At a recent academic lecture by former iPhone product marketing engineer Bob Borchers, the Cupertino colleague of Steve Jobs fondly reflected on how the late Apple CEO "motivated" the first team that designed and created the revolutionary first generation iPhone.
According to Borchers, Jobs wasn't principally concerned with creating a high-end snazzy mobile device for powering diverse apps. Rather, Jobs wanted to his team to bring to life a device that owners would simply never want to be without.
"What's interesting is that the challenge Steve laid out for us when we created the iPhone wasn't to make a touch-screen device that would play apps and do all of this stuff," said Borchers, who is recognizable for his participation in various iLife and iPhone guided tour videos. "His [charge] was simple. He wanted to create the first phone that people would fall in love with. That's what he told us."
Jobs reportedly told his crew that he wanted the iPhone to be a revolutionary mobile phone, the best iPod produced to date, and also that which lets users carry ‘the internet in their pocket.’
"Now if you're an engineer, like I am by training, you're like 'what the heck does that mean?'" Borchers continued. "But he was right. The idea was, he wanted to create something that was so instrumental and integrated in peoples' lives that you'd rather leave your wallet at home than your iPhone."
Borchers remained with Apple until the iPhone 4 was introduced in 2010. He left to become a venture capitalist with Opus Capital where he now focuses on helping find the next Apple. According to Borchers, he moved on from Apple to "get small again."
Source: Apple Insider
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