Tim Cook has revealed that the idea for the smartphone which launched a tech revolution came from a most unusual place
They're the very height of modernity, but it turns out iPhones have been around for almost 350 years.
That's according to a comic admission by Apple boss Tim Cook, who has credited a Dutch master with painting one of the smartphones right into a work of art.
Mr Cook was chatting at an event in Amsterdam on Tuesday when he revealed that he had visited the city's cultural Rijksmuseum.
In an interview with former European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, she asked him when and where the iPhone was invented.
He told Start-up Fest: "You know, I thought I knew until last night.
"Last night Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandt and in one of the paintings I was so shocked.
"There was an iPhone in one of the paintings.
"It's tough to see but I swear it's there."
The painting was "Man Hands a Letter to a Woman in a Hall" by Pieter de Hooch.
Painted in 1670, the letter bears a passing resemblance to a modern day iPhone, hence Cook's joke.
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"I always thought I knew when the iPhone was invented, but now I'm not so sure anymore," Cook said, reports CNBC.
The first iPhone was released by Apple in 2007 under late boss Steve Jobs.
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(Source: Mirror)
