Apple Interface Mysteries

The Ineffable Evanescence of iOS

Apple was no stranger to handheld devices by the time Steve Jobs, with the new iPhone in hand, appeared onstage at Macworld Expo in 2007—the company had already released the Newton and the iPod. The Newton, though loaded with promising technology and interface ideas, had proved to be an ambitious failure, but the iPod, which offered simplicity as its most important interface achievement, was so big a success that at its height it brought in almost as much revenue as Apple’s entire Mac line. Even more importantly, the palm-sized music player was putting Apple-branded technology in many more customers’ hands than its flagship Macintosh ever had. By the middle of the 21st century’s first decade Apple could clearly ...