The first Apple phone… from 1983

Fri, Jan 13, 2012

Apple History, News

In the pantheon of revolutionary tech products, there’s no doubt that Apple’s iPhone holds a special spot. But believe it or not, the iPhone wasn’t really the first phone to come out of Apple. And no, we’re not talking about the lackluster Motorola ROKR with iTunes.

Following up on reports of the massive Apple historical collection at Stanford, let’s take a look back at the Apple phone that preceded the iPhone.

In 1983, famed designer Hartmut Esslinger (who you might recognize as the founder of Frogdesign), designed the phone below. Now if you’ve never seen it before, it’s because it’s a prototype that never went into production. Still, the design might seem familiar as Esslinger was also the man behind the Apple IIC.

Note that the prototype has a handset, an LCD screen and a stylus. A stylus certainly seems antiquated today, but we imagine it was pretty sleek back in 1983.

via Gizmodo

Related: Apple’s first tablet… from 1979

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