This Tuesday, October 5, 2021 will complete a decade Apple Without Steve Jobs. The co-founder who built Apple the success he is known for, did things differently. The fact that he didn’t have a college degree in technology and yet made Apple the world’s leading consumer tech brand is a remarkable story in itself. remembering Steve Jobs, journalist Roger Cheng CNET recalled how Jobs once threw a prototype of the first iPhone to impress journalists
Jobs went to The Wall Street Journal’s headquarters in New York to demonstrate a prototype of the first iPhone, shortly after its unveiling in 2007, to a small group of journalists. One of the group’s journalists questioned Jobs about the durability of the device. In an instant, Jobs tossed the iPhone into the air and it fell in the middle of the room. The moment he threw the iPhone in the air, Jobs took a short gasp and then fell silent as it hit the (carpet) floor. ”
Thankfully nothing happened to the iPhone and according to Cheng, the journalist at the time was really impressed. However, it is important to note that the floor was carpeted. But “imagine how devastating it would have been if that iPhone were to break or shut down in front of so many journalists,” he recalled. For Jobs, it was a calculated risk that garnered him immense PR.
“The memory underscores the lengths to which Jobs went to make an impression,” Cheng wrote. Talking about its impact on the minds of journalists, he wrote, “His staff distributed some other test units for us to play with. Picture two dozen dressed and professional journalists breaking into small groups and circling phones like schoolchildren around new toys, then proceeding to swipe, pinch, and otherwise test out that revolutionary capacitive touchscreen. Huh. Steve Jobs died on 5 October 2011 at the age of 56.
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