Long before the Palm Treo 650, BlackBerry 5810, or even the iPhone, IBM introduced the world’s first smartphone as we know it today. The device was known as: Simon Personal Communicator and enabled the performance of a variety of tasks that are not surprising today, but represented a tremendous technological advance at the time.

Simon was a telephone, a fax machine, a pager, an e-mail device and much more. There was also an address book, calendar, calculator, world clock, notepad and on-screen keyboard. Perhaps its most distinguishing feature was that it had a stylus-activated touch screen. This was released on a single device in 1994.

The smartphone that appeared almost 30 years ago

Almost thirty years have passed since then, and of course the world has changed dramatically. smart phones We can say that it has become a part of our lives and almost an indispensable tool in our daily lives. But that wasn’t always the case, and when the Simon was released no one was desperate to buy it, and it only sold 50,000 units.

In fact, it had a very short commercial journey. It was launched by the operator in 1994 and was sold until February 1995. Availability was limited to the United States and was sold only through operator BellSouth, priced at $899 with a two-year contract or $1099 without a contract. One limitation was mobile coverage, which was limited to 15 of the country’s 50 states.

Next to the IBM Simon charging station and pen

Remember, mobile networks were in full development. Yes, products like the Motorola StarTAC already existed, but landline phones were still the norm. Despite its benefits, Simon had a nickel-cadmium battery. 60 minutes maximum autonomyso it came with a charging station box to connect it frequently.

Moreover, as we see in the images, it was not small at all. It was 20 centimeters high, 64 centimeters wide and 38 centimeters thick. And it weighed just over half a kilo. Of course, in addition to the battery, there was also a 16 MHz NEC V30HL processor, 1 BM PSRAM memory, 32 KB SRAM memory, 1 BM NOR Flash memory and a 4.5” monochrome LCD screen.

Simon’s engineering team began work on the second generation of the device, known internally as Neon. The successor to the first smartphone in history would be lighter and come with new functions, but IBM promoted it in parallel major staff cuts This influenced the project, making Simon the only IBM smartphone.

Images: IBM

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