Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone,
which was introduced on June 29, 2007, has been a runaway hit for the Cupertino, California-based company. In
fiscal year 2016, the company derived roughly 63.4 percent or $136.70 billion of its total revenues from the iPhone.
Work on the iConic phone began well ahead of its launch, with the development said to have begun in 2004. There is a story doing
the rounds that the iPhone was conceptualized when late Steve Jobs wanted a device that would allow him to read e-mail in the
bathroom. The development was kept under wraps despite the company working with partners like Cingular, which is now part of
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Yahoo!
Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Alphabet
Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL)'s Google. The project to develop the iPhone was known as Project Purple
back then.
The iTeam
Benzinga looked at some of the engineers involved in the original iPhone development team and where they are currently
positioned.
Scott Forstall, who served as senior vice president of iOS Software at Apple from 2007 until
October 2012, was vested with the responsibility of software development for the iPhone and the iPad.
In a testimony,
Forstall said he was vested with the responsibility of hiring people from inside the company project, giving them little details,
given the secrecy shrouding the project.
After his unceremonious exit from Apple in 2012, seen as a result of his abrasive personality, he kept a low profile until April
2015, when he revealed via a tweet that was a co-producer of the Broadway version of musical "Fun Home." Forstall is reportedly
advising Snapchat
currently.
Sir Jonathan Paul Jony Ive is the face behind the design of many Apple products, including MacBook Pro, iMac,
MacBook Air, Mac mini, iPod, iPod Touch, iPad, iPad Mini, Apple Watch, iOS and iPhone. He currently serves as the chief design
officer of Apple, overseeing its Industrial Design Group and providing leadership and direction for Human Interface software teams
across the company.
Greg Christie, who is credited a being one of the inventors of Apple's slide to unlock
system on the iPhone, left Apple in 2014, seen as a result of differences over design decisions with Ive. He was supposedly drafted
into the iPhone team by Forstall in 2004, with the vague hint that the device he would be working on would be a phone with an
integrated music player, operated by touch screen.
Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of worldwide marketing, had
also been involved in the project right from inception. He continues to head marketing at Apple.
Andy Grignon was
a senior manager on the iPhone and took care of the radio software workings. He later joined Palm to co-invent webOS and oversaw
the release of 13 versions of webOS. He co-founded a new start-up called Quake Labs, which allows users to create rich media
projects on their mobile devices and PCs.
Jeremy Wyld, who was also part of the original iPhone team, was
responsible for founding Quake Labs along with Grignon.
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.