Quote · Planet Money
We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?
Where this was said
Building Everything: General Magic's Impossible Ambition
At 9:37 · chapter starts 8:30
Emma Peaslee lays out the full scope of what General Magic was attempting: a portable device from which a user could call people, send faxes, buy things, navigate, and play games. And they were building every single piece of it in-house — operating system, custom chips, devices, network servers, user interface, applications, and a touchscreen — all at once. To staff this moonshot, the founders handpicked the best engineers they knew, creating a kind of rock-star roster. An in-house film crew documented the work; footage survives of a young Tony Fadell hooking up proto-USB connections and Megan Smith testing a touchscreen. [1] — Tony Fadell "General Magic had rock-star engineers, a bunny named Bowser, an in-house film crew, and employees sleeping at their desks. Everyone could w…" 08:08 Investors including Apple, AT&T, Sony, and Motorola poured in money, awed by what they were seeing even if they couldn't fully understand it. The vibe was euphoric. The magicians, as they called themselves, even kept a live bunny named Bowser in the office.
Tony Fadell trusted that his experienced leaders knew when the product would ship. Then 12 months passed. Then 18. Then 32. The device that was supposed to be a phone and a computer shipped after four years — without a phone.
