The First Smartphone
Smartphones are devices that integrate the capabilities of mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) into a single unit. While these devices have become ubiquitous, their origins trace back to 1992, when the IBM Simon was unveiled at COMDEX. The Simon offered — for $899 — a touchscreen-based interface with no physical buttons, predictive text, an agenda, pager and fax functions, and many of the features we use daily. Commercialized by BellSouth, it is considered the first smartphone in history.
I bet most NeoTeo readers own a smartphone. These intelligent mobile phones have ceased to be a rarity and have become a device practically within everyone's reach. Usually subsidized by mobile operators, which offer them at a lower price than in stores in exchange for a subscription contract lasting several months, they have become very popular. Operating systems like Windows Mobile or Android, thanks to their user interface reminiscent of desktop computers, allow anyone to use their multiple functions intuitively. But despite their relatively recent mass adoption, their origins date back to 1992.
Indeed, the first prototype was presented to the public at the 1992 COMDEX in Las Vegas. It is the IBM Simon, a revolutionary mobile phone for its time, designed and built by a joint venture between International Business Machines Corporation and BellSouth. The Simon was the first to use an interface based entirely on a touchscreen, which allowed access to all functions without pressing any physical button.
Unlike other touchscreen products of the time, such as the Apple Newton, IBM and BellSouth's phone did not need to be operated with a stylus: simply touching the screen with a finger was enough for the device to recognize the selected commands. The final version of the IBM Simon was officially presented in 1993, and the first users began using it in 1994. It sold for $899 and could operate in about 190 cities across 15 different US states.
Like the most modern devices, the software contained in its 2MB of ROM combined the functions we usually find in a phone (call management, contact directory, redialing, etc.) with those we expect from a "personal organizer" (PDA, for personal digital assistant), a pager, and a fax machine. Despite lacking a physical keyboard, the user could dial phone numbers using a keypad that the device drew on the screen, and enter the names of contacts and text in general via a fully touch-based QWERTY keyboard. A predictive text function helped the user write faster.
As was customary at the time, the Simon had a PCMCIA slot into which a memory card could be inserted to expand the included RAM. Although its technical specifications leave it far behind any modern smartphone, its operating system was efficient enough for its operation to be agile and fluid. Years later, some of its descendants, equipped with resources thousands of times greater, are not able to boast the same.
For more information about this pioneering device, you can read the IBM Simon on Wikipedia.
