The Untold Story of the Birth of the iPhone

"The invention that turned Apple into a world-beating, billion-selling, society-changing colossus was not a laptop or a music player; it was the iPhone. It seemed to appear in 2007, fully formed, beautifully conceived, self-assured, and conceptually obvious. But behind the scenes, the iPhone we know today was made possible by more than bold bets, fanatical attention to detail, brilliant design, and a vision for the future; there were also false starts, last-minute redesigns, and a few strokes of luck."

"Interdisciplinary teams at Apple are always experimenting with fledgling technologies. 'There's hundreds of little startups that are just poking around, doing stuff,' says sensors VP Myra Haggerty. 'Sometimes someone's like, Hey, come look at what we're working on! Then you go into some random lab somewhere, and they're doing this really cool thing. What could we do with this?'"

"In early 2003, he began holding Tuesday meetings with interface designers and input engineers to explore new ways of interacting with computers; after all, the old 'point mouse, click button' routine was 25 years old. Kerr's team experimented with technologies like camera-driven systems, spatial audio, haptics (vibrating feedback), and 3D screens."

Apple's transformation into a world-leading company centered on the iPhone's 2007 launch, which appeared fully formed and conceptually obvious. However, the device's creation involved extensive behind-the-scenes work beyond bold vision and design excellence. Apple's development process began with tablet research rather than phone development. Interdisciplinary teams continuously experimented with emerging technologies in various labs. Duncan Kerr, a British designer in Jony Ive's industrial design studio, led Tuesday meetings starting in 2003 with interface designers and input engineers to explore new computer interaction methods beyond traditional mouse-and-click interfaces. These sessions involved demonstrations of camera systems, spatial audio, haptics, and 3D screen technologies, establishing the foundation for eventual iPhone innovation.

Read at WIRED