Twenty years ago there’s already a smartphone which features a cell phone, pager, fax machine and computer in-one 18-ounce black slab called Simon. The first ever smartphone sports a monochrome touchscreen which you can tap icons for emails, calculator, calendar, clock and a game named Scramble, a puzzle game that will let you move blocks around the screen to form a picture. Simon also have a predictive typing, smart enough that it will suggests the next characters as you pecked. It has also some of the basic apps that extend its features, from plugging a memory card –it’ll include camera, apps and music.
If you’re asking why BellSouth calls it “Simon”, it’s because of a very simple reason that the company wants its customers to think of the phone as easy to use as “Simon Says”.
In the end, we’re now experiencing the innovation Simon have started, just like “Siri says” so it’s quite interesting to reflect and look back where a certain technology is rooted. That’s it because it takes significant 10 years for a cell phone to become “smart” and another 5 years to have the iPhone which had changed the mobile computing landscape.
If you’ll be looking for Simon, up until now you can find one from its 50,000 sold units, which collectors ultimately selling with its same 20-year price tag of $899. Learn more about Simon by heading on our source link.
Source: BloombergBusinessweek (Image Credit)