Apple’s global head of marketing Phil Schiller has suggested the tech giant “bet the company” on the iPhone when it launched its first handset back in 2007.
Speaking in court as Apple seeks further damages from Samsung over claimed patent infringements and a copying of its intellectual properties, Schiller described the original iPhone as a “huge risk” and revealed that the smartphone was known as a “bet the company” product internally.
“There were huge risks [with the first iPhone],” Schiller told the court in California. “We had a saying inside the company that it was a ‘bet-the-company’ product.”
He added: “We were starting to do well again in iPod [...] Then here we’re going to invest all these resources, financial as well as people, in creating this product.”
Although Schiller revealed that around 100 people worked on the original iPhone, he added that now “almost everyone” at Apple is involved with the company’s smartphone efforts in one way or another.
The original iPhone reinvented the mobile phone sector, help launch the rise of the mobile application and bringing high-end handsets with premium components and vibrant touchscreen displays to the fore.
Having launched the original iPhone back in June 2007, Apple is now on its sixth and seventh iterations of the handset, with the flagship iPhone 5S lining up alongside the colourful, and marginally more affordable, plastic clad iPhone 5C.
Next, read all the latest iPhone 6 news and rumours
Via: 9to5Mac
