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iPhone Started as 'Safari Pad'?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,552
30,876


The New York Times's John Markoff reveals that the iPhone began life as a "Safari Pad":
Apple’s multitouch technology began life not as a cellphone, but as a notepad-sized skunkworks project internally dubbed Safari Pad, run by Tim Bucher, then Apple’s head of Macintosh hardware. To his credit, Mr. Jobs seized on the technology and morphed it into the iPhone.
Click to expand...
This adds a bit of information to a revealing Wired article which reported that Apple engineers had spent about a year working on a Tablet PC before being redirected to the iPhone project.

Recent rumors have suggested that Apple may be reviving a mini-tablet project with a device 1.5 times the size of the current iPhone/Touch. The rumored Apple device is expected to also incorporate Apple's touch OS X that currently powers the iPhone. Adding to our expectations, Apple executives have described their mobile devices as the first "mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform" with a belief that the new Software Development Kit (SDK) will broaden this platform even more.

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https://www.macrumors.com/2008/03/03/iphone-started-as-safari-pad/
notjustjay

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
padd-palm.jpg


Bring it on. :D
 
D

David G.

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2007
1,128
488
Alaska
Mobile safari pad, eh. It's kind of funny, I'm at a restaurant now posting on my iPod touch. That ability is just awesome.
 
K

Kar98

macrumors 65816
Feb 20, 2007
1,257
882
Apple may be reviving a mini-tablet project with a device 1.5 times the size of the current iPhone/Touch
Click to expand...

What, a device Apple users have been begging to be allowed to buy from Apple of a decade? Why would Apple offer something like that? :rolleyes:
 
ntrigue

ntrigue

macrumors 68040
Jul 30, 2007
3,805
4
O! Are you suggesting the Tablet I've waited a decade for is rumored to arrive?!
 
Z

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,094
1,567
Very interesting, but I don't think we will see a tablet this year at least. Perhaps at next Macworld, and I have a feeling that if we see a tablet like computer, it won't be a tablet, but something radically different yet fimilar enough to be considered a tablet (just like apple does with most of their products :D)
 
X

xbigman15x

macrumors member
Jan 5, 2008
77
0
Wichita, Kansas
Personally, i think the iphone is a much more ideal product than a tablet used for, well probably what the touch is used for. No wonder Jobs switched them to the iPhone.
 
N

neven

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2006
815
0
Portland, OR
Kar98 said:
What, a device Apple users have been begging to be allowed to buy from Apple of a decade? Why would Apple offer something like that? :rolleyes:
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"Allowed"? You make it sound like Apple had the iPhone, multi-touch and all, ready to go in the 90s, but they were too busy rubbing their hands in villainous laughter to rain it down on you.

I'm sure dozens of different mini-computers landed on Steve's desk and were promptly returned because he hated them. Even the current iPhone, great as it is, has many hurdles to jump before it becomes a full-on tablet device.

The ease with which one can photoshop the Apple logo onto the picture of a 6" all-screen device nowadays fools many into thinking that Apple can obviously make such a product easily. It's not just hard to do; it's hard to know just *what* to do.
 
M

mikky05v

macrumors member
Mar 3, 2008
69
0
i like the idea of a pad laptop

doubt i would purchase one unless they get real creative with the prices..
 
AoWolf

AoWolf

macrumors 6502a
Nov 17, 2003
958
2
Daytona Beach
We heard rumors of this incredible mobile apple device showing up in back rooms of obscure apple events here and there. I wonder if these devices were indeed real and became early iPhones.
 
N

neven

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2006
815
0
Portland, OR
LizKat said:
Bets on whether handwriting recognition is involved?

And if so.. then... still no stylus?
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You can have that today with Ink if you use a pen+tablet. Try it on a Cintiq 12WX and you'll get an idea of what a 12" tablet with that type of input would be like. I'd really hate it if that was my main method of text entry - it's clumsier than T9, let alone iPhone's keyboard.
 
iJesus

iJesus

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2007
706
1
Reno, Nevada
LizKat said:
Bets on whether handwriting recognition is involved?

And if so.. then... still no stylus?
Click to expand...

Have you read the rumors on the patents apple has for hand writing recognition?

You simple pretend you have a stylus in your hand and the screen recognizes it as such.
 
T

tuneman07

macrumors regular
Nov 25, 2007
146
0
IDK about all this tablet talk, but when I first saw the Iphone I thought it would have been cool if it was a bit bigger. I know everyone is obsessed with small but as a guy who wears baggy pants quite a bit the Iphone could easily probably be 2 times as big and still be just as portable. I just want a bigger screen- maybe a fold out Iphone??? that would be cool.
 
G

Gherkin

macrumors 6502a
Apr 9, 2004
675
306
Maybe all the recent rumors about an Apple Tablet coming out are just referring to this now defunct R&D project that evolved into the iPhone?
 
T

tirerim

macrumors regular
Aug 4, 2006
204
0
Gherkin said:
Maybe all the recent rumors about an Apple Tablet coming out are just referring to this now defunct R&D project that evolved into the iPhone?
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Though the rumors have persisted, despite the iPhone proper probably having started development at least two years ago, so maybe not.
 
ezekielrage_99

ezekielrage_99

macrumors 68040
Oct 12, 2005
3,336
19
It really wouldn't surprise me if we seem an Apple PDA within the next few month especially after Intel has announced the release of Atom.
 
Demon

Demon

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2004
150
0
on earth
First thing's first!

Just get 3G on the damn iPhone first! what country still uses EDGE for data??!? :confused:
 
Demon

Demon

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2004
150
0
on earth
ezekielrage_99 said:
It really wouldn't surprise me if we seem an Apple PDA within the next few month especially after Intel has announced the release of Atom.
Click to expand...

i would be in complete shock if that happened in the next few months. They can turn the Touch and iPhone into a decent PDA with the SDK. A brand new device is not practical at all. (in the next few months)
 
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