :P

Originally Posted by AIP5

Personally, they should make those icons dynamic like the Calendar app. At least the weather app. If they allowed the developers to do that, it would be freaking amazing too. I'd love to see one of the App Store Stocks apps having 2 tickers of your choice being updated periodically on the home screen itself.

Definitely need to make the weather app icon dynamic. Not sure I'd want it opened up to developers though; I can see the feature being abused. Apple would say that icons should be consistent to enforce the user experience, and it's very subjective to say whether all instances of an icon are consistent or not (though I suppose you can establish certain guidelines, such as not changing the background colour, only changing certain data etc.)

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Originally Posted by kdarling

The time would update every minute.

The weather would be updated every hour or three, or whenever you traveled to a different town.

Apple doesn't want us wasting battery on such things. Never mind that the time is already being updated on the status bar, or that background notifications use up more battery than the weather would.

OTOH, the date only changes once every 24 hours, so that's "okay".

I once had a Jailbreak tweak that makes the clock icon live. Even the second hand moved. Don't think it used any data connection. The same with the weather icon which seemed to only update when the weather app was opened. Didn't see any noticeable drain in battery life.

The clock icon I can understand, who's really gonna try to use it to tell time. It's too small and especially in a folder. But a live weather icon by default would be nice.

[kdarling]

Originally Posted by jav6454

The 9:41 AM on the iPhone (not the clock app) is because of the time when Steve Jobs actually announced the iPhone. The Clock app time might be when Steve Jobs demonstrated the actual clock app to the audience.

Yep, that is reportedly what Apple VP Scott Forstall said when asked about it:

“We design the keynotes so that the big reveal of the product happens around 40 minutes into the presentation. When the big image of the product appears on screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience’s watches. But we know we won’t hit 40 minutes exactly.”

“So you add a couple of minutes.”

“Yeah! And for the iPhone, we made it 42 minutes. It turned out we were pretty accurate with that estimate, so for the iPad, we made it 41 minutes. And there you are – the secret of the magic time.”

Whether that's true or if he was just pulling the guy's leg, we don't know.

Personally, I wonder if it was related to the Hitchhiker's Guide's Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Of course, that's the strange fact that 6 x 9 really equals 42

(If you've never tried it, enter "the answer to life the universe and everything" without quotes into Google's search box and see what you get.)

[Nicolas4ever]

i was always wondering the same thing.I suppose is the time,stocks temperature when they announced or finished the first iPhone

[marc11]

Because it had to be SOMETHING????

[Sedrick]

I took the OP's question as rhetorical: As in why isn't it updating real-time? I'm sure iOS5 will bring this as well as many other modern touches to the OS.

[landlouper]

I think they used 10:15 to reference and honor the release date of the Macintosh Classic (October 15, 1990).
That release was a first in many ways for apple.
Check out the wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Classic

[Stealthipad]

Originally Posted by Mac'nCheese

How come the icon for the calendar app can have the correct date but the clock and the weather apps have to one set time/temp?

ICONS come in different flavors. Teh calendar ICON is active and shows the corrent date. The Temp and Clock ICONS are just pictures.

[daviddth]

Originally Posted by Zepaw

"Room Temperature" tends to be 73º give or take a few.

Not here it dont. 23º is closer to comfy...

[Mac'nCheese]

Originally Posted by Stealthipad

ICONS come in different flavors. Teh calendar ICON is active and shows the corrent date. The Temp and Clock ICONS are just pictures.

Right, I was just wondering why they didn't change the icons to be active. Seems like a simple, no-brainer thing to do.

[wrkn4livn]

It's when Steve Jobs died

[mattopotamus]

Originally Posted by Surely

Analog clocks are usually displayed set at 10:10 so that the hands are spread out. It's more aesthetically pleasing that way.

Apple probably wanted to be a bit different, so they went with 10:15.

actually that is b.c the company logo usually goes in that spot and 10:10 makes it fit perfectly into that window

[STiNG Operation]

There should also be a question as to why it can't be a standard "Live Clock" that shows what time it is right now.