Computers in only 15% of US homes in early 90s
When General Magic was building its smartphone prototype, computers were present in only about 15% of American homes.
Snapshot · Planet Money
We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?
Explore episode
Jun 26, 2026
Where this was said
Tony Fadell's Origin Story
At 5:34 · chapter starts 3:50
Tony Fadell's backstory is equal parts charming and revealing. A self-described shop-class kid raised by a grandfather who believed anything a human made could be fixed, Tony grew up tinkering with computers and became obsessed after reading a Rolling Stone profile of the original Macintosh team. Those engineers were his rock stars. When he spotted a gossip item in a tech magazine revealing that his heroes were working on a secret project at a new company called General Magic, he didn't pause. He found a phone number and started calling — sometimes 10 to 15 times a day. After six or seven months of relentless pestering and rejection, they gave him a job. He was 21. He moved to Silicon Valley and landed at the center of what seemed like the most exciting technology project in history. [1] — Tony Fadell "Tony Fadell was making fake IDs on a laser printer in high school and obsessively tracking computer engineers in Rolling Stone magazine. He…" 01:36
The 1991 Smartphone: Building Everything From Scratch
Before the internet, Wi-Fi, or mobile data existed, General Magic was building a device that could make calls, send faxes, buy things, navigate, and play games. They were creating every single piece of it — from the operating system to the touchscreen — in one small company.
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