Prototype of turn of the century Apple iPad spotted in court filings
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The idea to build the Apple iPhone is said to have come after Steve Jobs' unhappiness with the Motorola ROKR. This was a phone that Motorola produced in cooperation with Apple which was launched in September 2005. Jobs called the device the "iTunes phone" as it was considered at Cupertino to be part iPod and part phone. In a bit of a put down, he said owning the ROKR was like having an "iPod shuffle right on your phone." Viewing the introduction of the ROKR in the video below, you can see some problems it had returning to music from a phone call at about the 3:39 mark.
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source: NetworkWorld via TechCrunch
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Mockup of an Apple tablet from 2002-2004 | |
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49 Comments
1. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:06 7 2
Sounds like the boys in Cupertino are trying to date when the iPad concept was first reduced to practice.... It will be interesting to see how they wiggle around the work that Palm was doing in the mid-90s.
3. xtian1103 posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:22 3 1
it would also be interesting to see if palm has this kind of prototype way back in the mid 90's. photos or it never happened
6. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:41 2 1
If Palm filed patent applications on any of their work, photos won't be necessary. Just need to be able to work the search engines.
4. gallitoking posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:23 5 2
you could not use your fingers with the Palm.. the ipad was design for that
9. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:45 2 4
It is pretty well settled that Apple does not own multi-touch. Even with a requirement to use a stylus, the essential design and functionality of a tablet was in place by 2000. Apple implemented packaging and marketing, but doing something in a smaller footprint is not necessarily patentable, in and of itself.
11. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:12 9 7
All they did was packaging and marketing huh? I guess it had nothing to do with rewriting software to be touch friendly with no stylus.
20. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:00 1 2
Are you claiming Apple invented multi-touch?
25. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:08 3 2
Where in my comment did you read I said Apple invented multi touch?
33. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:45 1 1
"...touch friendly with no stylus."
47. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 23:19 3 0
And you interpreted that as invented multi touch?
17. Whateverman posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:54 1 1
Users were able to use their fingers with Palm devices. A selection was made when any object pressed two layers on the screen together. Pretty low tech by today's standards, but it meant users did not have to use a stylus.
21. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:01 4 3
Yes, but iOS is light years ahead of what palm had at that time. And palm phones did come with a stylus.
32. Whateverman posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:31 1 1
That's true for the iPhone and every other smartphone available now, including my Motorola Droid Razr. But none of the devices we carry now would be here if not for the tech developed by Nokia and Palm. These companies were the pioneers of touchscreen smartphones. Apple took the next next step in the evolution of touchscreens and the smartphone, but we can't forget the contributions of these other OEMs.
34. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:47 0 0
Doesn't matter. The concept of touch-based UI was out of the bag and prior art dates from that point. Which is way before Apple came on the scene with their iterations.
41. EclipseGSX posted on 18 Jul 2012, 15:40 2 2
You know light years is distance not time so your analogy is false
38. remixfa posted on 18 Jul 2012, 14:10 0 2
and the microsoft tablet that was OUT by that time, and a dozen others.
2. ohiwastedmylife posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:21 0 0
That OG iPad has less bezel than the modern one?
7. andro. posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:43 0 0
The real 'actual' date of this apple evidence would be interesting to find out,especially as the so called early prototype looks better than the current iPad design except for the thickness factor. All that aside,the android tablets are totally different from the iPad so this evidence attempt by apple is more desperation. Many companys have theorised and attempted tablet devices years ago but never actually released on,apple seems to rather conveniently have detailed evidence of their early attempts. Many manufacturers have actually released to market as well as produce prototypes of touch screen phones before the first iPhone,how can apple claim companies are also copying that?! Its almost so ridiculous its funny!
12. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:13 7 7
How many android tablets were on the market prior to the iPad?
16. andro. posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:50 1 3
Yes the iPad was the first,but that was because as much as other manufacturers made tablets prototypes they never released them themselves as they were unsure of the need of the device for people and thus the actually ability of sales as it was a new market. Apple launched theirs first as no matter how the device was they knew that they were guaranteed sales volumes from the army of ifans out their foaming at the mouth ready to buy any new idevice no matter what it was,revelant and needed or not,
22. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:03 5 2
Actually no. A lot of people thought no one would buy tablets. Apple had the guts to take a huge risk and launch one. Once android OEM's saw Apple's succes they copied as they always do.
24. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:04 1 2
That doesn't give Apple the right to a sales ban.
26. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:09 4 2
Again where did I say something about banning? You're having arguments in your head I'm not making.
35. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:49 1 4
You are the biggest advocate for Apple getting sales bans on this forum. Just because you may not have advocated for a sales ban in this thread does not excuse your prior or future actions.
43. Lift_Off posted on 18 Jul 2012, 17:22 1 0
hahahahaha!
48. quakan posted on 19 Jul 2012, 00:45 0 1
I remember trying out an Archos tablet at a RadioShack before the iPad was ever introduced...so the iPad was not first. Don't forget Windows tablets either.
23. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:04 1 1
Tablets were on the market way prior to the iPad. The existence of those prior examples of the tablet form and function create a problem for Apple as regards prior art. The iPad is just another take on the tablet form/function factor. Same for Android tablets.
42. remixfa posted on 18 Jul 2012, 16:06 0 1
quite a bit of tablets were on the market before the ipad.
they were a different kind of tablet though. they were touch screen PCs.
MS tried to take a PC and squish it into a phone/tablet long before the hardware could perform well enough.
Apple's only real change was to take a very basic mobile OS and try to pretend it was "PC like".
did it change things? Sure, it did. Tablets would still be here with or without Apple though. The only difference is they would just now be getting useful since hardware has finally cought up to full PC style horsepower. That and instead of your whole "ipad market" BS, you would be saying "android tablet market" BS instead as android would have entered the space regardless of who else was there.
44. taco50 (banned) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 18:05 4 2
There was on tablet market before the iPad. Sure there were tablets that no one bought. No one bought them because they were poorly designed. Apple was smart enought to realize you have to create a pleasant experience for people to buy it. You can't just slap a PC OS on a tablet and think it will work.
Android OEM's didn't have the guts to create a tablet so they waited on Apple and once they saw Apple's success they followed their lead.
8. cepcamba posted on 18 Jul 2012, 11:44 0 0
So what if the prototype looks like the GTabs and Gnex? They don't have a patent for the design of the prototypes.
10. MEeee posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:08 0 0
Apple filings was around the same time the HP Compaq TC1100 tablets were released.
13. bayusuputra posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:23 2 1
The quote from Steve Jobs only tells me one thing:
He did not came up with the design of the iPad, and he did not design the iOS.
he was just dreaming about having something called a multi-touch tablet in which he could type on.
And yet he's being praised for "Inventing" it?
I'll thank the designers instead.
15. Aeires (unregistered) posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:36 1 0
Probably after watching 2001, A Space Odyssey, back in 1968.
27. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:09 0 0
Another problem with the whole prior art thang. Especially from a design perspective. The tablet shown in Kubrick's Space Odyssey is close enough in design that I am waiting for Sammy's attorneys to bring that up as prior art.
18. xtian1103 posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:55 0 0
you don't bring out your ace until you are threatened!
28. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:10 0 0
One ace doesn't do much against a full-house.
19. SteveDoes posted on 18 Jul 2012, 12:59 0 0
What's with the black and white pictures. Didn't we have color cameras back then?
29. Droid_X_Doug posted on 18 Jul 2012, 13:11 0 0
What is with the fuzzy b&w photos? There was at least 1024x768 back then.
40. DonkeySauce posted on 18 Jul 2012, 14:23 0 0
They didn't have color cameras way back then...
49. Lwazi_N posted on 19 Jul 2012, 03:49 0 0
Apple have taken it too far. Samsung should also come up with doctored material and claim they were working on a tablet in 1999.
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