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Original iPhone Prototype With iPod Click Wheel Surfaces Online

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Apr 12, 2001
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An early prototype of the original iPhone has been shared online by Sonny Dickson, with a collection of images and a video that provide a glimpse into one version of the iPhone that Apple created and tested before ending up with the first iteration of the device. The prototype includes some similar features to the first generation iPhone, like an aluminium chassis, multi-touch compatible screen, 2G connectivity and Wi-Fi, but its entire user interface is taken directly from the click wheel system of Apple's original iPod line.

Called "Acorn OS," the prototype software includes an on-screen click wheel on the bottom half of the screen and a menu system on the top half, and the two are bisected by a bar with rewind, menu, play/pause, and fast-forward buttons. On the menu are options such as "Favorites", "SMS", "Music", "Settings" and "Recents," and it's navigated by circling around the click wheel to go up and down, with a center press confirming an action, just like on the iPod.

ipod-iphone-prototype-800x594.jpg
Instead of the modern touch-driven interface we now call iOS, it featured an operating system dubbed "Acorn OS" (this was an internal code name, and it unclear if it would have kept that name if it had been released), which is derived from the acorn shown on boot.

Not much else is known about the device, apart from the fact that it differs heavily from the iPhone we know today, and that very few units running "Acorn OS" exist, with most of them likely being destroyed by Apple, a company in which there is a specific job role in relation to the destruction of prototypes.
Click to expand...
Dickson references Apple's patent for a "multi-functional hand-held device," filed and published in 2006, as proof that such a prototype did exist at one point and could potentially have been an alternate version of the iPhone. In one of the patent's drawings, a click wheel can be seen as a possible input method for the proposed device. The patent's abstract describes a product with "at most only a few physical buttons, keys, or switches so that its display size can be substantially increased."


It's well known that to get to the current version of iOS we have today, Steve Jobs originally placed "iPod Father" Tony Fadell and Macintosh executive Scott Forstall in a head-to-head competition to come up with the best mobile operating system possible. The two teams represented a clashing idea that Jobs had for the iPhone: enlarge the iPod's OS or come up with a compact version of the Mac's OS. Forstall's team won, and it appears that today's shared prototype is a bygone leftover of the losing side's work.

Check out more images of the iPod-inspired iPhone on Sonny Dickson's website.

Article Link: Original iPhone Prototype With iPod Click Wheel Surfaces Online
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/06/original-iphone-prototype-ipod/
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yesjam

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Jun 6, 2014
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It's a real testament to Scott Forstall's design that this seems so...clunky and that the iOS design seems so inevitable. Although Forstall gets a lot of hate for his penchant for skeuomorphism, it's clear from this video alone that he is one of the most important GUI designers in the history of computing.
 
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Chupa Chupa

Chupa Chupa

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Jul 16, 2002
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yossi said:
If Tim Cook had been in charge back then, we would be on aCorn OS 9.1 by now.
Click to expand...

Ha ha. I was thinking the same think when reading -- that Tim Cook would have released this and said it was magical. BUT I don't think we would be on aCorn OS now. It wouldn't exist anymore. We'd be using BlackBerry 25 or Palm 32 while listening to music on our Microsoft Windows XP music edition iPod.
 
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deany

deany

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With the first iPhone being launched in 2007 and 3 years in the making that must have been approx 2004 (I'd guess even before) and one of the very first prototypes from apples "Project Purple" amazing what apple achieved in those 3 years.

Interesting to see how basic it was - more like an iPod.
 
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SoN1NjA

SoN1NjA

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Feb 3, 2016
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TechGeek76 said:
Where is this pic of this iPhone? This is just the software interface...

And the TITLE of the link you provided?

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO AND PHOTOS: THE IPOD-BASED INTERFACE THAT LOST OUT TO IOS FOR THE IPHONE

There are no pics of the phone itself...
Click to expand...
The YouTube video deliberately lacks light and the camera only focuses on the bright display, must be a reason
Maybe to protect the person who owns the phone or gave it away?

It's definitley on purpose
 
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Dave00

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Dec 2, 2003
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I actually miss the simplicity and clean look of that original system. Clearly wouldn't have worked for text entry and such, but boy was it easy to use. You didn't have to try to figure out where an option was hidden. But it's also clear we needed to move on, as phones moved from simple devices to mobile computers.
 
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TechGeek76

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SoN1NjA said:
The YouTube video deliberately lacks light and the camera only focuses on the bright display, must be a reason
Maybe to protect the person who owns the phone or gave it away?

It's definitley on purpose
Click to expand...
No idea but I was hoping to see the phone itself.
 
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