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The next logical step was to combine the PDA and the cell phone
into a single, more versatile device. In 1993 IBM introduced the
Simon Personal Communicator, the first device that could be
called a smartphone. Besides making phone calls, the user could
send faxes and e-mails. Other built-in applications included an
address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, and notepad.
The Simon sold only about fifty thousand units, however. By
modern standards it was bulky—brick-shaped, 8 inches (20 cm)
long, and weighed more than a pound (450 g). Its developer, IBM,
had ruled the mainframe world since the 1960s and had pretty
much set the standards for desktop personal computers (PCs).
Smartphones and Science Fiction
Starting more than half a century ago, two celebrated science ction writers
saw cell phones—and smartphones—coming. In Robert Heinlein’s 1948 novel
Space Cadet
the young protagonist is on his way to the spaceport. He pulls a
phone out of his pocket and calls his father. He then arranges to ship the phone
home before going into space, where the device could not get a signal. By 1976
science ction writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke was predicting what would
become the smartphone:
We’re going to get devices which will enable us to send much more infor-
mation to our friends. They’re going to be able to see us, we’re going to see
them, we’re going to exchange pictorial information, graphical information,
data, books, and so forth.
You can call in through this any information you might want: airline ights,
the price of things at the supermarket, books you’ve always wanted to
read, news you’ve selectively [chosen]. The machine will hunt and bring
this all to you, selectively.
Predicting Skype, e-readers, Google, and what amounts to the Web is rather
impressive, particularly since the rst cell phone systems were barely on the
drawing board.
Arthur C. Clarke, interview, AT&T/MIT Conference, 1976.
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