The Secret History of the iPhone with Brian Merchant

Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger

Audacy

Investing, Education, Business, Self-improvement

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2017

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On June 29th, 2007 Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a new product, which he described as “a revolutionary mobile phone,” and a “breakthrough Internet communications device.” Indeed, the iPhone has changed our lives. We do EVERYTHING on our phones. We text, we surf the web, we bank, we book vacations, we get directions, we book cars, we play games, and we even make the occasional phone call. In the process, Apple has become the most profitable public company in the world, with a market cap of about three quarters of a trillion dollars – that’s more than twice as much as Exxon Mobil and three times as much as General Electric. Over the past ten years, Apple’s business has grown by 10 times and its stock price has increased by nearly 720 percent, dwarfing the 134 percent rise in the NASDAQ Composite Index. But just how close did we come to not having the iPhone? How did it actually happen? Our guest Brian Merchant, technology journalist and author of the new book, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone takes us back to the mid-2000’s to tell the iPhone origin story. Brian reveals the inside story of the device, based on his exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation. He also discussed what life is like for the workers in China who assemble the phones. As you’ll hear, Brian doesn’t paint a very pretty picture. If you’re a techie and live for the latest Apple rumors and news, definitely follow Brian on Twitter. “Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment. We love feedback so please leave us a rating or review in iTunes. "Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com. For a recap of every episode, visit https://www.betterment.com/resources/topics/inside-betterment/better-off-podcast/ Connect with me at these places for all my content: http://www.jillonmoney.com/ https://twitter.com/jillonmoney https://www.facebook.com/JillonMoney https://www.instagram.com/jillonmoney/ https://www.youtube.com/c/JillSchlesinger https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillonmoney/ https://soundcloud.com/jill-schlesinger http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jill-on-money http://betteroffpodcast.com/ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/better-off-jill-schlesinger/id431167790?mt=2

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Jill Schlesinger on this episode of Better Off. It's Brian Merchant,
0:08.0	author of The One Device, the Secret History of the iPhone.
0:11.7	I managed to sneak inside the FoxCon factory where iPhones are made.
0:15.5	What I saw was really grim.
0:17.4	You know, reading this book, I hope that people can kind of integrate
0:20.4	some of those dirtier parts of the iPhone's story as a physical object
0:24.8	as this historical object into how we see it every day.
0:29.4	Welcome to the Better Off Podcast sponsored by Betterment, the largest independent online financial
0:34.9	advisor.
0:35.9	On today's show, we've got author Brian Merchant.
0:38.7	He's just written a new book called The One Device, The Secret History of the the iPhone and I guess that generally speaking
0:45.7	everybody kind of knows loosely what's gone on with the iPhone but it's been an
0:49.8	unbelievable 10-year period since the introduction of this device. It's changed our lives.
0:55.0	And what's kind of cool is Brian really goes down deep to the underbelly, to the origin story of the iPhone.
1:02.0	So without further ado, here's my interview with Brian Merchant.
1:06.3	You're listening to Better Off with Jill Schlesinger. The iPhone turned 10. 10. It's only 10 years old, but luckily for you I have the
1:18.2	foremost expert on the iPhone. He is Brian Merchant, author of The One Device,
1:25.0	the Secret History of the iPhone.
1:28.0	Brian is an editor at Mother Board.
1:31.0	Whatever, you've been in a million places,
1:32.0	so welcome to Better Off.
1:33.6	Thanks so much for having me. All right, Brian, first of all, this is a money show. So I'm going to throw you a curveball.
	...

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