Apple: We’ve Come a Long Way

When it comes to smartphones, one phone in particular has become the standard to which all future phones are measured to. Most of us know of the iPhone and it’s claim to fame, but who amongst the hipsters and new generation of smartphones users remembers, or even knows of Apple’s previous work with mobile handheld devices.

The Message Pad 100 was the first portable device put out by Apple using the newly developed Newton OS. The Message Pad 100 had all the standard functions of a PDA, address book, note pad, create, print and send documents and calendar. What made the Message Pad unique was the inclusion of handwriting recognition. While it was not well received in the market, it was still an innovative step that Apple took in changing the PDA market. However, with later versions of Newton OS came improved handwriting recognition. In fact, when comparing the later model MessagePad 2000 to an iPhone, Newton OS was declared a better operating system.

Operation system wars aside, the iPhone is by far the more popular of the two devices. Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the public on January 9, 2007, in a keynote address and officially went on sale June 29 of that same year. Since then Apple has released two newer models, the 3G and 3GS, sporting faster data and processor speeds. To date the company has sold 6.1 million original iPhones, 3.8 million iPhone 3G units and 12.6 million combined 3G and 3GS units totaling 33.75 million iPhones sold to date.

With rumors circulating of not only a new version of the iPhone, but the introduction of a tablet computer, there’s no doubt that Apple has solved the formula for successful mobile computing. As for what will come out of Cupertino, California, we’re not sure, but chances are, we’ll like it.