Today, smartphones are ubiquitous. Even my three-year-old nephew knows what a smartphone is. But 31 years ago, in 1992, telephones themselves were rare, and handheld devices that one could use to communicate and execute various tasks were something you only found on Star Trek. And then came along Simon.
Designed by IBM and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electronics, the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, simply known as IBM Simon, was announced at the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas on November 23, 1992. It was codenamed "Angler". Simon went on sale in 1994. The communicator was sold by US carrier Bell South, which was formerly a part of AT&T.
While the term smartphone would not be coined for a few more years, Simon was the world's first smartphone and packed an impressive number of features in an age where a landline with buttons was considered cutting-edge technology.
Despite its revolutionary features, Simon sold only 50,000 units — mostly because of its price tag of $1,100 (or $2,412, adjusted for inflation) — and was discontinued a year later, but it would lay the foundation for today's smartphone — a touch screen that could be operated with a stylus, calendar, calculator, world clock, on-screen keyboard, and an address book. It even had predictive text.
The world of mobile phones would soon be taken over by feature phones made by the Finnish brand Nokia, which would then give way to the iPhone and Android devices, but just for today, let's take a moment to remember Simon — the world's first true smartphone.
First Published: Nov 23, 2023 6:46 PM IST
