With permission from Apple, senior software engineer Greg Christie recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the development of the original iPhone, disclosing some details ahead of a new patent trial involving Samsung. The original article focused on the iPhone's software features, while a follow-up report highlights the environment and hardware that was used in this software development process.
Apple's hardware setup for testing early prototype iPhone software
According to Christie, design decisions on early versions of Apple's iPhone OS were made in a drab, windowless room with Mac hardware running the software and a large touchscreen device, "Wallaby", simulating the screen of the mobile device. The room is also where Christie met with Steve Jobs to present the iPhone team's work.
According to Christie, design decisions on early versions of Apple's iPhone OS were made in a drab, windowless room with Mac hardware running the software and a large touchscreen device, "Wallaby", simulating the screen of the mobile device. The room is also where Christie met with Steve Jobs to present the iPhone team's work.
It doesn’t mean that the windowless room, lit by fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, looked like anything special. Christie recalled the walls had signs of water damage from a flood in an adjacent bathroom. A few images covered the walls including one of Apple’s “Think Different” posters of famous graphic designer Paul Rand and another of a large chicken running around without its head.These details on the development of the iPhone were released in advance of a second U.S. patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung that is set to begin March 31. Apple prevailed in the first trial and was awarded a judgement of $890 million. This upcoming trial targets more recent products such the Galaxy Note II, the Galaxy S III, the iPhone 5, and the iPad 4.
42 comments
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
77 months ago
I might be wrong, but I think I remember seeing drawings/designs of the original iPhone looking like the iPhone 4?
Surely if someone was to stage this picture they wouldn't be so careless as to leave an iPhone 4 there?
Still weird though.
The 'purple' prototype from 2005 looks like a white iPhone 4. Not sure if that was ever built into a physical prototype. But from all the books I've read, Steve didn't allow the software guys to see the hardware design and vice versa. Allegedly Ive secretly had two software guys mock something up for his team. He was the only one on his team who was allowed to know what the software UI looked like.
Apple has now reopened 29 of its 42 retail locations in China, according to Apple's store websites in the country that were reviewed by Bloomberg. Many of Apple's stores in China have been...
People lead busy lives, and keeping track of everything that needs to be done in a day can be tough, which is why there are an endless number of to-do and productivity apps on the App Store.
...
Apple today shared two new "Technical Overview" white papers that take an extensive look into the technology and feature set of the Pro Display XDR and the Mac Pro.
Available as PDFs,...
In celebration of International Women's Day, set to take place on March 8, Apple is hosting a series of "She Creates" workshops that will be held at Apple retail stores from March 1 to...
It's hard to believe, but today marks the 20th birthday of MacRumors, which was founded on February 24, 2000, with articles starting just a few days later.
While longtime readers may be...
Apple's first Mac with a processor designed in house is set to be released during the first half of 2021, Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo said in a note to investors this morning that was obtained by...
The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Apple's appeal of a $440 million judgment in one of the patent infringement cases brought by VirnetX a decade ago, reports Reuters.
...
In a report touching on several topics today, Japanese site Mac Otakara claims that Apple's Tile-like "AirTags" item trackers will be "completely waterproof" and use similar...
