Engadget:
A 1993 prototype of Apple’s W.A.L.T phone, or “Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone” can now be seen in a new video from Australian iPhone leaker Sonny Dickson. Apple unveiled the W.A.L.T. phone at 1993’s MacWorld in Boston but it was never sold to the public. The early ancestor of the iPhone looked like a tablet but functioned as both a phone and a fax machine.
The video shows you a fully-functioning W.A.L.T. phone, complete with a touchscreen, a built-in address book, caller-ID and an attached stylus. The device had handwriting recognition, online banking access and even allowed you to customize ringtones.
While cutting edge in 1993, it looks like an abomination today.
Meh, I can think of a LOT worse things than this from that era…but then I still have my Newton(s) A 100 and a 103. Dunno if they still work, my 100 suffered a bad battery leak, but back when I sued to still use them regularly (early-mid 2000’s) I would routinely get asked about that ‘cool device’ I was using 🙂
Is that … hypercard?
Ugh.
Update: As Gruber pointed out, it wasn’t cutting edge in 1993 after all. It was just a poorly-conceived directive by a company that had largely dropped its own ball.
Yup, that was Hypercard.
The interface seems remarkably polished compared to the way you interact with it. Was the light pen really so terrible, or has it deteriorated over the years? The Newton would have come out about the same time, and despite its initial faults was light years beyond this in usability.