3 ms·
The iPod-based interface that lost out to iOS for the iPhone
- grzm 10y agoApple is well-known for its secrecy, so prototype management is very important. From the article: Not much else is known about the device, apart from the fact that it differs heavily from the iPhone we know today, and that very few units running “Acorn OS” exist, with most of them likely being destroyed by Apple, a company in which there is a specific job role in relation to the destruction of prototypes. This was highlighted in the Pearl Automation NYT article as well, where security was increased. After an engineer accidentally left a test version of the iPhone 4 at a bar in 2010, Mr. Latimer set up a system to track, recover and destroy prototypes of coming products. Later, he taught overseas suppliers how to shield production lines and compartmentalize information to avoid leaks. Under Apple’s “need to know” philosophy, he did not even have access to much of the information he helped to secure. And like all Apple employees, he was discouraged from talking about his job with co-workers. "Former Apple employees try a different management approach at Pearl Automation": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13303726 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13303726 I'm impressed with the integrity of Latimer, recognizing the importance of building a system that even he, as head of the project, was subject to it.
- ijablokov 10y agoThis story is true... Our speech recognition SDK was designed into this prototype in their pre-Siri days & before we were acquired by Amazon to become the nucleus of Alexa.