Before the iPhone, Apple's Stunning Phone From 1983

Several readers pointed out the story of the Apple phone that never was, from 1983. Pictures of the concept phone are impressive, as you'd expect from Hartmut Esslinger, later founder of Frog Design. Even more interesting is that this phone is part of a much larger collection of Apple artifacts curated by Stanford.

Re:Really nice looking and interesting phone for 1

[InterestingFella]

Linux was always servers first, work stations next, desktops last. Apple is the other way around. It's not fair to compare the two.

Uh, no. Linux was even created because Linus wanted a free UNIX like desktop. Since the beginning Linux users have touted how this will be the year of Linux on desktop. It has nothing to do with "servers first, desktops last", because Linux users very much have wanted Linux to be number #1 on desktop.

Re:Really nice looking and interesting phone for 1

[Anonymous Coward]

I see you've been modded funny but I don't think that it was the aim of your post.

You might want to read the "world is ruled by ducks"-part.

Re:Uh....slashdot?

[hackertourist]

Where the heck would all the internals fit, a 1983 era computer was 10x the volume of this phone "prototype".

The 1981 Sinclair ZX Spectrum would fit inside that phone.

Re:Really nice looking and interesting phone for 1

[pmontra]

Linux was even created because Linus wanted a free UNIX like desktop I'm sorry but you're mistaken. You can read the history of Linux's early days writted by Torvalds here [cmu.edu]. I quote him, bold is mine.

It is currently meant for hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix. [...] I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed [sic] doing it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.

You're probably right on the other point

Since the beginning Linux users have touted how this will be the year of Linux on desktop

This is probably never going to happen (not with a substantial market share) but 2011 was the year of Linux in the pocket [comscore.com] (remember Linux is only the kernel) and 2012 could be the year of Linux on the desk [androidcommunity.com].

because Linux users very much have wanted Linux to be number #1 on desktop

That's unbelievable right? As if Mac users wouldn't like to see their platform to become the number 1.

Re:Uh....slashdot?

[Belial6]

No way. That device doesn't look any larger than a Commodore Plus/4. It was released in 1984, so it would have had prototypes in 1983. The TSR-80 model 100 had an LCD graphics display in 1983. There is no technical reason that the devices couldn't have been made. While the device is interesting from a retro computer prototype point of view, the device is pretty much in line with the kinds of ideas being tried at the time. It isn't some sign that Apple was decades ahead of the competition.