The first smartphone in history was born about thirty years ago.At that time, even this word meant nothing.However, that did not prevent the international business business machine (IBM) from creating the IBM Simon.

In 1992, IBM released a mobile phone prototype during the Comdex.The firm baptized him angling.Note that the Comdex designates a fair on computer science which takes place each year in Las Vegas.Today he has given way to CES.To come back to Angler, he hit Bellsouth's eye directly.Then, IBM and Bellsouth united their forces to give birth to IBM Simon.

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The name of IBM Simon is taken from a game

After two years of work, Bellsouth and IBM released the final version of the phone.They marketed it on August 16, 1994.Since the word smartphone did not yet exist, the designers presented it as a "personal community".

As for the name of the personal communicator, the creators were inspired by the game "Jacques said".In the English -speaking version, the latter bears the name of "Simon Says", hence the name IBM Simon.Like the game, the manufacturers wanted to offer a device capable of performing whatever the user wanted.

A telephone with revolutionary characteristics

IBM Simon had several features that made it a futuristic gadget.Apart from the call, the machine offered in particular an electronic messaging service, a basic word processor, games, a calendar ...

If the user was not satisfied, he had the possibility of adding other features thanks to the PCMCIA location.All this is made possible by a Vadem processor of 16 MHz, a RAM of 1 MB and about 1 MB of internal memory.

In addition, the Simon Personal Communicator has a 4.7 -inch monochrome LCD screen.It also has a definition of 293 × 160 pixels and is tactile (resistive).Not only does the device measures 20 × 6.4 × 3.8 cm, but it also weighs 510 g.The most important point is undoubtedly its autonomy.The latter is almost an hour during a telephone call.

IBM Simon is a commercial failure

At that time, IBM was the first company to produce a phone like Simon Phone.Indeed, the firm gathered in one device the elements of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and those of mobile technology.

Thus, the IBM Simon brought numerous revolutions when it was released.Unfortunately, the smartphone did not appeal to the public.In fact, six months after its release, the company only sold 50.000 units.For the manufacturer, this figure did not allow him to continue the production of the phone.

Despite everything, the characteristics and innovations that the smartphone had brought earned it a place in the London Science Museum.

The exorbitant price of IBM Simon

This IBM defeat was mainly caused by the price of the smartphone.Indeed, the product was sold at 899 dollars with a 24 -month subscription (around 673 euros).Without this subscription, the consumer had to pay up to 1.$ 099.However, no other phone was sold at such prices at the time.

In addition, apart from making or receiving calls, few people were interested in this kind of device.Therefore, most customers have considered the new features of the Simon Phone as useless.

In addition, the smartphone had three important faults.The first two concern its size and weight which did not favor the portable aspect.Finally, its one -hour autonomy had to force its user to limit their use.In the case of a person who had constantly needed his phone, the battery capacity poses a real problem.