• Steve Jobs faked full signal strength and swapped devices during the first iPhone demo due to fragile prototypes and bug-riddled software.
• Engineers got drunk during the presentation to calm their nerves.
• Despite the challenges, Jobs successfully completed the 90-minute demonstration without any noticeable issues.
Demos are haunted.
It’d be nice if you could show off a product that’s about to launch, and have it Just Work under what should be controlled conditions. But it never does. It never fucking does. The little electronic bastards get infested with gremlins the moment you expose them to an audience.
Having things break onstage isn’t necessarily any more representative than showing off what’ it’s supposed to do. It can leave people thinking the product is hopelessly buggy, when really it’s a rare or mild problem.
None of this is comparable to Tesla’s outright fraud.