[Everything Goes]

The IBM Simon went on sale to the public on 16 August 1994. The IBM Simon wasn't called a smartphone back then (and no Apple didn't invent them either), but it had a lot of the features we see today. It had a calendar, could take notes and send emails and messages and was a mobile phone too weighing in at 500g compared to about 140g for todays Smartphones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28802053

[paulbrock]

dunno whether its just poor reporting by the BBC but a smartphone isn't a phone with calendar and emails.... surely its defined as being able to run apps, whether iOS, Android, Symbian or (arguably) Java....

[D_Mcd4]

I was looking at it on Youtube. Very Windows 3.11 !


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGoNMSBvYUw

[Everything Goes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulbrock

dunno whether its just poor reporting by the BBC but a smartphone isn't a phone with calendar and emails.... surely its defined as being able to run apps, whether iOS, Android, Symbian or (arguably) Java....

Like I said there's always one

And it had apps, or at least a way to deliver more features—including a camera, maps, and music—by plugging a memory card into the phone.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...rst-smartphone

[paulbrock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Businessweek

And it had apps, or at least a way to deliver more features—including a camera, maps, and music—by plugging a memory card into the phone.

That's the bit missing from the BBC article

[alanwarwic]

You can trace the Smartphone back to the Psion Organiser 1984, its language evolving into Symbian 2002.

I guess it really mattered who owned the patents, what lived and died.