As crazy as it sounds given the wide range of use-cases Apple makes possible with the iPad, it has never shipped with a built-in calculator app. And, according to a recent post on Twitter from a user claiming to be an ex-Apple employee, we may finally have an explanation.
Shock horror: it involves Steve Jobs being a perfectionist.
Check it out below.
“It is actually a funny story,” writes user Tangoshukudai. “When they were prototyping the iPad, they ported the iOS calc over, but it was just stretched to fit the screen. It was there all the way from the beginning of the prototypes and was just assumed by everyone at apple that it was going to be shipped that way.
A month before the release, Steve Jobs calls Scott Forstall into his office and says to him, “where is the new design for the calculator? This looks awful.” He said, “what new design?” This is what we are shipping with. Steve said, “no, pull it we can’t ship that.” Scott fought for it to stay in, but he knew he had to get their UI team involved to design a new look for the calculator but there was no way they could do it in that short time frame, so they just scrapped it.
It has been such low priority since then that no one cares to work on it since there is more important things to work on.”
Provided this is true, it’s not the first time Steve Jobs got involved with the calculator app which shipped with an Apple product. Back during the development of the original Macintosh, Steve repeatedly criticized the concepts engineer Chris Espinosa came up with, until an exasperated Espinosa created a customize-your-own-calculator-UI program called the “Steve Jobs Roll Your Own Calculator Construction Set.”
Jobs spent ten minutes working with the software before he had come up with a design that met his standards. This calculator design was the one which remained the standard Mac calculator tool for the next 15 years.
For the record, if you’re looking for a good calculator app for the iPad I’d recommend Calculator for iPad Free or Digits, the calculator for humans.
Source: Reddit
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
10 responses to “Why the iPad has never shipped with a calculator app”
Make It for iOS 10 please!!!!
‘Back during the development of the original Macintosh, Steve repeatedly criticized the concepts engineer Chris Espinosa came up with, until an exasperated Espinosa created a customize-your-own-calculator-UI program called the “Steve Jobs Roll Your Own Calculator Construction Set.”’
I work for a software company. I’m sure our developers would love to create something like that for our boss sometimes!
There isn’t a native voice memo in ipad either…
Boy, this would be very welcome too!
It never bothered me all that much but I did wonder! Interesting.
2016 and it all is still on Forstall.
It’s a shame because what Apple really needs to do is to attend to all the small details that need fixing…
They also need to provide much greater customization…
Let’s provide everyone with this Calculator Construction Kit! (As well as a Lock Screen, Home Screen Construction Kit!)
I wondered this but quickly bought Calculator Pro because I used the calculator every day at work. Lack of voice memos is frustrating, but i have Garage Band, but it is not as quick and dirty as I would like for leaving feedback for podcasts. So I use voice memos on my phone instead.
I much prefer PCcalc.
To be fair, Steve Jobs would be horrified by Apple’s progress (or lack thereof) since his death – so just put the damn calculator app in.