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Fifteen years later, the Apple Cards origin story

437 points · 120 comments · ksec

  1. woadwarrior01 · · focus · HN ↗
    > For one, Apple was unwilling to have visible barcodes printed on the envelopes — but it wanted every step of the shipping and delivery of your card tracked. That wasn’t something the US Postal Service did. Apple and the printing company created an invisible barcode that was sprayed on the envelope, visible only under certain UV light, so that the envelope itself would remain unadulterated. And the USPS agreed to scan cards when sent, when processed at mail facilities, up to and including when they went out on a mail truck for delivery.

    This is classic Steve Jobs. Sheer force of will.

    1. Mistletoe · · focus · HN ↗
      Sheer force of stupid, no one cares if a bar code is on the envelope.
      1. skygazer · · focus · HN ↗
        I think many failed/aborted projects only seem stupid in retrospect because we assume it proof they could never have succeeded .. but many ridiculous things can and do succeed and find their place. It fizzled after his death without anyone championing it with persistent care and constructive iterations. It may well have ultimately failed, regardless, but it certainly lost its motive power.
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