Tog Tognazzini joined Apple in 1978, Employee No. 66, and worked at the company for 14 years, founding the Apple Human Interface Group along the way. He explains why he thinks the iPhone will be a hit—and why Apple is so far ahead in a Q&A with BusinessWeek’s Jessie Scanlon.
A few samples of Tog’s replies:
It looks like the iPhone will be a hit out of the box. Both Steve Jobs and Apple now have 30 years experience bringing entirely new products to market. They know now to wait until the silicon technology is available that will allow them to produce a full-featured, mature product on Day One. [In contrast,] both Apple’s Lisa and Newton were terribly underpowered, leading to their failure in the marketplace. Gesture technology as incorporated in the iPhone has been under development in the lab for more than 15 years. It is well understood, and the power and speed of today’s silicon is well up to the task.
Steve is a man with three elements that make up the story of his success. First, he worships good industrial design and good behavioral design. He wants to make every product a jewel, something that can be exhibited in MOMA [the Museum of Modern Art] and that people will be attracted to. The second thing is his common sense, which is greatly undervalued as one of his strengths. He looks at something and knows whether it’ll work or if it’s simply a quirky, cute thing. The third thing is that he’s got a marvelous lack of fear, which could easily get him killed. He does things like betting the company on the Mac—or the iPhone. He’s more often right than wrong, so it pays off. But in my experience, his courage is something that’s sadly lacking at many other large corporations.
I think it is fair to say that [Apple’s iPhone] team is bringing out what would quite possibly be a sixth- or seventh-generation product for many of the giant, noninnovators that are dominating our industry today.
Much more in the full Q&A here.
I wish Apple would re-hire Tog and let him tweak OS X’s interface.
@Martin
Where? When? No plans announced so far. But you are probably right. Apple won’t make the rest of the world wait all the way through next year. Still, I think (read unfounded optimism) the iPhone should force some better behavior out of the US cell phone slavemasters. How long can Sprint brag about being the most expensive cell phone provider. (Actually they say they have the most revenues per customer. It seems like the same thing to me, but they probably think charging you to use pictures you take with the phone and selling music that can only be played on the phone are “services”)
As a black man in America, I would say that most companies don’t use blacks or hispanics in their advertising. Many companies have never had blacks or hispanics in their advertising. That being said, there are many blacks and hispanics who are not poor and who can afford an iPhone. I won’t be getting an iPhone until November when my contract with Verizon expires. I have been using Macs since 1986 (working in printing and graphic design) at work and at home. People who make such generalizations are generally wrong! I will be going past the Apple store in downtown SF this afternoon and I will try and take some pictures of the line (if there is one) with my new Nikon D200.
MDN MW=going
Apple is going to sell a lot of iPhones