We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?
6/26/202627 min
In the early 90’s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on.
On today’s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?
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This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Charlotte Isidore. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley with help from Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money*’s executive producer.*
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsErica Beras· Host0:01
[instrumental music] This is Planet Money from NPR. Okay, how many times have you sat and thought about how much more you could accomplish if you had more, more time, more money, more resources?
Emma Peaslee· Host0:16
Like how good your project could be if you had just one more day.
Erica Beras· Host0:19
Or a bigger budget, or more help.
Emma Peaslee· Host0:22
Well, this is the story of a company that did have all of that, and they were making something amazing, something most of us touch every day: a smartphone.
Erica Beras· Host0:30
But, and this is the part that is bonkers, this was happening nearly two decades before the iPhone came out.
Tony Fadell· Guest0:41
Before the internet, before Wi-Fi, before mobile data, before cell phones even.
Emma Peaslee· Host0:47
Tony Fadell was employee number 29 at that company.
Tony Fadell· Guest0:50
Before even email really existed for people, before anything like Amazon or e-tailing existed, before downloadable games or downloadable music existed, all of that stuff, we were creating all the technology that would later become what the iPhone was.
Emma Peaslee· Host1:07
Nowadays, Tony is a businessman. He's always been a computer geek. His words, not ours.
Tony Fadell· Guest1:13
I was making fake IDs on a Mac in high school- [laughs] ... because you had a laser printer, and a laser printer was like, "Oh my God, I could replicate things in the world," so I was making fake IDs on laser printers.
Erica Beras· Host1:23
So you must have been very popular.
Tony Fadell· Guest1:24
Oh, yeah, yeah. I made a lot of money, too.
Erica Beras· Host1:26
Tony was brought up in the '70s and '80s to