Former Apple Executives Recall Designing Touchscreen Interface of Original iPhone

[mrhick01]

They basically copied all previous work of multi-touch, here's a TedX talk showcasing multi-touch year PRIOR to the iPhone launch and the guy even says out loud ITS NOT NEW;

And for some reason, Apple seems to get all the credit?

They do because they put that tech into a usable product.

Moreover, the leadership and many, many engineers refined the interface to feel more intuitive.

 

[HaywireTX]

People still don't understand. Making Forstall take responsibility was Tim Cook's political maneuvre to kill Forstall. If he didn't take responsbility, Tim Cook had an upper hand. If he did take responsibility, it weakens Forstalls position as a person who is unable to deliver, again weakening Forstall.

Pretty smart way to do things.

I always thought the maps deal was blown way out of proportion. They always worked fine for me. Today's Apple maps is my favorite for navigation.

 

[KENESS]

They basically copied all previous work of multi-touch, here's a TedX talk showcasing multi-touch year PRIOR to the iPhone launch and the guy even says out loud ITS NOT NEW;

And for some reason, Apple seems to get all the credit?

"Real artists ship." ... Steve Jobs

 

[navier]

Not if he couldn't keep Forstall under control. Steve Jobs could. Once he was gone Forstall apparently annoyed the rest of the core team to no end. Maybe he'd be OK if he came back now. But he didn't take responsibility for the Maps fiasco.

It is obvious the maps-app was rushed, not ready and used as an excuse to fire him.

With Jobs, features have been postponed in order to have solid functionality (i.e. Copy-Paste, App-Store)... Tim didn't waited for Maps to be ready... all the Maps-Affair was from the beginning very weird.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

The firing of Scott Forstall really reveals the cluelessness of Tim Cook. Unlike Cook, Forstall had vision. Cook is a typical suit. He's an MBA who does an excellent job at pleasing shareholders, but a major letdown for customers who care about cutting edge innovation.

Funny how people were saying the exact opposite back in 2012, and much more vocally. Guess the nostalgia filter must be pretty strong.

 

[navier]

Remember, it was Steve Jobs who hired Tim Cook back in the late 90s and it was Steve Jobs who recommended Tim Cook as CEO to the Board of Directors so Cook must have done something right.

Jobs also recommended Sculley. Picking CEOs may not have been one of his strong points...
[doublepost=1498451634][/doublepost]

Shareholders probably don't agree with you.
Tim's genius is it helped globalized Apple.
Also, did you not see the recent WWDC? Or what about the latest rumors of iPhone 8/X? I think Apple is reviving.

His political beliefs and his vocalness is probably due to the current administration.

You know what? Most people don't give a --- about Shareholders. Most of us like Apple because of its Products.
[doublepost=1498451833][/doublepost]

Why would that make a difference from where the iPhone started ten years ago? Steve Jobs was part of the iPhone development and even if he was still here, would that make the iPhone any less successful today?

Jobs was a legend, but the iPhone wasn't what made him a legend, it was because he was a visionary and a technological genius.

You missed the point... Sunny1990 meant how would be the iPhone today if Jobs were working on it (hint: waaaaay better)

 

[TwoBytes]

It is obvious the maps-app was rushed, not ready and used as an excuse to fire him.

Maps is still not ready and there is not much firing going on. Realistically, competing with googles groundwork will take years. It was a setup. Maps could never be ready

 

[navier]

Maps is still not ready and there is not much firing going on. Realistically, competing with googles groundwork will take years. It was a setup. Maps could never be ready

Absolutelly, and Tim knew that.

 

[KENESS]

You know what? Most people don't give a --- about Shareholders. Most of us like Apple because of its Products.

The two can't help but be linked for a consumer business like Apple's. They may drift apart now and again, but they snap back. There may be a time-delay, but they move in tandem. If the product line legitimately turns south (i.e., not just in the opinion of esteemed forum posters) and starts affecting the business, you can bet the shareholders wouldn't be happy. And if the shareholders are happy, that means business is good. And if business is good, overall, customers must be happy.

 

[navier]

Employees aren't robots. You can't FORCE them to behave a certain way. And you can't say Tim didn't try different things to reign Forstall in, because you don't know. And you can't say that Forstall didn't "get worse" once Steve was gone, because again, you don't know. In the end, as I understand it, whatever positives Forestall brought, it didn't outweigh the negatives. So, so long. Tim took care of it.

Second guessing the people who were ACTUALLY there and ACTUALLY involved and ACTUALLY knew all the details is pretty ridiculous.

Wait... you are doing exactly that (highlighted by me)

 

[Karma*Police]

They basically copied all previous work of multi-touch, here's a TedX talk showcasing multi-touch year PRIOR to the iPhone launch and the guy even says out loud ITS NOT NEW;

And for some reason, Apple seems to get all the credit?

If you could get past your Apple hate, you'd realize that Apple also had something similar in their labs long before the iPhone launched. More importantly, Apple created an actual product with a brand new UI paradigm and shrunk it down to something that fits in your pocket.

 

[navier]

The two can't help but be linked for a consumer business like Apple's. They may drift apart now and again, but they snap back. There may be a time-delay, but they move in tandem. If the product line legitimately turns south (i.e., not just in the opinion of esteemed forum posters) and starts affecting the business, you can bet the shareholders wouldn't be happy. And if the shareholders are happy, that means business is good. And if business is good, overall, customers must be happy.

Again, I don't care if shareholders are happy or not.
If the products are good, people will buy it no matter what the shareholders think... and the opposite is true.

(There are of course people that will buy anything even if it is a bad product)

 

[KENESS]

Wait... you are doing exactly that (highlighted by me)

Not really. There were many legitimate reports to that effect. I'm not just a random dude, completely out of the loop, guessing that's what happened.

 

[navier]

Not really. There were many legitimate reports to that effect. I'm not just a random dude, completely out of the loop, guessing that's what happened.

So, you are someone "who were ACTUALLY there and ACTUALLY involved and ACTUALLY knew all the details" ?

 

[dannyyankou]

Forstall explained that one of the best keyboards pitched by a developer had a few clever advantages over all the others designed by the team. Namely, it could intelligently predict words, so if a user would type "T," the keyboard would make the hit region for "H" larger -- while the actual key remained the same size -- so that common words such as "the" were easier to type.

I guess this explains why third party keyboards are so bad and inaccurate. I wonder if they can replicate this behavior.

 

[44267547]

Jobs also recommended Sculley. Picking CEOs may not have been on of his strong points...
[doublepost=1498451634][/doublepost]
You know what? Most people don't give a --- about Shareholders. Most of us like Apple because of its Products.
[doublepost=1498451833][/doublepost]
You missed the point... meant how would be the iPhone today if Jobs were working on it (hint: waaaaay better)

That wasn't my point. The iPhone wasn't what made Jobs a legend, there is more to it than that as noted previously, which seemingly becomes convoluted of because of Cooks leadership. And the iPhone as it stands today, Regardless if Jobs were here or not, doesn't negate the iPhone being the best phone on the smart phone market. It's about the product as a core, not because of speculation of where it would be be based on One persons existence or not in a company. It's the best selling phone in the world for a reason.

 

[KENESS]

So, you are someone "who were ACTUALLY there and ACTUALLY involved and ACTUALLY knew all the details" ?

???

No... I just said I'm not. As I said, at the time, there were plenty of FIRST-HAND reports of Forstall not being a team player, of driving others away, basically being a prima donna etc etc. THAT is what I am basing my comments on, not my own suppositions. And if those people who did have at least some direct experience with the situation (certainly more than us) were all wrong, then, well hey, that makes me wrong, too, for believing them. But I felt there was plenty of corroboration to believe them.

I don't really see this conversation going in a constructive direction, so I'm going to wrap up. If you don't agree, that's cool. It's not a big deal.

 

[Zaqfalcon]

Autocorrect and word and letter prediction is still abysmal; I have to retype every other word and this frustrates me more than any other failing in the iPhone.

 

[Superhappytree]

Yeah that Cook guy has been running the company into the ground. Amazing they're still in business.

That’s his point though. Tim Cook is only good at bringing money in. Just because Apple is making more money than they ever have doesn’t mean the products are of the same high quality as they were in years past. Look at 90’s Microsoft for example, would you say they were high quality back then just because they were making the most? Not saying Apple is as bad as that, but when I have a 5 year old iPhone 5 running iOS 6 that has less bugs and is more stable and fluid than my 2017 A10X 120hZ iPad, then you know Apples quality control has slipped significantly, making this guys argument plausible.

 

[iBug2]

well you can say steve jobs annoy lots of people who work for him. beside there is a reason why steve jobs loved Forstall and even wanted him to be the next CEO. best leaders/ppl are not always easy to work with, if you want to work with easy ppl, you should not be in business.

beside i really think map was just a reason to fire scott. its very common in business practices that you want to find ways to get rid of your "enemies"

If Steve wanted for him to be the next CEO, he would have appointed him when he was on leave all those years. He didn't. It's obvious who he wanted to be the next CEO.

 

[Superhappytree]

I wonder what we would be using today if Steve Jobs was still alive.
He was a true legend.

I don’t know but I know there would be: Far less complaints here. A lot less buggy software. Design decisions that aren’t dumb and bizarre. More push for innovation and less catching up to Android. Telling people their ideas suck (Jony) and pushing them to make it better. Keeping a guy that knows what the heck he’s doing with software (Forstall) rather than making the stupid decision of firing him and putting a hardware guy with zero software experience in his place.

Just to name a few.

 

[nottorp]

The scary part is that after 6 years it's still Steve Jobs this, Steve Jobs that. Doesn't look like they replaced him.

 

[Naraxus]

Forstall was the fall guy for Cook's incompetence. Cook rushed out an alpha maps and when caught red-handed he attempted to foist the blame on a guy who had a bullseye on his back ever since Cook's predecessor passed away.

 

[iBug2]

That’s his point though. Tim Cook is only good at bringing money in. Just because Apple is making more money than they ever have doesn’t mean the products are of the same high quality as they were in years past. Look at 90’s Microsoft for example, would you say they were high quality back then just because they were making the most? Not saying Apple is as bad as that, but when I have a 5 year old iPhone 5 running iOS 6 that has less bugs and is more stable and fluid than my 2017 A10X 120hZ iPad, then you know Apples quality control has slipped significantly, making this guys argument plausible.

There have been couple OS versions both for Mac and Mobile that Apple shipped that had issues. Some happened while Jobs was alive, some after he was gone. For me, Sierra has been the best OS X release of Apple to date.

 

[ani4ani]

They don’t get enough credit for the work they did to even make it possible.

.....and neither do the thousands of engineers who didn't work for Apple, who for 30 years before created the chips, modems, compression algorithms, battery technologies etc that made any of it possible.