Did you know that iPhone, iPad, and Macbook presentations always show the same time? Why does Apple have this tradition of 9:41? Whenever the Apple brand presents a new product, whether it's iPhones, iPads, or MacBooks, the screen shows that it's 9:41 AM.
But this is not a coincidence, nor is it because Apple records all its ads at the same time. Rather, it is based on a tradition from Steve Jobs's days at the company, which we will explain in more detail later in this article.
Brand history
It was in 1976 when Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company in California, a company that revolutionized the world of technology and the way people interact. That is why many people have become interested in the tradition behind the 9:41 shown on device screens in both their keynotes and television commercials. But why this particular time?
It was former Apple vice president Scott Forstall, one of the people involved in developing the iOS system, who revealed that this "secret hour" is due to the design of the company's presentations.
Apple schedules the reveal of its keynote's star product for 40 minutes into the presentation. Therefore, to ensure that the time of the presentation matches the actual time on the audience's watches, Apple set the time to 9:42 a.m. in the product photos.
Apple's secret time: the tradition of 9:41 a.m., Scott Forstall revealed in a 2010 interview, "We design the keynotes so that the big product reveal happens around 40 minutes into the presentation. When the big image of the product appears on the screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience's watches. But we know we won't get to exactly 40 minutes," he said.
The launch of Apple's iPhone
Apple was quite precise with this estimated time, and on that historic January 9, 2007, at exactly 9:42 a.m., Steve Jobs presented the first iPhone to the world. It was a presentation in which he uttered a phrase that would change the world: "Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone."
Years later, with the launch of the iPad, the time was adjusted to 41 minutes, and since then the tradition has been maintained, becoming part of Apple's advertising legacy.
A tradition that the Apple company continues to uphold today, even in cases where product launches have not coincided with their now traditional 9:41 a.m. in Cupertino.
Apple 9:41
This time is also reflected in the commercials launched by the company online, in the press, and on television.
And the reason why this happens was recently revealed by a former developer of Apple's iOS system, Scott Forstall, to Jon Manning, another developer who works for the company Secret Lab in Australia.
We designed the presentations so that the big product reveal would happen at the 40-minute mark," Forstall explained.
When the large image of the product appears on the screen, we want the time shown to be similar to the actual time on the audience's watches. But we know we won't get exactly 40 minutes right.
That's why, at the beginning, when the first iPhones were unveiled, the time shown in the promotional images was 9:42, because the announcement was made 42 minutes after the event had started, and not 40 minutes as planned.
The time changed at 9:41 a.m. when the first iPads were unveiled in 2010 and the name of the first tablet was revealed at that time. It remains the same today.
Not all Apple presentations are held at nine o'clock, and therefore not all of its new products are announced at 9:41.
In fact, the last event at which the new iPhone XS and iWatch were unveiled, the press had been invited to attend at 10 a.m. (local time). The star announcement therefore took place at 10:41 a.m. and not at 9:41 a.m.
But this hour is special for the company for yet another reason.
It was 9 a.m. on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled an innovative product that would give Apple a new lease on life.
"Today Apple is going to reinvent the future of the phone," said Jobs, unveiling the first iPhone in history just over 40 minutes after 9 a.m.
