Time reporter Lev Grossman has a very evocative piece on how the iPhone came about…lengthy piece on how the design came about, Steve Jobs’s philosophy behind the UI, among other things.
The project stated 2.5 years ago, as a way to develop better tablet PCs...and when the developers made a touchcreen UI, Jobs figured it would be great to use it in a phone and ditched the tablet project.
“The iPhone is a typical piece of Ive design: an austere, abstract, platonic-looking form that somehow also manages to feel warm and organic and ergonomic.” That’s Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design.
Some weaknesses: You can’t download songs directly onto it from the iTunes store, you have to export them from a computer. And even though it’s got WiFi and Bluetooth on it, you can’t sync iPhone with a computer wirelessly. And there should be games on it. And you’re required to use it as a phone—you can’t use it without signing up for cellular service.
Also this bit: Jobs demanded special treatment from Cingular, and he got it. He even forced Cingular to re-engineer its infrastructure to handle the iPhone’s unique voicemail scheme (where voicemail messages are listed onscreen, labeled by caller, ad you can touch and listen to them).