Steve Jobs was initially against third-party apps

Steve Jobs had to be persuaded to allow third-party apps on the original iPhone

According to excepts from a new biography of the late Apple CEO written by Walker Isaacson, initially only wanted apps developed in-house on the iPhone: “When it (the iPhone) first came out in early 2007, there were no apps you could buy from outside developers, and Jobs initially resisted allowing them. He didn’t want outsiders to create applications for the iPhone that could mess it up, infect it with viruses, or pollute its integrity.”

However Jobs eventually related to pressure from Art Levinson (Chairman of Genentech and Apple Board member) and Phil Schiller (senior vice-president of marketing at Apple).

Schiller says: “I couldn’t imagine that we would create something as powerful as the iPhone and not empower developers to make lots of apps. I knew customers would love them.”

This is a really interesting story, often when we think of Steve Jobs’ vision for the iPhone it’s tempting to think of everything being very carefully planned out in advance. Now we find out he wasn’t keen on third-party apps – something that has been central to the success of the iPhone and the iPad.

Imagine a phone without apps? Social networking and mobile gaming would have taken a totally different path, developing slower or not at all.

Walter Isaccson: ‘Steve Jobs: the exclusive biography’ is on-sale today.

Via: T3