Tech Stuff

Apple Textbooks Was Actually The Idea Of A 2008 Intern

Did you hear about Apple’s big iBooks 2 announcement? (We won’t bore you with the details — you can read about it here). What we will tell you is that the idea was conceived by…an intern.

In 2008, Apple intern Joseph Peters entered the company’s “iContest,” in which he presented the idea for iTunes textbooks. Of course, the iPad didn’t even exist at the time, but Peters’ proposal won the contest and gave way, at least somewhat, to iBooks. The new release, iBooks 2, includes “Apple textbooks,” so Peters’ work is really starting to take figure now, almost four years later.

Peters told his story to The Wirecutter:

I originally pitched the idea to some fellow interns, but they all thought it was stupid because they all wanted to talk about the “iCar” or something “bigger.” Keep in mind most of these guys were engineers so business models aren’t necessarily important to them.

The night before the deadline to submit the idea came and I took a few emails I had with my Dad about this idea and started to write up a summary which became the foundation of the executive summary. I showed it to a few friends who then helped me. Later that night my friends and I took took the executive summary and hashed out a Keynote in Garage 1 in the early morning, the day of the presentation. Probably one of the greatest work related experiences of my life, thus far.

A true not-so-underdog underdog story!

TAGS: apple | apple textbooks | ibooks 2 | joseph peters

• 7 Things You Don't Need to Buy
• Get the Best Bargain on Bathroom Basics
• Top 10 Reasons Why Women Are Better
• 4 Most Travel Friendly Headphones