The One Device The Secret History of the i. Phone by Brian Merchant has been getting a lot of attention and it sounds like a pretty decent attempt at covering the insider story at a company thats notoriously difficult to get inside of. Among Merchants findings is this little gem The touch based phone, which was originally supposed to be nothing but screen, was going to need at least one button. We all know it well today the Home button. But Steve Jobs wanted it to have two he felt theyd need a back button for navigation. Chaudhri argued that it was all about generating trust and predictability. One button that does the same thing every time you press it it shows you your stuff. Again, that came down to a trust issue, Chaudhri says, that people could trust the device to do what they wanted it to do. Part of the problem with other phones was the features were buried in menus, they were too complex. A back button could complicate matters too, he told Jobs. I won that argument, Chaudhri says. And thus, history was made. The single home button was decided, plus Steve Jobs doubted his own instincts and listened to someone else. Whats interesting is that the i. Phone sort of set the template for all the subsequent smartphones to come. But Android competitors did throw on a back button. Adding extra stuff is basically the Android way. The simplicity of the i. Phone kept it distinctive. At least in that one moment, Chaudhri understood the Apple way better than Steve. Its a perfect time for that little story to come to light because it looks like were about to see the home buttons demise. Smartphone accessory maker Mobile. Fun has a reputation for accurately leaking i. Watch The Full Raining Cats And Frogs The Movie. Phone details months in advance. This weekend, the company posted a listing for an i. Phone 8 tempered glass screen protector It certainly looks like this is the best evidence yet that the home button is officially dead.