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How a Crisis Almost Derailed the Original iPhone

On the eve of the original iPhone’s unveiling, a crisis almost derailed the entire project.

How a Crisis Almost Derailed the Original iPhone
An employee completes a purchase of Apple Inc. iPhones and iPads for a customer at an AT&T Inc. store in Newport Beach, California, U.S. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The year is 2005, the company is Apple. The iPod is a smash hit, but then-CEO Steve Jobs decides it's time to cannibalize the company's star product with a gamble: a smartphone. A decade after those phones reached the hands of the first consumers and changed the history of computing, Bloomberg Technology's Mark Gurman goes deep behind the scenes with the people who raced to get that original iPhone ready. On the eve of the product's unveiling, a crisis almost derailed the entire project. Mark and Brad also discuss the various features that people can expect from the iPhone 8, which Apple's set to announce next month.

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To contact the authors of this story: Mark Gurman in San Francisco at mgurman1@bloomberg.net, Brad Stone in San Francisco at bstone12@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pia Gadkari at pgadkari@bloomberg.net, Liz Smith Magnus Henriksson