“In the fall of 2009, every big magazine publisher was talking about their iPad strategy — even though they didn’t know it was going to be called the iPad, or anything else about the tablet, which wasn’t introduced until 2010,” Peter Kafka reports for Re/code. “Condé Nast, for instance, showed some people what a tabletized verion of Wired might look like. Time Inc. was even more public with a demo of a digital Sports Illustrated, mocked up for a generic “Time Inc.” tablet that everyone knew was meant to be the Apple iThing.”
“That clip caused a stir, and has since generated more than a million views. But it reportedly left at least one very important person unimpressed. Steve Jobs hated the video — and, more important, the fact that it was out in public before he debuted his device,” Kafka reports. “Steve Jobs was upset that the company had released the prototype before he had had a chance to reveal the iPad — and a tablet edition of Time — to the world. ‘I think it’s stupid. Really stupid,’ Jobs told Time Inc. executives during a 2010 meeting in New York, when he was asked about the prototype.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated video demo:
Related article:
Time Inc. demos Sports Illustrated on Apple-esque tablet coming in 2010 (with video) – December 3, 2009
Good real stupid
Nothing stupid about that!
It sounds like Steve was more upset on the timing. The layout of the page looks fine.
classic Steve, love it. R.I.P. Steve
When you watch the whole video, you understand what was so stupid about it. It isn’t so much what it is trying to demo (mobile versions of their site), and not even the functionality it is advertising, but the lame script and even lamer animation. On the eve of announcing a revolutionary product that takes your breath away, these guys put out a demo video that showcases their site made for this yet-to-be-announced product that is so ridiculously underwhelming and embarrasingly lame, no wonder Steve was so annoyed to call it stupid.
1. Tell the story that can be told in 30 seconds.
2. Video real hands doing the motions, then overlay onto the mockup.
3. The picture should be the thousand words, so no (or very limited) voice-over.
Is it so hard for a human to do those actions for the prototype? Reminds me of the beginning of You Can’t Do That On Television.
Anybody?! YCDTOTV?!
Oh, that was painful to watch and listen to!
Worst part of demo are all the cheesy sound effects. It’s like a bad Kung-fu movie… Other than that, it’s not too bad, and fairly on target for digital magazines…