Tony Fadell Talks Apple's Pre-iPhone Days of Failed Motorola Rokr and Touchscreen MacBook Prototype

[MacRumors]

Over the past few weeks, former Apple executives that originally led the team behind the iPhone's creation have been reminiscing about the time before the smartphone's debut, which will see its tenth birthday tomorrow, June 29. The latest interview has been posted by Wired, with "father of the iPod" Tony Fadell discussing the multiple prototypes of the original iPhone, Apple's attempt to create a touchscreen MacBook, the poorly received collaboration between Apple and Motorola in the Rokr, and more.

Addressing the "many different origin stories for the iPhone," Fadell pointed out that such stories were the result of Apple's multiple running projects and prototypes that it had for the iPhone. These included four big brands: "a large screen iPod" with a touch interface, an "iPod phone" that was about the size of an iPod mini and used a click wheel interface, the Motorola Rokr, and even an ongoing attempt to get a touchscreen onto a MacBook Pro to further prove the feasibility of the technology that would eventually end up in the iPhone, and never in a MacBook.

Image via Wired​

The touchscreen Macbook project was basically trying to get touchscreen technology into a Mac to try to compete with Microsoft tablets. Steve was pissed off, and wanted to show them how to do it right. Well, that might have been the project to show Microsoft how to do it right, but they quickly realised there was so much software and there were so many new apps needed, and that everything had to be changed that it was very difficult. Plus the multitouch itself, we didn't know we could scale it that large to a full-screen display. Those were the challenges over on Mac.

At the time before the launch of the iPhone, the iPod was Apple's most popular product, and Fadell remembered the company's yearly pressure to continue to grow the brand and entice customers "every holiday." Eventually, Apple's collaboration with Motorola was catalyzed by the company's concern over its users asking themselves, "Which one am I going to take, my iPod or my cell phone?" Apple didn't want to lose that argument, so it introduced the first iTunes support in a cell phone in 2005 with the Rokr, which Fadell said "was not deliberately made poor."

Limitations of the Rokr included a firmware restriction of 100 songs to be loaded at any one time on the cell phone, as well as a slow music transfer process from a computer in comparison to devices at the time specifically dedicated to music playback. Motorola eventually ditched iTunes in the Rokr line as Apple continued releasing iPods like the 2005 iPod nano and its ability to hold up to 1,000 songs, which Motorola saw as undercutting Rokr. Of course, rumors were also ramping up surrounding Apple's work on a phone of its own.

No, it was not deliberately made poor. Not at all. We tried our best. Motorola would only do so much with it. Their software team was only so good. Their operations system was only so good. And that experience just didn't work very well. It was a clash of all kinds of problems, it wasn't a case of trying to not make it good.

We were trying to do this because we didn't want cell phones to come eat our lunch, OK? The Motorola Rokr died much earlier than the arrival of the iPhone. This was us trying to dip our toe in the water, because we said, 'Let's not make a phone, but see how we can work with phones to see if we can have a limited number of songs on a phone'. So people could use iTunes and then they would want to move over to an iPod. It wasn't about making it less good because the iPhone was coming. This was well before the iPhone was even thought of.

The company's concerns during its iPod days even looked forward into current technology, particularly over storage capacities and the "celestial jukebox." Fadell said that Apple foresaw users no longer needing to be concerned with storage tiers and paying more for more space, because it "could see a time" when network speeds would ramp up alongside better technology and lead to streaming and downloading directly on a mobile device, like Apple Music and Spotify.

It was very clear, after the Rokr, and after everything we had learned in what it was going to take, that the worry was about the 'celestial jukebox' - people wouldn't have to buy large capacity iPods, 150GB or so, because they were soon going to be able to download. So we had an existential problem, people were not going to have to buy larger and larger iPods. The high-capacity iPods were where we were making all our money, and if they could download at any time - and we could see the time when the networks were going to get faster because of 3G - we were like 'oh my God, we're going to lose this business' to this music jukebox in the sky, which is basically what Spotify is.

In the rest of the interview, Fadell dives into the iPhone team's massive dissection of every possible mobile device at the time to scope out the competition, the remaining similarities between current generation iPhones and original iPods, and the ongoing legacy of 2007's first iPhone.

Fadell said that it changed his life, and "how my kids are growing up compared to how I and my wife grew up," but he hopes iPhone users remember to unplug every now and then: "...it requires all of us to make the proper changes in our lives to make sure we don't lose the analogue portion of our life and we don't just stay digital and mobile all the time."

Article Link: Tony Fadell Talks Apple's Pre-iPhone Days of Failed Motorola Rokr and Touchscreen MacBook Prototype

 

[loby]

iPod....what a wonderful product. Still use mine even today even though I have an iphone...

 

[Bacillus]

"Plus the multitouch itself, we didn't know we could scale it that large to a full-screen display. "

Congrats to all, we are 10 years later now and I still hear that stoplap.
We have 13" overcapable iPads - limited by running a phone OS because a couple of grey veterans never took the challenge to make a dedicated OS for that category of "Pro" systems, that actually aren't that much Pro because of that bad decision - or lack of...
Isn't it time that the absolutist Kim Y. Phil revises his (No, we can't)- position, starts thinking out of the box, stops alienating the issue via the already redundant TouchBar, and now starts realizing a touch-Mac running MacOS with multitouch (yes it will have limitations, but that stems from earlier mental lamentation...)
I'm so bored by the lack of real courage by these overpaid conservatives...

 

[Internet Enzyme]

Interesting stories from an interesting man. Hearing anecdotes about Steve is always great.

 

[Rogifan]

Why is Tony Fadell everywhere all of a sudden? And is he really the authority on the iPhone? We already know he lied about Phil Schiller insisting that the iPhone have a physical keyboard. I don’t trust much of what he says.

 

[Paul Dawkins]

Why is Tony Fadell everywhere all of a sudden? And is he really the authority on the iPhone? We already know he lied about Phil Schiller insisting that the iPhone have a physical keyboard. I don’t trust much of what he says.

The problem is that we don't know anything. All we know is what he said, she said, they said. What is true however is unclear.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Why is Tony Fadell everywhere all of a sudden? And is he really the authority on the iPhone? We already know he lied about Phil Schiller insisting that the iPhone have a physical keyboard. I don’t trust much of what he says.

Who else on the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone? Jobs has passed. Fadell is the "Podfather." Most of history is reinvented. Why would this be any different? Is Tony being 100% accurate? Probably not. But is Schiller? Guessing not. He loves a good spin. He makes unbelievable over-the-top statements every Apple Special Event. That is his job. Everyone at Apple, warranted or not, has ginormous egos. Recollections are going to "blur." So just sit back and believe what you want. We'll never know the true truth. But it makes a heck of an enjoyable tale. We'll at least if you don't let Hollywood make a movie of it because they just don't "get it" based on the Jobs movies.

 

[Sunny1990]

iPod was truly a great device of its time.Really sad to see Apple no more pay attention to one of the best products

 

[Where is the new Mac Pro]

iPod....what a wonderful product. Still use mine even today even though I have an iphone...

The iPod initiated the demise of the music industry. It introduced the concept that we can download (steal) music files than were small in size over the internet (Napster), which led to everyone not paying for music anymore. AND it also lowered the fidelity standard of music - to "but mp3s sound fine" attitudes. We used to have LPs and tapes, then went to CDs.. then we dropped down the quality so we could all carry 2500 songs in our pocket. The music industry has never recovered.

see chart for last 40 years... it only goes to 2014. Note music streaming is on the rise. But the overall point is revenue going to the artists is at all-time low.

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2014/02/40-years-of-album-sales-data-in-one-handy-chart/

 

[jmgregory1]

"Plus the multitouch itself, we didn't know we could scale it that large to a full-screen display. "

Congrats to all, we are 10 years later now and I still hear that stoplap.
We have 13" overcapable iPads - limited by running a phone OS because a couple of grey veterans never took the challenge to make a dedicated OS for that category of "Pro" systems, that actually aren't that much Pro because of that bad decision - or lack of...
Isn't it time that the absolutist Kim Y. Phil revises his (No, we can't)- position, starts thinking out of the box, stops alienating the issue via the already redundant TouchBar, and now starts realizing a touch-Mac running MacOS with multitouch (yes it will have limitations, but that stems from earlier mental lamentation...)
I'm so bored by the lack of real courage by these overpaid conservatives...

Laptops and desktops with touchscreens are a bad idea, not because of technical limitations, but because it is a really bad user experience. I'm currently sitting at my desk, typing this response on a 21" iMac. My arms are comfortably at my side, with my forearms resting on the desk and my hands / fingers easily typing and moving the cursor as needed using the trackpad. If I had to incorporate screen touches into the process, it would not only slow down my work, as at least one hand and arm would need to be held up to the screen, supported only by muscles, doing things on-screen that are far more easily done on the trackpad or with the keyboard that is in the exact same plane as my arms and hands - not the vertical plane of the screen.

Other big negatives with a touch screen desktop or laptop are finger prints and the need to have the screens have resistance to your touch. I can't stand people touching my screens as they point to something on my desktop. It's one thing to take my iPhone or even iPad and rub my shirt sleeve across the screen to clean it, but on a 15" laptop or the 21" desktop screen, once you have fingerprints on it, it generally requires getting a cloth and water cleaning the whole thing.

And the resistance issue is something people don't often think about. On a laptop, there is an amount of resistance built in to the hinge, that keeps the screen held at a certain angle. But once you factor in touch to the equation, you need to add in additional resistance. But the way a hinge works, it takes very little effort to push at the top of the screen to get it to move. Too much resistance, and you can make the keyboard or base move with the screen.

And regardless of how much resistance is built into the hinge, you're forced to control the amount of effort in touching the screen, which isn't natural given the fact that your hands and arms have to be held free and unsupported in the air while touching the screen. It's one thing to write on a chalkboard / dry erase board, as the pressure you exert on the board is resisted by the board, providing a point of rest for your arm that you don't get when you have to be careful to not push a screen too far.

I think that the solution we'll all see in the coming years, is a two screen product, where the keyboard and trackpad will become is single screen meant to lay flat on you lap or desk, allowing for infinitely adjustable keyboards and track pad manipulation - while keeping your hands and arms supported and in the natural horizontal plane in front of you. The screen you look at will continue to be facing your eyes in the natural vertical plane in front of you.

 

[Urban Joe]

Interesting that Apple knows very well the value of taking things apart.

 

[Quu]

Tony Baloney strikes again. Don't believe anything this guy says he is fame hungry and tells a lot of made up stuff to get headlines.

 

[Applebot1]

If we look how Steve set up his teams within Apple so they compete with each other you can understand why there are so many different view points plus peoples memories a become clouded over time.

Interesting article and I hope Apple can again make that killer product once again in future years. Back in that time Apple was certainly on the up, energised and pushing the boundaries. It was exciting times.

 

[CasinoOwl]

The iPod initiated the demise of the music industry.

I would say that Apple and iTunes helped save the music industry. Napster was happening with or without the iPod. The record labels were still being run by executives that barely understood email, much less mp3 music files. Apple came up with the iTunes Store with a reasonable price of 99¢ a track, and a way to carry the music with you. This brought a lot of people back to buying music rather than download files from the internet that were often fakes or bad quality. As an added bonus, Apple tech allowed musicians to create sellable music at home. Now, that was actually a blow to the music "industry" in that they lost some control over artists.

 

[ZMacintosh]

touch screen on a desktop/notebook, apple could do it, because it has the tech but the experience like stated before is not great. Just try it with a iPad + Apple Keyboard case/stand. since its small the travel is not too bad but is not a great experience all the time.

 

[mr.steevo]

The iPod initiated the demise of the music industry. It introduced the concept that we can download (steal) music files than were small in size over the internet (Napster), which led to everyone not paying for music anymore. AND it also lowered the fidelity standard of music - to "but mp3s sound fine" attitudes. We used to have LPs and tapes, then went to CDs.. then we dropped down the quality so we could all carry 2500 songs in our pocket. The music industry has never recovered.

see chart for last 40 years... it only goes to 2014. Note music streaming is on the rise. But the overall point is revenue going to the artists is at all-time low.

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2014/02/40-years-of-album-sales-data-in-one-handy-chart/

You make it sound like the iPod created music piracy. As we know, Napster and MP3 players were out in the late 90's while the iPod wasn't released until late 2001.

 

[Rogifan]

The problem is that we don't know anything. All we know is what he said, she said, they said. What is true however is unclear.

Tony himself admitted it was wrong. I don’t trust much of what he says. There’s a reason Apple never acquired Nest (Apple execs refer to him as Tony Baloney) and he’s no longer working for Google.

 

[maflynn]

I remember the rokr and how it was basically a failure, but it was I supposed that was needed as a stepping stone towards the iPhone. I have a co-worker who still uses an iPod, not sure why, but hey if it works for him

 

[kdarling]

At the time before the launch of the iPhone, the iPod was Apple's most popular product, and Fadell remembered the company's yearly pressure to continue to grow the brand and entice customers "every holiday." Eventually, Apple's collaboration with Motorola was catalyzed by the company's concern over its users asking themselves, "Which one am I going to take, my iPod or my cell phone?" Apple didn't want to lose that argument, so it introduced the first iTunes support in a cell phone in 2005 with the Rokr,

Yep, other smartphones such as those with Windows Mobile had enhanced media players by 2004, with synchronization, cover art, video playback, etc. Plus streaming services like Pandora were going mobile, even down to flip phones.

Apple knew that they had to make a smartphone that played music as well, or risk losing the market.

which Fadell said "was not deliberately made poor."

Limitations of the Rokr included a firmware restriction of 100 songs to be loaded at any one time on the cell phone,

Well, it was deliberately made poor at least in that respect. Apple crippled the number of songs in the Rokr so it could not directly compete with iPods.

Fadell said that it changed his life, and "how my kids are growing up compared to how I and my wife grew up," but he hopes iPhone users remember to unplug every now and then: "...it requires all of us to make the proper changes in our lives to make sure we don't lose the analogue portion of our life and we don't just stay digital and mobile all the time."

Too late. For better or worse, mass consumer adoption of smartphones has led to the lack of direct social interaction that we see today.

It is definitely ironic that Steve Jobs himself severely limited the use of Apple devices in his own household by his own kids.

Tony Fadell discussing the multiple prototypes of the original iPhone,

I love prototypes. Have a bunch myself of converged devices from the turn of the century that are still probably under NDA. One neat thing about the Apple-Samsung trials is all the info that came out about Apple prototypes.

I think it's interesting that even as late as Spring 2006, Ive was still trying to push his rehashed iPod mini shape (on right below) for the iPhone. But the rounded corners from their internal "Sony" design concept (on left below) won out.

My favorite, though, has to be this clearly Battlestar Galactica inspired shape:

 

[MrX8503]

I don't understand why people want a touch screen laptop/desktop. My mouse/trackpad with cursor is way faster and more accurate than my finger. It already works and it works really well! So why would Apple put in so much R&D to supplement a user input interface that already works so well?

The reason why we have a touch phone is because you can't use a mouse and you might as well use your finger if you have a stylus.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

I forgot about the Moto Rokr! I rocked the Rockr back in the day, and thought it was the coolest thing.

 

[manu chao]

The iPod initiated the demise of the music industry. It introduced the concept that we can download (steal) music files than were small in size over the internet (Napster), which led to everyone not paying for music anymore.

Really? Napster shut shop in July 2001 (after peaking in January 2001). The iPod was introduced in October 2001. But sure, it was clearly the iPod that triggered the rise of Napster.

 

[Where is the new Mac Pro]

You make it sound like the iPod created music piracy. As we know, Napster and MP3 players were out in the late 90's while the iPod wasn't released until late 2001.

mp3 did not become a mainstream format until the iPod took off in sales. And it took off with the Apple campaign of how many songs can we cram into a 16GB storage device. 16GB was expensive back in 2001. So the consumer format was lowered to fit. Ask yourself why Apple doesn't support 24-bit FLAC files in iTunes?

 

[Mjmar]

He wanted this to be the iPhone so....

 

[Where is the new Mac Pro]

I would say that Apple and iTunes helped save the music industry.

The music industry is actually down 45% from where it was in 1973.

26 years ago the average American spent almost twice as much as they do today.

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2