“My God, we can build a phone with this.” That was Apple CEO Steve Jobs reaction when a designer at the Cupertino, Calif. firm turned an early version of the iPad into what later became the iPhone. “So we put the tablet aside and we went to work on the iPhone,” Jobs said, recalling the moment in an interview Tuesday during Wall Street Journal’s D8 technology gathering.
Jobs initially had the idea of a glass display permitting people to to type with their fingers. Within six months, Apple engineers created the display. In an ironic twist, the iPad outsold the iPhone’s debut, when the tablet device was finally introduced in April. Apple sold one million iPads in 28 days, a milestone that took the iPhone 74 days to reach, the company announced in early May. (The Cupertino, Calif. company recently announced it sold more than 2 million iPads in less than 60 days.)
In related comments, Jobs said games are taking an important role in the future of the iPad and iPhone. Indeed, Apple’s increasing push into the gaming market may have prompted the departure of some prominent Microsoft names.
Although some developers have been critical of Apple’s application approval process, Jobs said the company gives the okay for iPad apps with seven days.
As for Apple’s growing competition with Google, Jobs may have given the Internet giant some reasons to smile: the iPhone maker will keep Google Maps on the handset and doesn’t intend to create its own search engine to battle Google.
Jobs also said Apple was within 90 days of filing bankruptcy papers when he left Next to take the reigns of the company he co-founded.
[via All Things Digital and Barrons]
