Steve Jobs on iPad Origins: The tablet came first
What Jobs talks about
Steve Jobs says the tablet idea came first, before the iPhone. He describes asking the team to build a multi-touch screen that could be typed on by hand.
From there, he says the work led to inertial scrolling and other touch interactions that made the iPhone possible. Once the phone became the priority, the tablet was paused.
He then explains that Apple returned to the tablet later and used what had been built for the phone to continue the project. The passage highlights how Apple’s product ideas evolved by building core technology first and applying it across devices.
An interviewer asks the questions; Jobs answers throughout.
In his words
“I'll tell you a secret.”
“I actually started on the tablet first.”
“I had the idea of removing the fingerprint and typing on a multi-touch screen.”
“Oh my God, we can create a phone with this.”
“We took the tablet again and used everything built on the phone to continue the tablet work.”
Key points
- He says the tablet project came before the iPhone.
- He wanted a multi-touch screen that people could type on with their hands.
- Apple’s team later showed him a working screen and related touch features.
- He saw inertial scrolling and realized they could build a phone from the same ideas.
- The iPhone became the priority, so the tablet was paused.
- Apple later returned to the tablet and reused technology developed for the phone.
Full transcript
You didn't do it immediately on the tablet. You did it on the phone. What I'm asking is, when you did it on the iPhone, did you plan to do it on the tablet? Or was it a natural development? The iPhone came out and it was a huge success. I'll tell you a secret. Okay. Okay. I actually started on the tablet first. And... I had the idea of removing the fingerprint and typing on a multi-touch screen. I asked our team members if they could create a multi-touch screen. It's one that we can type with our hands and actually type. About six months later, they called me and showed me the screen.
It was very surprising. I gave it to one of our team members. This was in the early 90s, that is, in the early 2000s. 2000s. I gave it to our other best life coach. A few weeks later, he called me. Inertial scrolling worked for him. And there were some other things. At that time, we were thinking about creating a phone. When I saw Rubber Paint Inertial Scrolling and other things, I thought, oh my God, we can create a phone with this. I stopped the tablet project temporarily because the phone is very important. After that, we took many years to create the iPhone. Because...
When we came back to the starting point, when we thought about what to do next, we took the tablet again and used everything built on the phone to continue the tablet work. In a way,
Transcribed from the audio with OpenAI Whisper. Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.