The Atlantic:
Apple has always been fond of dreaming up hardware and software from a not-too-distant future, and there are glimmers of the iPhone in Apple’s history since long before the rumors about the device were taken seriously in the early 2000s. More than a decade before the smartphone was unveiled, Apple shared with the computing magazine Macworld a semi-outlandish design for a videophone-PDA that could exchange data. (Smartphones eventually made the PDA, or personal digital assistant, obsolete.)
The prototype for the device, published in the May 1995 issue of the magazine, is something of a missing link between the Newton and the iPhone—though still more parts the former than the latter.
Interesting look back. Be sure to take a look at the pictures.
Some great-looking prototypes. I sort of miss the aesthetic that gave us the Newton, the Pismo Powerbook, and the TAM.
I miss the Newt, full stop. I’d dearly love to find an IOS app that approximated the Newton’s Stationery, particularly the later versions.
If I remember correctly, that color was called granite. Apple produced some interesting stuff in that era.
Interesting how big the bezels were, even on the conceptual stuff.
It was a great color and a great texture.