A Behind The Scenes Story of the iPhone and How it Almost Ran Linux and Apple Almost Became a MVNO
It’s not very often anyone gets anything out of Apple – but Wired has complied a wonderful article about the story of the birth of an iPhone, or P2 – its code name, and how it almost didn’t happen.
Some highlights from the story are that in the fall of 2006, in Apple’s boardroom, the prototype flat-out didn’t work invoking the ire of Steve Jobs. Also that forty percent of iPhone buyers are new to AT&T, and the iPhone has tripled the data transfer in major cities.
Apple was also prepared to buy minutes from Cingular wholesale and become a MVNO. Also besides the exclusive agreement and revenue share Apple give AT&T a small percentage of iTunes revenue.
The last two most interesting point is the article was that Linux was seriously considered to be the OS of the iPhone but in the end Steve Jobs refused to run somebody else’s software and also the iPhone development, which is rumored to have cost $150 million, really didn’t start until 14 months before the announcement.
It is an EXCELLENT read that I highly recommend. Required reading for Macworld attendees!
PS: One more interesting fact…. Even the iPhone’s hardware and software teams were kept apart: Hardware engineers worked on circuitry that was loaded with fake software, while software engineers worked off circuit boards sitting in wooden boxes. Typical Jobs
