we all know that the iphone came out in june of 07. but does anyone have any idea when development of the iphone started? and what kind of phones were we using when apple thought up their brilliant idea?
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when do you guys think apple started developing iphone?
- Thread starter likemyorbs
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I believe the story goes that development started in 2004 after the ROKR failed. Then again some will point to early prototype systems in the 80's.
TEG
TEG
There was an excellent Wired article last year about the development of the phone.
Trust me, it didn't fall from the sky and there was another "itunes" phone that failed. Jobs supposedly shopped the phone to other providers and was turned down.
Hah, I was able to dig up the article, please edit me if we aren't supposed to post links...
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/16-02/ff_iphone
Given that we are approaching "Version 1.0" level but there remain some glaring omissions - about mid 2006 (6 months before they went public). Before that it was just a collection of different technologies that Apple had been playing about with.
First paragraph:
It was a late morning in the fall of 2006. Almost a year earlier, Steve Jobs had tasked about 200 of Apple's top engineers with creating the iPhone. Yet here, in Apple's boardroom, it was clear that the prototype was still a disaster. It wasn't just buggy, it flat-out didn't work. The phone dropped calls constantly, the battery stopped charging before it was full, data and applications routinely became corrupted and unusable. The list of problems seemed endless. At the end of the demo, Jobs fixed the dozen or so people in the room with a level stare and said, "We don't have a product yet."
And in 2008, the exact same scenario, except the quote was "screw it; ship it"
First paragraph:
It wasn't just buggy, it flat-out didn't work. The phone dropped calls constantly, the battery stopped charging before it was full, data and applications routinely became corrupted and unusable. The list of problems seemed endless. At the end of the demo, Jobs fixed the dozen or so people in the room with a level stare and said, "We don't have a product yet."
And in 2008, the exact same scenario, except the quote was "screw it; ship it"
HaHa brilliant!
Culled from various articles, the rough timeline was...
- 2005 Feb - Cingular and Apple begin discussions on a phone project
- 2005 Jun - Apple begins talks with Verizon
- 2005 Nov - Apple begins working on iPhone hardware
- 2006 Jan - Apple begins rewriting OSX for the phone
- 2006 Jun - Apple gives up on Verizon
- 2006 Jul - Cingular and Apple sign contract
- 2006 Dec - Cingular officials finally shown iPhone
- 2007 Jan - Apple reveals iPhone to public
- 2007 May - FCC approves phone, ATT tests begin
The Wall Street Journal had a good history that they published very early on:
WSJ iPhone History article from Feb 2007
WSJ iPhone History article from Feb 2007
just to add some info to the thread,i actually don't know why there are so many "opinions" or articles about different dates,maybe cause Steve Jobs isn't a macrumors member yet..
well, if you watched the macworld keynote back in jan 07 you could recall Jobs talking about this project starting 2.5 yrs before that,correct me if i'm wrong,it probably means mid 04
i'd also love to see 2.1 bug-free,more similar to the OS they were running during that keynote
well, if you watched the macworld keynote back in jan 07 you could recall Jobs talking about this project starting 2.5 yrs before that,correct me if i'm wrong,it probably means mid 04
i'd also love to see 2.1 bug-free,more similar to the OS they were running during that keynote
"This is a day I've been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years."
Maybe he was starting from the time of the ROKR, the first "iPhone" attempt.
Going far beyond what is being said, I remember them registering an internet domain name (can't remember exactly what it was) involving the word 'iPhone' around 1998 (may have been in '99, though).
A lot of people have forgotten that, long before it was shown off in Jan 2007, everyone was speculating about when Apple would make a phone. Everyone called it an 'iPhone" of course, because of "iPod". Way too obvious.
Anyway, some of my favorite histories and other links of interest:
Foxconn gets order for 12 million iPhones This was written in Nov 2006, TWO MONTHS BEFORE the phone was first revealed in public.
Interview with Cingular and Apple Says they started talking in early 2005, but didn't decide on doing a phone until the beginning of 2006. This fits with all other histories.
Piper Jaffray comments and predictions Jan 07 They predict the eventual price drop, and explain why it really didn't have 3G at first.
The secret iPhone tests by ATT Volume was an early complaint.
Verizon passed on iPhone Of course, they never got to see it first.
An early public spat between ATT and Apple over who bent most
Early NY Times article where Jobs makes the famous comment, "We define everything that is on the phone. You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.”
Anyway, some of my favorite histories and other links of interest:
Foxconn gets order for 12 million iPhones This was written in Nov 2006, TWO MONTHS BEFORE the phone was first revealed in public.
Interview with Cingular and Apple Says they started talking in early 2005, but didn't decide on doing a phone until the beginning of 2006. This fits with all other histories.
Piper Jaffray comments and predictions Jan 07 They predict the eventual price drop, and explain why it really didn't have 3G at first.
The secret iPhone tests by ATT Volume was an early complaint.
Verizon passed on iPhone Of course, they never got to see it first.
An early public spat between ATT and Apple over who bent most
Early NY Times article where Jobs makes the famous comment, "We define everything that is on the phone. You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.”