Apple's 1993 W.A.L.T. Combined Telephone and Fax Machine Prototype Seen in Action in New Video

[needfx]

When did they announce this product?

At Macworld Boston in 1993, Apple introduced a prototype device called the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone

 

[coolfactor]

At least it has customizable ringtones.

Are you suggesting current phones do not?

 

[slide_to_unlock]

Say my Name!!

 

[keysofanxiety]

A touchscreen phone? Ha, that'll be the day! Kind of odd to see a story about the W.A.L.T. without mentioning the infamous W.A.L.T. Junior:

Plus the software stutters, so this works on two levels!

 

[Jamers99]

W.A.L.T.

Will Apple Lose Tons

Why Are Lizards Tiny

What's Apple's Last Try

Lame, I know

 

[Moonlight]

Do not rub WALT's rhubarb

 

[FCX]

Pretty sure the stylus wasn't working at all, and the cursor was being driven by a mouse in his other hand.

I am 97.357% convinced.

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

What long, a mac in the early 2000 to halfway 2010 (might be even later) took that long to boot, especially when there were a lot of extensions/Applications loading.

We're in 2019, I know a settopbox which takes double that time to boot.
(Ziggo Mediabox XL)

My Mac Pro still takes over 3 minutes for any system update, even using a high speed SSD drive and 40GB of memory!

 

[jerryk]

Graphics screens are for whips. Still have my Sym-1 -RS-232, 4K of ram, keypad and 6 character display. Great way to learn to write efficient code.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=856

 

[VanNess]

Apple has changed in a lot of ways but some things haven’t changed at all:

“Goodies will be available in a future release”

 

[adeadpixel]

WAAAALT!!!

 

[lostngone]

Apple really should really setup a room, area or museum for projects like this. Set a date(~25 years, or whatever they think) then take projects like this with the documentation and shelve it. Then when the time is reached put them on display. You read about stories in books and from retired engineers about projects at Apple that sounded really cool but never went anywhere.

 

[adeadpixel]

There used to be one back in the 90s but it was eliminated when Jobs came back. https://www.cultofmac.com/159365/why-apple-should-look-back-though-steve-jobs-never-did/

 

[Kabeyun]

Betcha Apple didn’t get the same kind of crap for shelving WALT as they’re getting for shelving AirPower.

 

[nwcs]

Betcha Apple didn’t get the same kind of crap for shelving WALT as they’re getting for shelving AirPower.

And 99.9999% of people don’t care that either were shelved.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I fell asleep watching that video. We have come a long way in Tablet computing from that to my 2017 iPad Pro 12.9 with Apple Pencil. Always appreciative progress.

 

[Analog Kid]

Wait, Apple introduced a product and then didn’t ship it before AirPower? That should be the headline...

 

[JetTester]

Can't innovate, my ass! Coolest tech I've seen in a long time. Phone AND fax all in one!

 

[Kabeyun]

And 99.9999% of people don’t care that either were shelved.

Yep. The haters are always the loud minority.

 

[Crowbot]

Indeed, I love this experimental and precursor stuff from the 80s and 90s. Like the French Minitel or a similar Canadian system called Telidon.



Yea, don't remind me of lag on my old modem circa 1994-95.

Remember....."and go get coffee"?

 

[curtvaughan]

one more announced apple product that never made production

This was around the time Apple was really on the ropes with product focus - Steve Jobs changed that in 1997. This thing looks interesting, but probably would have cost a fortune if it had been released back then. Hard to believe it would be another 14 years before Apple released another computer phone.
[doublepost=1554846215][/doublepost]

I couldn't finish the video. Even my Mac SE running System 6 was quicker than that! Was this prototype severely underpowered?

It was ahead of its time - way ahead.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Wow, that hard drive sound. I haven’t heard that in years.

 

[Piggie]

And no notch.
Amazing

 

[Hmm]

That load time. Jeez.

Through the nostalgia goggles of our memories computers of that era loaded just as fast as they do now, but the reality was you could turn them on and have time to go make a sandwich.

Yes, but then you would miss the march of extension icons across the bottom of the screen.

 

[and 1989 others]

Yes yes yes, that hardware is okay, what we really need to know is, what Apple subscription services can it support?!