Simon Celebrates its 20th Birthday

Today the cosmopolitans are very much familiar with the Smartphone, which have a sleek body containing a wide array of features ranging from high-resolution camera, 1080p video support, and large data storing capacity. But has anyone wondered what was the 1^st Smartphone being like?

 Well, the world’s 1^st smartphone was designed by IBM Technologies and American cellular company BellSouth and marketed under the name Simon. The advent of 16^th August 2014 marks the 20^th birthday of the first ever smartphone being marketed all over the globe irrespective of the geographical topologies.

Structural Details of Simon:

 

The forerunner of the smartphone, which was marketed under the name Simon was not much like today’s smartphone. In fact, it was not regarded as a smartphone back then, reported by the curator Charlotte Connelly. It was manufactured and entered the multinational market on 16^th August 1994, and gained international acclaim within a very short span of time

Some of the features of Simon are enlisted below:

• It had a black and white 4.5-inchgreen LCD screen.

• Pixel resolution was 293x160 pixels, with a stylus touch capacity.

• It ran on 16-bitVadem processor having anx86 compatibility. 
• It had 1MB RAM and 1.8MB storage drive.

• It weighted more than 500gm (1.1lb) and it was about 20cm (9 inches) long and was powered by nickel-cadmium battery.

Apart from that, Simon has the capability to send fax and emails only when they can be synchronized with the desktop computer. Users could operate The Simon with the stylus that was provided along with the handset. Apart from that, users could create notes, draw pictures and could even synchronize the calendars as per as their needs.

Market Value of Simon back then:

IBM Technologies mastered in manufacturing a smartphone, which possess the capacity to optimize workload. However, a good technology comes with an expensive price. It was coined in the open market for a price of $900(539 GBP) in the initial years of marketing, with a 2 years contract with BellSouth (now AT&T) as network connectivity. An estimated 50,000 handsets were sold to the customers of 15 states of United States of America, and the primary buyers were business tycoons and corporate magnates.

The battery lasted only for an hour, and it had no access to internet connectivity at that time. Owing to heavy weight and shorter battery lifespan and an expensive cost, the demand of the smartphone Simon did not last long in the market and soon it became obsolete within 2 years of its launch. Nevertheless, it was a groundbreaking innovation at that era, when wireless technology was just its juvenile stage.

The Science Museum in USA bought Simon over eBay with an anonymous sum of money. Owing a wireless technological device was way too out of league for ordinary citizens, so its demand was slowly diminished. That is when Nokia introduced its Nokia 9000 Communicator to get the top-notch in the wireless device market.

The advancement of technology has ushered a technological revolution resulting in making the 1^st ever invented smartphone to be long forgotten in the pages of history. Apparently, Simon will be remembered as the first ever-designed smartphone.