(iMac)
The first success of Jobs and Ive's partnership was the iMac, a desktop computer for the home electronics market, which came out in May 1998.Previously, Jobs made a clear statement about this product: it should be an all-in-one product, the keyboard, monitor and host are combined into a simple device, which can be used right out of the box; and the design must be unique and able to Reflects brand culture; price is set at around $1,200 (Apple didn't have a computer under $2,000 at the time). “He told us to go back to the design philosophy of the first Mac computer in 1984 and design it as an all-in-one consumer electronics product,” recalls Schiller. “That meant the design department and the engineering department had to work together.”
The original plan was to develop a "network computer," a concept backed by Oracle's Larry Ellison, referring specifically to an inexpensive, hard-drive-less terminal designed primarily to connect to Internet and other networks.But Apple's chief financial officer, Fred Anderson, decided that to make the product more powerful, it needed to add a disk drive so it could become a full-fledged home desktop computer.Jobs eventually took his advice.
Jon Rubenstein, the head of the hardware department, decided to give the planned new machine a microprocessor and core from Apple's professional-class Pro computer, the Power Mac G3, and installed a hard drive and an optical disc tray.But Jobs and Rubenstein made a bold decision—the new machines would no longer come with the ubiquitous floppy disk drive.Jobs quoted hockey star Wayne Gretzky: "Skate where the puck is going, not where it is." His approach was avant-garde at the time, but eventually most computers canceled it. floppy disk drive.
Ive and his first assistant, Danny Coster, began planning the futuristic design.Jobs unceremoniously rejected the dozens of prototypes they initially designed, but Ive knew how to guide him gently.Ive agrees that none of the models are perfect, but he points to one promising — a curvy, interesting look that doesn't look like a board that's stuck on a table and can't be removed. "It has the feeling that it just landed on your desk and could fly somewhere else at any moment," he told Jobs.
Ive perfected the model one more time before his next presentation.This time, Jobs yelled that he liked it, with his "either a masterpiece or a piece of shit" criteria.He walks around headquarters with a foam model, confidently showing it off to his trusted mid-level and board members.Apple has always advertised that everything it does is "think different."Yet until then, no one had come up with what would set Apple computers apart from other computers on the market.This time, Jobs finally had something new.
Ive and Coster proposed designing the case's plastic shell to be navy blue—a color that would later be named "Bondi Blue," inspired by Bondi Beach in Australia.And the shell is translucent, you can see the inside of the machine. "We wanted to convey the feeling that the computer can change according to our needs, like a chameleon," Ive said. "That's why we like translucency. It has a fixed color, but it's not rigid. You can see the inside at a glance, and there is a naughty feeling.”
This translucency ties together the engineering of the interior and the design of the shell, both figuratively and literally.Jobs always insisted that the chips line up neatly on the circuit board, even if they would not be seen by people.But now, they can be seen.Through this translucent shell, people will be able to see Jobs' intentions for the product, and this intention runs through the manufacturing and assembly process of all components.This playful design will convey the idea of simplicity while also showing the depth needed to truly achieve simplicity.
So much sophistication in such a simple plastic case.Ive and his team worked with Apple's manufacturers in South Korea to perfect the product, and they even went to a factory that makes jelly beans to learn how to make translucent colors more vibrant.Each case costs more than $60, three times the cost of a typical computer case.Other companies might have a dedicated argument about whether a translucent case would help boost sales and justify the extra cost.But Jobs dismissed such arguments.
They also designed a built-in carrying handle on the top of the iMac case.It is more fun and symbolic than functional.This is a desktop computer, and no one is carrying it around.But Ivor thinks of it this way:
Jobs also faced opposition from manufacturing engineering, backed by Rubenstein.Confronted with Ive's need for aesthetics and "whimsicality," Rubenstein presents realistic considerations about cost. "When we took the handle proposal to engineering," Jobs said, "they came up with 38 reasons why it couldn't be done. And I said, 'No, no, that's what I'm going to do.' And they Ask, 'So, why?' And I'm like, 'Because I'm the CEO, I think it's okay to do it.' And they just reluctantly do it."
Jobs also invited Lee Crow and Ken Siegel of the TBWAChiatDay advertising agency to come to Apple to see what was going on here.He took them into the heavily guarded design studio and dramatically displayed a translucent teardrop-shaped enclosure Ive designed that looked a lot like a 1980s TV cartoon, The Jetsons. ) about future scenes.At that moment, they seemed to go back to the past. "We were in shock, but no one dared to say it," recalls Siegel. "We were really like, 'Oh my God, do they know what they're doing?' It was out of the ordinary." Jobs asked them to give Give this computer a name.Siegel gave five, one of which was "iMac."At first, Jobs didn't like either, so Siegel came up with another list a week later, but said his company still preferred "iMac."Jobs replied, "I don't find the name so annoying now, but I don't really like it." He then tried printing the name on some models and accepted it. Thus the name iMac was born.
As the iMac got closer and closer, Jobs' legendary bad temper returned, especially when it came to production problems.During a product review meeting, he noticed that manufacturing was slowing down. "He showed a frightening amount of rage, and it was absolutely pure rage," Ive recalled.Jobs walked around the table, berating everyone, starting with Rubenstein. "You know, we're trying to save the company," he yelled, "and you're going to destroy it!"
Like the Mac team back then, the iMac team also stumbled and finished the work just before the press conference, but still failed to escape the "last catastrophe".In a preview of a press conference, Rubinstein hurriedly produced two prototypes.Before that, no one, including Jobs, had seen the final product.Jobs saw on stage that there was a button on the front of the machine, below the display.He pushed a button and the CD tray popped out. "What the hell is this?!" He was not polite at all. "Neither of us said anything," recalls Schiller, "because of course he knew it was a CD tray." Jobs went on scolding.It was supposed to be a clean-cut CD slot, he insisted, like the elegant slot-in drives found in fancy cars.In a fit of rage, he threw Schiller out of the lecture hall.Schiller then turned to Rubinstein for help. "Steve, this is the optical drive I showed you when we were discussing components," Rubenstein explained. "No, there was never a tray, just a slot," Jobs insisted.Rubinstein didn't back down either.Jobs' anger didn't abate one bit. "I was on the verge of crying because it was too late to make any changes," Jobs later recalled.
They stopped the rehearsal, and the next moment it seemed like Jobs was canceling the entire product launch. "Ruby looked at me like, 'Am I crazy?'" recalls Schiller. "This was the first product launch I did with Jobs, and it was the first time I understood his mentality. : If something doesn’t feel right, just cancel.” Eventually, they came to a consensus—to turn the tray into a slot in the next iMac. "Only when we confirm that we will produce slot-type optical drives as soon as possible, can I prepare for the press conference with confidence." Speaking of this, Jobs has tears in his eyes.
Also, a video he planned to show went wrong.In this video, Jonny Ive explains his design philosophy and asks everyone, "What kind of computer do you think the 'Jasons' should have? That seemed out of reach yesterday." At this time , there will be a two-second cartoon clip: Jane Jason looking at a screen; the next two-second clip is the Jetsons giggling in front of a Christmas tree.During a preview, a production assistant told Jobs they had to cut the four seconds because they didn't have permission from Hanna-Barberra's production company. "I'm going to put it here!" Jobs yelled at him.The assistant explained to him that doing so would violate relevant regulations. "I don't care," Jobs said, "we're going to use it." In the end the video was kept.
Lee Crow is preparing a series of colorful magazine ads.He sent Jobs some typesetting proofs, and soon got an angry call from Jobs.Jobs insisted that the blue in the ad did not match the blue in the photos of the iMac they singled out. "You guys don't know what you're doing," Jobs yelled. "I'm going to find someone else to do this ad because you ruined it." Crowe retorted, "Go and see it again." Not in the office, but keeps insisting he's right and yelling non-stop.Finally, Crowe asked him to sit down calmly and compare the original photos again. "I finally proved to him that this blue was the blue he wanted." A few years later, a thread popped up on Gawker's "Steve Jobs Discussion Board" from Palo, California. Otto works at Whole Foods, a few blocks from Jobs' home.The post read: "I was sorting my shopping cart one afternoon when I saw a silver Mercedes parked in a handicapped parking spot. Steve Jobs was in the car yelling into his car phone. Before the first iMac was released, so I'm sure I heard him right, he was yelling: 'Fuck it! Not blue enough!!!'”
All the while, Jobs racked his brains for the dramatic moment of the unveiling.He rehearsed a few more times just after the previous rehearsal was aborted because of the CD tray incident, to make sure he stood out for the official presentation.He rehearsed that climactic moment over and over again—he walked to the other side of the stage, lifted the drapes, and announced, “Say hello to the new iMac.” He asked for just the right lighting to bring the iMac’s translucency to life.But after several rehearsals, he remained dissatisfied, reminiscent of the 1984 rehearsal for the Mac computer launch, when Sculley witnessed him struggling with the stage lighting: he asked to turn it back down. Brighter and earlier, but he was still not satisfied.Finally he walked off the stage and took a seat in the middle of the auditorium, with his legs draped over the backs of the chairs in the front row. "Tune it, you guys, until it's done," he said.The staff tried again. "No, no," Jobs grumbled. "That's not going to work." Tried again, this time with enough light, but too late. "I'm too lazy to talk about you guys," Jobs yelled.Finally, the iMac finally made its debut under the lights. "That's right! That's it! Very good!" Jobs exclaimed excitedly.
A year earlier, Jobs had fired his early mentor and collaborator, Mike Markkula, from the board.But out of pride in the iMac and the inextricable connection between the iMac and the Mac, Jobs invited Markkula to Apple headquarters to let him take a look at the product in advance.Markkula thought the iMac was awesome, but the only thing he objected to was Ive's mouse, which he said looked too much like a hockey puck for people to like.Jobs disagreed with him, but it turned out that Markkula was right.Other than that, the iMac is as unbeatable as its Mac predecessors.
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