There are plenty of stories detailing Apple’s efforts to keep its plans secret, and many of them focus on Apple’s late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. But even though the iconic leader wanted to prevent product leaks at all costs, he apparently came dangerously close to accidentally revealing one of the company’s biggest secrets before he unveiled it on stage in early 2007.
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Shortly before the planned iPhone introduction at MacWorld, various iPhone engineers met the CEO at his home to work on a Wi-Fi issue, Business Insider revealed. At that point, a FedEx employee arrived with a package, and Jobs almost showed him the device by mistake.
“Up walks the happiest FedEx guy you have ever seen, coming up to the door,” a former Apple employee told the publication. “It’s not Steve’s normal guy, which is why he was surprised. So Steve goes out to meet him because he has to sign for this package, but he’s got the iPhone in one of his hands. Steve just walks out casually, drops the phone behind his back, signs the package, and the FedEx dude marches off.”
That type of behavior certainly surprised Apple engineers, who constantly had to protect the device from prying eyes.
“Now you have to understand, when we carried the phones to his house, we carried them in these Pelican lock boxes,” the same employee said. “These phones were never to leave Apple’s campus, and Steve just casually throws it behind his back. That was the first time I saw someone casually come close to seeing the iPhone before it was announced, and he didn’t even know it. If the FedEx guy had just tilted his head, he would have seen it.”
The full story, as told by the unnamed Apple employee, is available at the link in our source section.
