I tried to build the iPhone twice. Everybody knows about the second time. The time we succeeded. Few people know about the first.
Tony Fadell (Creator of the iPhone)
Many people assume that the precursor to the iPhone was the Apple Newton, but there’s a much more direct predecessor: the General Magic Pocket Crystal. I recently watched a fascinating documentary about it called The General Magic Movie.
General Magic was a company well ahead of its time, attempting to sell smartphones to the average consumer before consumers had even heard of the Internet. This device could email, book airline tickets, and get stock ticker information, all before the World Wide Web existed. For more tech-historical context, the first version of the device even came with a built-in fax machine.
The company showed great promise, becoming the first company to IPO before selling a single product. However, because they didn’t identify a real market need or create a product that solved actual problems for consumers, the device ultimately flopped, selling fewer than 5,000 units.
Despite the commercial failure, there are a lot of lessons about building (and selling) a great product. It showcases some of the greatest minds from Apple, such as Andy Hertzfeld, John Scully, and Bill Atkinson, who were instrumental in building this innovative device. It’s also quite a bit of fun to see a young Tony Fadell (later the creator of the iPhone), Andy Rubin (who went on to develop Android), and Pierre Omidyar (the founder of eBay) before they made it big.
You must be logged in to post a comment.