One thing I like about Technology is how Tech companies always want to add their own personal touch to their inventions. Almost every invention ever made has something in it that describes the owner, Tesla has Elon’s love for a green environment and Microsoft has Bill gates love for information. An inventor’s traits are often reflected in their work and that’s what makes their work special.

I recently ran into something unique about Apple products and I still can’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. Almost every single Apple product in every promotional photo is set to 9:41 a.m. MacBook, iPad, iPhone, it really doesn’t matter. I was like wait, why is everything saying 9:41 am?, Like every Apple product in the world, says exactly 9:41 a.m. at the time of its photo shoot. Random coincidence? Obviously not. But again why 9:41? 

As it turns out it was a carefully made choice. It’s no coincidence, it’s not random at all, and I was not reading too much into it, it was exactly that. But I also learned it wasn’t the original choice. Earlier on, Apple products were apparently photographed with a time of 9:42 a.m. I know what you’re thinking, again why?

So here’s the story behind it, Australian iOS developer Jon Manning wanted to know too. And he happened to be at the first iPad launch, where he saw Scott Forstall, then senior vice president of iOS software at Apple and leader of the original iPhone and iPad software development team. Manning had noticed that early products had been set to 9:42 in their photos, but that changed to 9:41. Brimming with curiosity, he asked Forstall what was going on.

The answer had to do with Steve Jobs and his very carefully crafted product launch presentations, Forstall explained. “We design the keynotes so that the big reveal of the product happens around 40 minutes into the presentation,” he said. “When the big image of the product appears on screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience’s watches. But we know we won’t hit 40 minutes exactly.” 

In short, Steve Jobs either had planning OCD or he was just so invested in the real-time user experience. Either way, I still think it is cool, plus I can relate, I make such moves on a daily. One thing is for sure though, if you want to run a big deal company like Apple, then you should know that details matter, the secret, in this case, is in the details.

Now you know!! Comment below if you find this interesting and keep it “The Millenial” for more of such.

Noanne✨✨✨