When do you think the idea of ​​a smartphone first appeared? 2010s? 2000s? Discovering that you can take pictures and listen to music with mobile phones? Actually the first smartphone idea, although not with the same name until the last days of the 80s go up.

At that time, a company that started as an Apple initiative had developed the concept of a smartphone, even before the mobile phone, as we call it, with a portable device with computer functions. The brand behind this magical idea General magic Although he failed in sales, he took the first step to change the world.

A failure story as important as Apple’s success:

While Apple’s story is often told as a success story, it was an adventure that those aspiring to become entrepreneurs should know at least as well as that story. General Magic’s adventure. Moreover, this exciting journey had also started at Apple.

The story was in 1989 at Apple Computer had started. He then started working on the original project. Marc PoratJohn Sculley, who was the company’s CEO at the time, had allowed General Magic to be a separate company as a result of Porat’s attempts at persuasion. Andy Hertzfeld and Bill Atkinson joined Porat in May 1990 and the company began operations in California.

Than Apple’s System 7 Many people joined the team, including the team. The team set to work with a very big vision. A note from Porat to Sculley eloquently explained this vision:A small computer, a telephone, a personal item… It has to be beautiful. A beautiful piece should give the personal satisfaction of jewelry. It will have a visible value even if it is not used… Once used, you can never do without it.”

In 1992, General Magic first attracted attention.

initial General Magic’s The work was carried out in the greatest secrecy. In 1992, when the world’s largest electronics companies started investing, this small company with big ideals started to grab everyone’s attention. Sony, Motorola, Matsushita, Philips and AT&T companies like General Magic joined the investors.

Called “the most watched initiative” at the time, General Magic wasn’t just developing a new device. Plans to provide a common messaging infrastructure, independent of devices telescript There was also software. This software would also serve as an operating system.

On the other hand, although the company had remarkable ideas, there was no product yet. It was necessary to wait until 1994 to see the first devices with the logo of General Magic with a rabbit come out of the hat. The first products released under the General Magic Alliance (GMA) were two personal digital assistants. Later they gave them Motorola Envoy and Sony MagicLink joined. AT&T, on the other hand, has made these devices compatible with PersonaLink, a closed internet-like network to which devices can be connected.

During this period, when the magic rabbit was thought to roar like a giant tiger, the company was listed on NASDAQ. Fully $96 million was collected during the bid collection process, and the total inward investment is 200 million dollars passed. In a short time, the share value of the brand doubled.

Another great idea: Porch

In the series Knight Raider, which also appeared in our country for a while under the name Black Lightning. David Hasselhoff, the officer was able to communicate with Kitt by talking. At that time, this idea caught the attention of almost everyone. futuristic was seen as.

General Magic, on the other hand, thought the idea was quite viable. This requires a system that reads e-mails, sends e-mails, can search between the numbers in the phone book and organizes a calendar. speech interface they have designed. This technology, which would later be handed over to another company, General Motors, whose acronym was GM, allowed the company to survive, even though it couldn’t sell as much product as it wanted at the time.

Even if it sinks, sinks in the great sea…

In 1999, the company’s stock suffered a massive decline. There were several reasons for this decline. First, from the founding team There weren’t many people left. Second, the company lost too much money, layoffs and struggled to meet deadlines. The team that developed Portico also started to leave the company in the early 2000s.

On September 18, 2002, the company announced that it had ceased operations. In 2004, the company’s assets were sold. Most of the company’s licenses, which we know from Microsoft Paul Allen he bought. OnStar, the final version of the Portico, was transferred to EDS on behalf of General Motors.

Still, General Magic left a big mark.

To quickly list some of the technologies that came out of General Magic’s work, these include software modems that eliminate the need for modem chips, small touch screens, Touchscreen ASICson-chip system integration, rich multimedia email, network gamesNetflix and Disney+ like broadcasting systems, the first versions of e-commerce took place.

Former employees of General Magic, who have a partial finger on many of the technologies we use today, are also good luck in their career reaches.

Developed the operating system called Magic Cap Andy Rubinwrites Android in 2003 and sells it to Google two years later. Responsible for the designer Tony Fadellmoves to Apple in 2006. Once it was over, he drew the iPod design and became the spiritual father of many devices. He founded Nest Labs, which he later sold to Google for $3.2 million. Andy Hertzfield joins Google; It prepares the interfaces of services such as Picasa, Google+, Gmail. Bill Atkinson develops the Quick Draw program.

Pierre Omidyar While not many of us have heard of his name, he was also from the same team and founded eBay. Steve Perlman and Phil Goldman They also make WebTV, one of the first TV-based Internet projects, and sell it to Microsoft. Kevin Lynch Adobe becomes vice president and creates the Flash plugin. He later becomes the head of Apple’s smartwatch unit.

Peter Niehbecomes the founder of Acer Computer’s flatbed division. He later co-founded the investment network Lightspeed, otherwise known as the Snapchat investor. Eric Lyo He founded LinekIn in 2002 and was Vice President of Technology until 2006.

John GlanandreaIn 2003, he was hired as a search engine manager at Google. In 2017, he will serve as Apple’s vice president of artificial intelligence. Megan Smith joins google. He was Vice President of Business Development for 13 years. He later became Obama’s Chief Technology Officer.

So why did General Magic go bankrupt?

Obviously the team is good and resourceful, the product is the smartphone we already know, so it has been tested in real life and confirmed how popular it can be, then this is it. General magic why did it fail? Of course, there are some reasons for this situation.

First of all, the world was not ready for the device yet. The first SMS was sent in 1992. In 1994, only 1 in 100 people had a mobile phone. So wireless in the middle mobile Internet packages or Wi-Fi they had no nets. The fact that the devices are expensive and that people can’t do much with this technology were the first reasons General Magic failed despite all the excitement.

Too much in a short time Trying to do this was one of the reasons that contributed to the company’s bankruptcy. The fact that it tried to set up its own network and go from there on foot, without understanding the effect of the Internet, and shaping many functions according to this network, later made it seriously difficult for the company to maneuver.