The iPhone was born in 1983.
Crazy, right?
Hartmut Esslinger, founder of design firm frog design, designed a touchscreen phone prototype for Apple while he was under contract by the company to work on projects like the Apple IIc.
This is a prime example of not letting your dreams and ideas die, but nurturing them and letting them grow. Sure, this phone isn’t nearly as awesome as an iPhone, but it was one of many steps toward it.
Take a look:
According to iPhoneHacks, this is what’s known of Esslinger’s prototype:
- It was made in co-operation with AT&T (Interesting …).
- It had a monochrome touch screen.
- It included an electronic check payment.
This phone was never mass produced and eventually became a museum piece:
And the rest is history; or maybe, the future.
If you thought this was cool, you should take a look at iOS ’86.
[via iPhone Hacks]
Wow that still looks better than most ‘wired’ phones today! And wayyyy better than the ‘amstrad’ phone that was mass produced and sold about 3… http://www.amstrad.com/products/emailers/e3.html
Never show me an image that ugly again.
Thank you.
– The Management
Interesting design…it looks like it was meant to complement the Apple IIc computer. Similar colors, rounded corners, logo, lights, vertical grooves, etc.
Yes. I believe the Apple IIc came shortly thereafter.