The 2005 Steve Jobs ultimatum that became the iPhone

In 2005, Greg Christie was working on the device that would become the iPhone, and running out of time. As a senior software engineer at Apple, Christie had been given an ultimatum by Steve Jobs: bigger ideas and bigger concepts for the iPhone’s software in two weeks, or else the project would be given to another group. In response, Christie and his team developed a set of features — such as swiping to unlock the phone — that came to define the way smartphones were designed. It was a process that Apple has rarely discussed, but now, ahead of the company’s upcoming patent-infringement trial against Samsung on Monday, Christie has recounted his memories of the iPhone’s development to The Wall Street Journal. The article describes how he was invited to work on a secret project code-named “purple,” and asked to give covert presentations to Jobs in a windowless room to avoid information leaking.