Apple Watch vs Samsung | Race to the Wrist | 2

0:07It's January 2012 in Cupertino, California. Apple's senior VP of design, Johnny Ive, parks his black Aston Martin and walks across the grass courtyard of the Infinite Loop campus. It's a ring of six nondescript 90s-era office buildings. Ive is 45 years old, and the man behind the iMac, the MacBook, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. He's got a tight buzz cut and the stocky build of a former rugby player. A fresh wave of grief bears down on him as he passes the place where he recently gave a memorial speech for Steve Jobs, his longtime creative partner and close friend. He remembers their last conversations about Jobs' dream of developing a new platform that would transform people's lives the way the iPhone had.

0:58Now Ive is desperate to find the right project to honor his friend's vision and to prove to the world that Apple can survive without Jobs at the helm. Dejected, Ives stares down at his feet. He's a little worried about his blood pressure. He hasn't been taking care of himself in the emotional tailspin following Jobs' death. He knows Jobs was investigating how technology could help people be healthier during his long journey with cancer. And now all anyone seems to talk about in Silicon Valley these days is the Fitbit, a clip-on wristband pedometer that counts steps and even tracks your sleep. Ike kicks a pinecone off the concrete pack and thinks how ironic it is that we think of pedometers as modern technology.

1:47Step counters have been around for centuries. Leonardo da Vinci invented the first mechanical one. They're a bit like clocks. Horology, the study of clocks, is one of Ike's obsessions. He's fascinated by how the sundial evolved into the hourglass. Grandfather clocks into quartz wristwatches. It'd be fun to design something that has such a long history, stretching back through time. Something that would show reverence for the past, yet point toward the future. Ive feels as if a shadow has lifted. He lifts his head higher and quickens his pace through the covered corridor that leads him to the industrial design building.

2:31Ive taps his Apple ID badge on the keyless lock of the door to the secretive design studio and walks in. Designers, model makers, and fabricators talk quietly in small groups and lean over waist-high tables sketching. Black sheets conceal sensitive works in progress. There's an espresso machine in the back of the room, and the aroma of good coffee fills the air. Ive picks up a dry erase marker and starts to write something on a whiteboard in the back of the room. Hey, everybody, if you could gather around the board, I want to have a brainstorming session. Designers gather around nearby tables outfitted with neat organizers filled with paper, colored pencils, and pens.

3:12Ive stops writing and turns to face them. There's only one word on the whiteboard in cramped, lowercase letters. It reads, SmartWatch, Apple's entry into an already crowded field of trackers. It seems like such a small offering in a post-jobs world. and Samsung is getting ready to clean Apple's clock.

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5:42From Wondery, I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars.

5:50The End

6:14In the last episode, Samsung survived wars, coups, and financial crises to become one of the most well-known consumer electronics brands in the world, second only to Apple. And Apple fired, then rehired its mercurial founder and evolved from a personal computer company into a market leader in mobile technology. But now Apple is vulnerable. The most recent iPhone was released the day before Jobs died, and the general consensus is it's underwhelming. The company's also embroiled in a lawsuit with Samsung over patent and trademark infringement on the iPad and the iPhone. And the word is out that Samsung is well on the way to launching a smartwatch.

7:00Their entry will join a field of pioneered devices from Fitbit, Garmin, Timex, Sony, Motorola, and other tech startups that have recently kicked off a run on the wearable sector. Now, Apple desperately needs a new product to prove all the doomsayers wrong. And the first one in the post-jobs era has to be a home run. This is Episode 2, Race to the Wrist.

7:35It's February 2012 in Cupertino. Apple CEO Tim Cook, lead designer Johnny Ive, and mobile software chief Scott Forstall sit at a boardroom conference table in Apple's executive wing. The staff calls it Valhalla. Steve Jobs hired Forstall in 1992 straight out of college to work for him at Next, the company Jobs founded after he was forced out of Apple. Over the next years, the tall, lean 43-year-old software engineer has mimicked his mentor's style. He wears a black shirt and jeans. The media's nickname for him is The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Horstall's phone buzzes on the table in front of him. He glances at it and swipes away a news alert.

8:21He turns to Ive. See, Johnny, that's what I'm worried about with this smartwatch idea. Our phones already rip us out of the moment with alerts and texts and notifications. So do our laptops. Now you want people to strap another one of these computers onto our wrists so it can distract us more? Ive grits his teeth in irritation. He shares the same conviction Jobs held, that ideas are delicate and deserve to be developed before they're judged, not swatted away like mosquitoes. He points to Forstall's phone. If you don't want to be distracted, Scott, you can turn off your alerts. That's what we do here, design things so people can control their environment, not be controlled by it.

9:02Yeah, but you know people don't have the self-discipline to do that. Look at all the car crashes caused by texting. At least when I'm at the wheel and my phone's in my pocket, I have a chance of ignoring it. But if it were on my wrist, I'd be taking my eyes off the road every five seconds. Next you'll suggest smart glasses or smart hearing aids. Ive gives his sarcastic colleague the side eye. Very funny. But the thing is, Scott, a smartwatch isn't a departure for us. People wore iPod nanos on their wrists, remember? and we filed a patent for a wristband that harnesses kinetic energy to recharge a battery and one for a curved touchscreen with sensors for monitoring heart rate.

9:42My point is we're already developing wearable technology. We just haven't pulled the trigger on a product yet. Ivan, Forstall are longtime rivals. Both were close with jobs. They clashed bitterly over the defective iPhone 4 that dropped calls and earned the name AntennaGate. Tim Cook jumps in to redirect the conversation before it gets more heated. Okay, Scott, you have concerns about a smartwatch. What do you want to propose as an alternative? Forstall leans his elbows on the table and clasps his hands. Well, that's easy. You told us to look into the idea that Steve mentioned in the Isaacson biography, to reinvent television so people don't waste time mindlessly scrolling.

10:27Well, we've narrowed that down to what we think Steve was talking about and landed on a voice-activated system that would gather all the channels in a single place. It would be revolutionary. Cook fiddles with a pen on the legal pad in front of him. Hmm. All the networks would have to agree to that. We'd be caught up in negotiations for years with no guarantee of success. We need to launch something new soon. Eventually, Cook chooses the smartwatch project. But if the first prototype doesn't wow the executive team, He promises he'll pull the plug in a heartbeat. As the development process gears up, impatient investors and tech media outlets predict the mighty Apple will wither without jobs.

11:12It's a vulnerable time that Samsung is more than ready to exploit.

11:24It's September of 2012 in Beverly Hills. Samsung's chief U.S. marketing officer, Todd Pendleton, strides across the dining room of a Wolfgang Puck restaurant on Rodeo Drive. He's in his late 30s and chubby-cheeked with an impish smile and a single gold hoop earring. His team members huddle around tables covered with laptops. They're watching Apple's product launch online event in real time, tracking the new features and the firehose of comments on social media and tech blog. PENDLETON TAPS THE SHOULDER OF ONE OF HIS FAVORITE STRATEGISTS. DON'T THINK, JUST GUT REACTION TO APPLE'S LAUNCH, SOMETHING THE COPYRIITERS CAN RIF ON.

12:04PENDLETON'S BOOK THE WHOLE RESTAURANT AS A WAR ROOM FOR THE SALES AND ADVERTISING TEAMS, SO THEY CAN WATCH THE BROADCAST AND FAST-TRACK A NEW CAMPAIGN. SAMSUNG IS ON A MISSION TO HIT APPLE WHILE IT'S DOWN, AND BRAND THEMSELVES AS INNOVATORS AHEAD OF THE LAUNCH OF THEIR OWN SMARTWATCH, THE GALAXY GEAR. The ad man mimes banging his head on the table. Please, Todd, release me from the misery of watching the world's most boring man overhyped cell phone features like Siri now has a French-Canadian accent. And if one more dweeb claims their work makes a difference and changes the world, just stick needles in my ears, please.

12:44Pendleton grins. Well, now that you got that off your chest, cough up something useful. Okay, okay. How about a spot about Siri going rogue and begging to be released from the pretentious self-serious prison known as an Apple iPhone? Pendleton drums his fingers on his crossed arm. He's thinking. Last year, Samsung targeted Apple in an ad that mocked people standing in endless lines waiting to buy the new iPhone. Why not continue along that theme? He turns on his heel and jogs to a table of copywriters from Samsung's agency. He leans down and pauses the video streaming on a tablet. Just throwing it out there, pretentious, self-serious, hyperbolic statements about being different and changing the world, that's Apple in a nutshell, right?

13:30What about writing up something that pokes fun at their pompous word salad marketing and how cool they think they are? A copywriter jumps up and starts writing on a nearby whiteboard. Ooh, like those Apple ads with John Hodgman and PCs, yeah? We could have some wannabe hipster holding a place in line for their dorky mom. A woman at the table shakes her head. Ugh, potshots about moms being uncool are misogynistic. Make it a dorky mom and a dad. Two hours after the Apple event ends, the Samsung team is already polishing scripts. Pendleton grabs the pages and hurries to a studio, where a film crew and actors wait to shoot the first TV spot.

14:12A satire of Apple acolytes around the country waiting to buy an apparently lackluster new iPhone. Meanwhile, people with Samsung phones breezily demonstrate their truly innovative features, like sharing music files by holding their devices close together. Hey, man. Oh, hey. How's it going? Saved you a spot. I moved on. But you're not going to miss all this? I got the Samsung GS3 now. Is that a Samsung? That's a new Samsung. It is. It's pretty cool. But I kind of like it. This one's 4G. Yeah. We've had that for a while. This one's got a big screen. This one has a bigger one. And we can share videos instantly.

14:51You can watch a video while you're sending an email. But we're going to get that for sure. Maybe not this time, but the next time, right? The next big thing is already here. The Samsung Galaxy S3. Samsung supplements the ads with billboards near Apple stores and an ambush marketing stunt. They deliver pizzas to Apple junkies actually waiting in lines. The Next Big Thing Is Already Here campaign goes mad viral. But rumors are swirling about what everyone assumes will be Apple's next big thing, the Apple Watch. Samsung is determined to beat their rival to the finish line. They aim for a smartwatch launch in the fall.

15:33That gives them just one year to design and manufacture a product that will rival Apple's highly anticipated health-centered wearable computer. If Samsung can't pull it off, their time near the top of the consumer electronics sector will come to a sudden, humiliating end.

15:58It's late 2012 at the Regis Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Apple security guards in blue polo shirts stand guard at elevators, stairwells, and entrances on the hotel's third floor. Event staff members sweep the halls for recording devices and draw the curtains. Apple's top executives gather at conference tables arranged in a horseshoe shape in a large boardroom. A video screen in the front of the room displays computer renderings of sensors, watch specs, and circuitry. An engineer stands to the side of the screen. Welcome to our smartwatch presentation. We'll go through the slide deck soon, but first I know you've all been eager to get your hands on a prototype, so let's go straight to the demo.

16:40We don't have a watch case design yet, so instead we're using iPods. It'll give you a feel for the intuitive user interface. Two electrical engineers open the lid of a heavy-duty equipment case on the side table. Apple uses the Pelican cases to keep prying eyes from unreleased devices. They take out dozens of rectangular media players and clasp them on exec's wrists with black nylon straps. The lead engineer pulls the strap tight on Johnny Ive's wrist. Ive winces. I like to wear a watch loose on my wrist. The engineer stares nervously as Ive adjusts the straps. He knows the heart rate sensors on the prototype have to press closely to the skin, or they won't work.

17:24The engineer is worried Ive is going to tank the whole demo. The software lead takes his place in the middle of the room and taps the iPod on his wrist. So you tap on this red heart icon and now you can see the wave display of your heart's electrical signals. Apple's chief operations manager taps enthusiastically on his iPod screen. Wow. And how are you guys going to relay notifications from the phone to the watch? The engineering team members circle the room to answer the exec's questions individually. But they keep glancing over at IVE. CEO Tim Cook recently fired mobile software chief Scott Forstall for his role in the disastrous launch of Apple Maps.

18:08Users reported it showed London and the Atlantic Ocean and the Brooklyn Bridge melting into thin air. Now, Ive is the new head of software design and the team needs his approval more than anyone else's. And they're extra concerned about the bottle of green juice Ive is sipping. He's on a food cleanse to detox from his poor diet during his lingering grief over Steve Jobs' death. The engineers are convinced the fasting will put him in a cranky, unreceptive mood. Ive taps his iPod. He nods his head as jagged red lines dance in time to his heartbeat. He's impressed it's only taken engineering a few months to transform a music player into a health device.

18:53The demo is a success. Apple's top lieutenants leave the hotel convinced a smartwatch is vital to the company's future and the key to beating back a surging Samsung. The press has named the Korean company's new Galaxy 3 phone the Ferrari of the Android circuit and best smartphone of the year. Samsung's phone sales exceeded$8 billion, and their profits are up 79 % since last year. If I can't fast-track a knockout Apple Watch, Samsung will capitalize on its handheld momentum to monopolize the world's wrists as well.

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21:17It's early 2013 in Cupertino. Kevin Lynch walks into his boss's office at the Infinite Loop. It's his first day as Apple's new VP of technology, and he's expecting to spend it undergoing the usual orientation. Apple is so secretive he still doesn't know exactly what his job is. His boss, Bob Mansfield, glances up at him from his desk. Kevin, great to have you here. But you're in the wrong place. Forget about the onboarding BS. You're going straight to work with Johnny Ive on that smartwatch. You're in charge of that project. You can learn about our 401k plans later. Lynch's eyes open wide behind his small, round-rimmed glasses.

21:58He's wearing a blue cardigan sweater and looks like a cross between Bill Gates and Mr. Rogers. He's a bit overwhelmed. Wow. This is what the Manhattan Project must have felt like. Now I know what you guys are really up to. Lynch takes the short path to building number two and the design offices. Ive and a few engineers are standing around one of the high-top tables. iPhones attached to clumsy black wrist straps lie scattered in front of them. Ive waves them over. Uh, Kevin, great, you're here. We have a design review in two days and we're a bit behind schedule. We still don't have a prototype, so we're using iPhones with a custom dongle to simulate a watch dial.

22:40We're trying to figure out the best user interface for texting on the watch. Lynch nods, numbly. He's still playing catch-up. A designer stands at the ready, a phone already attached to his wrist. He plugs the round dongle into the cord jack. I faces him and opens the stopwatch app on his phone. Okay, send me a text and I'll time how long it takes. The designer holds his arm up with his wrist in front of him and turns the knob on the phone to access the texting screen. He keys in Ive's name, types the message, confirms the message, and hits send. Done. That was as fast as I could go. What's the damage?

23:17Ive squints at the stopwatch. Oof. That took ten seconds. Lynch picks up one of the iPhones. He tightens the strap on his wrist and holds his arm up as if he were texting on it. He's decided to jump in with both feet. Sheesh, just holding your arm up like this for any amount of time is uncomfortable. Nobody wants to walk around like that for ten seconds. We need to get the interaction time down to two seconds max. A software engineer spins a dry erase marker on the table. He's thinking, People will probably only use a watch to text simple messages, like what do you want for dinner or want to come over tonight?

23:54Maybe we could build something that would read the messages and spit out just a few suggested responses. so you wouldn't have to type as much, like Thai or Mexican, that sort of thing. By the end of the day, the team has whittled four seconds off the texting interface. I've rubs the two-day stubble on his chin. Yeah, this is good, but we need to make the interaction more invisible, more natural. Let's pick up tomorrow with the Taptic Engine, the pulse alert. Right now, I'm afraid it's too creepy. Feels like a bug crawling up my wrist. and you have to figure out what a tweet should feel like as opposed to, say, an urgent text from your doctor.

24:37Maybe one should be a sound like a bird and the other like a bell clapper. And the wrist flick that lights up the screen, that needs to be more subtle. It will give people carpal tunnel. Ha! So much to do. As Kevin Lynch settles into his new job, he pressures Ive to speed up the design process. But Ive pays maniacal attention to detail. One alert sounds too metallic to him, another too melodic. In the end, he opts for the sound of a tiny hammer pinging the actual watch case itself. But the real cause of the delay is that, for the first time, he's developed a paralyzing case of designer's block.

25:18He doesn't know exactly what he wants the watch to look like. His indecisiveness is holding up both the software and the hardware teams.

25:32One month later, in Cupertino, Johnny Ive and his close friend Mark Newsom stand in front of a long table in the design studio. Half a dozen sketches of Apple Watch concepts are laid out in front of them. Newsom is the world-renowned artist behind Nike sneakers, Louis Vuitton luggage, and scores of wristwatches. He traces his finger around the circular watch face of the first sketch. So you're considering a round case that would align your watch with the traditional fashion watch instead of the boxy tech geek look. Ives invited Newsom into Apple's inner sanctum in the hopes his friend will jostle him out of his rut.