In July of 2008, Steve Jobs and Apple were in full preparation for the launch of Apple’s highly anticipated, and now very familiar, App Store. Jobs was quoted in The New York Times as saying: “The quality and the sophistication of the applications you can write for the iPhone is in a different class.” In a somewhat comedic sense, he was not wrong.
The App Store launched with over 500 applications, carefully selected and curated to showcase the original iPhone’s latest technology, cue accelerometer. There were games, productivity tools, social networks and, inevitably, apps whose primary purpose was simply to demonstrate what the new device could do.
Of this initial release, it was an app that made it look like your phone was a glass of beer which gained some of the most attention.
In this article, we dive into the story behind iBeer, the context of its release, the magician who created it, and how a virtual beer became one of the defining examples of the early App Store.
The magic behind iBeer
The person behind iBeer was Steve Sheraton, a magician and creator of technology-based illusions. Before the iPhone, Sheraton had already experimented with turning a mobile device into a convincing virtual drink. He created E-spresso, a video trick that made the device appear to contain a cup of coffee.
The iPhone, however, gave him something the Palm Pilot didn’t have: an accelerometer. Rather than simply displaying a video of a drink, Sheraton could make the illusion react to the way the phone was being held.
Tilt the device and the liquid would move with it. Turn it far enough and the beer would appear to pour towards the edge of the screen. A simple idea, but the effect was remarkably convincing for 2008.
Before the App Store existed, Sheraton had already found an audience. He uploaded a video of the iPhone “beer‑drinking” illusion to YouTube, where it attracted millions of views. People wanted to know how they could get the trick themselves, so Sheraton began selling video file for just over €2, reportedly making a few thousand euro a day at its peak.
As Apple prepared the App Store for launch, iBeer was a perfect demonstration of the iPhone’s capabilities. The application could make use of the accelerometer, touchscreen and high-quality display while requiring almost no explanation. You didn’t need to understand what an accelerometer was. Someone could simply hand you an iPhone, tilt it towards their mouth and pretend to drink it.
When the App Store opened on 10 July, 2008, iBeer was among its first applications. Sheraton kept the same price and, according to his later accounts, the app quickly reached the top of the App Store charts.
The copycats arrive
The success of iBeer also demonstrated something else about the new App Store: if an idea worked, it could be copied very quickly.
Later in 2008, Molson Coors, the Canadian-American multinational drink and brewing company, released iPint, a free application featuring a remarkably similar virtual beer. Unlike iBeer, however, iPint was effectively an advertising vehicle for Carling beer.
Sheraton and his company, Hottrix, objected to the similarities and eventually took legal action. The dispute highlighted one of the strange realities of the early App Store. A developer could create something seemingly trivial, distribute it to millions of people and suddenly find themselves competing with major corporations.
It was a sign of just how quickly the economics of software were changing.
Why iBeer mattered
Looking back at iBeer today, it is tempting to dismiss it as little more than a novelty app. In many ways, that’s exactly what it was. It didn’t make you more productive, help you navigate or connect you with friends. It made your phone look like a pint of beer. But that was also its appeal.
In 2008, the smartphone was still something new and slightly magical. The idea that a phone could respond to how you tilted it, display convincing graphics and run software created by almost anyone was genuinely exciting. iBeer distilled all of that into an experience that could be understood instantly.
More importantly, it demonstrated what made the App Store different. Software was no longer something that had to come from a major technology company or be installed from a physical disc. A magician could have an idea, turn it into an application and put it in front of millions of people.
Steve Jobs was right about one thing: the applications were different. Perhaps iBeer wasn’t the sophistication he had in mind when he gave that quote, but it captured something arguably more important.
The App Store had given people a platform to make and sell software that could be accessible, experimental and, occasionally, ridiculous.
