A former senior exec at Lucent Technologies has said that while the technical birthplace of Wi-Fi may have been in the Netherlands (a contentious issue in itself), it was at a meeting with Steve Jobs in Cupertino that it was born as a commercial product …
The story is told in Wi-Fi Now, with a former exec noting that Lucent had been trying for a full 10 years to turn Wi-Fi into a commercial success.
That wasn’t the job done, however. Steve wanted to pay $50 per wireless card, and that was below Lucent’s manufacturing cost. But, with Apple’s help, the company managed to make it work.
“Apple was looking for something different and new for their iBook laptop product, and Steve was very enamoured by the idea of wireless connectivity for laptops. Looking back, it seems to me he had probably made up his mind even before the meeting,” says Cees Links.
Steve’s showmanship again played a key role, surprising everyone with the wireless Internet connection by accessing a website then picking the iBook off the desk and walking off with it, then passing it through a Hula hoop – as seen in the amateur video below.
Photo: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
