iPhone SE (2016). It was surprisingly cheap on my family’s contract plan. Back then you could get a 2yo flagship (iPhone 5s or Galaxy S5) for free with a cheap contract - sad those days are over. The SE was only a couple of dollars more but had the same flagship camera and processor speed of a iPhone 6s or Galaxy S7 that was on contract for way way more.
Surprisingly good, now i have to put the verge back on my do not suggest channel list, idk how it got off of there but i do appreciate that i got the first video from them I've ever considered good
Enjoyed the documentary, but I find the "first real smartphone" a bit dubious. What about devices like Nokia 9000? Treo 180 came in 2002 which was also the year for contemporaries like Nokia 9210i, Nokia 7650, Sony Ericsson P800 that were all true smartphones and I'd say more appealing ones at that.
@@TheVerge the resource limit for the other comment has been reached but I wanna answer the question now because I spent time on it! Haha you probably never see it but... anyway... God I had loaaaddssss... I had a phone from the age of 9 so my first would be impossible to remember but the first one I remember that stands out is the old 3pay camera phone with the camera that could spin for selfies. And before that I remember I think it was a Siemens that could have polyphonic ringtones on it and it was amazing to me only having matrix screens and beeps in the past... would play a 30 second segment of Kylie Minogue - can't get you out of my head, which came on the phone on repeat over and over again. Drove people nuts haha. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk 🤣👍
I wrote PalmOS software, back in the day. A Handspring Visor Deluxe was my preferred device of choice; 8MB of storage was plenty for non-audio-visual content. I still have the 8MB CompactFlash card I used for backup from those days; dented, with label peeled off. In fact, I wrote the file management software for one of the third-party Springboard CF card adapters (FileCaddy), and backup software (VFS QuickBack), amongst others. Handspring introduced me to embedded systems development. Kopsis Engineering (manufacturer of that CF adapter) gave me my first real commercial private codebase → open source project. And I will forever be grateful. Thank you for this retrospective.
Do you remember the GoType clamshell keyboard from Landware? I still have mine and would give my eyeteeth to turn it into a Bluetooth keyboard I can use with my OnePlus phone. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Was thinking about this after you commented. I owned several of those types of keyboards; one from Targus, can't remember the others. W-fold things with integral stands. One used infra-red serial (universal), another actually used the Handspring Visor dock connector. With an Arduino translating the "raw serial" and pretending to be a Bluetooth HID device, it's totally doable! @@DaniLong
@@GothAlice I have a few of those keyboards still in a box somewhere. I have the W-fold one and at least two clamshell keyboards. I have a CF card Visor module (don't remember the brand), the phone module, 8-Meg module, a modem module, along with 2-3 different Visors and a Handspring Treo 180. I loved the Handspring line - so many great gadgets that were way ahead of their time.
@GothAlice I was on Facebook just now and I was reminded of this awesome doc that I shared on there in 2022, after seeing it on Twitter from one of my mutuals. You should write a book about your experience. In fact all of the people on this doc should. I'd love to read about this. Do you or anyone know of any books about this history that are as good as this doc when I first saw it?
@@DaniLong I had one of those, very nice keyboard, but it didn’t work with my Palm 3 for some reason :( I use a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard now with my iPhone, very comfortable to type on, fills that niche that i had wanted to fill with the Palm
I love when credit is given where credit is due. Certainly Steve Jobs was a singular force at the crossroads of technology and the way we interact with it, but even those we hail as geniuses stand on the shoulders of pioneers who came before. Great video and tribute to some of the unsung heroes behind one of the most significant products in history.
I would love to see more of these series from you guys. I imagine a great postmortem on Web OS, a parallel story on Blackberry/RIM, a completely different story on Nokia, a deep dive on the 7 years that the Sidekick was a thing.
I shared an eighth grade chemistry class with Donna and knew at the time, here is the smartest person I have ever met, but without the ego, I wonder what she will achieve later in life? That was 1969-70 at humble Fairplain Jr H.S. in Michigan. Found years later Donna and partners had just left PDA titan Palm Pilot to found Handspring, but mergers and acquisitions later Handspring was put asunder. Thanks for this mini-doc that has brought this history together for me. Fascinating!
She is still totally down to earth. I've been lucky to work for her at Claris and Palm. She's a great business thinker, and furthermore capable of being your boss and your personal friend outside of work. I'll be forever grateful that I was so lucky
Yeah they were pretty popular outside the professional class who had Palm's. It was by far the cheapest PDA at the time especially with that expandable slot, exclusive apps, and 'big' (for the time) display. Palm had budget devices like the m100 and 105 for the same price, but they were heavily compromised devices in comparison. I remember buying one for $200. Was a big deal as a little kid at the time scrounging up all that money from summer work. But it was incredible to me. It felt like the future. I used to even make some apps in Basic for the thing and post it online. Then beam them to friends and see what they think. I used to write assignments in my PDA in middle and later high school. Heck I even wrote a short story on it. Mastering Grafitti was fun. Looking back I probably used my PDA more than even my smartphone today as a computer replacement. Something about the simplicity of the device and using it constantly as a writing instrument felt more natural versus the multitude of apps that I don't really use productively.
@@jonathanpusar5931 Where did you live at the time? I was living in northern Texas and they're truly behind the times or just blinded by loyalty. NOBODY liked Handspring and I think in my entire life, I've seen less than a dozen people using Handspring PDAs. I had to sell both brands for a living and it was impossible to get people to listen. They just leaped blindly towards Palm and wouldn't even TOUCH the Handsprings. I say that's what drove the brand under. Nobody wanted to give them a chance. From my experience in sales, Texas is a bad market to push new technology. They're worried only about BRANDS, not features or practicality. I find Palm hilarioiusly overpriced for a PDA. When Handspring went under, I still refused to buy a Palm and got a Sony Clie instead, LOL....
I had a Treo 600. I actually went to a launch event in NYC held for the device. As an industry professional they offered me a device to try for 180 days and then I purchased it for $250 from them. I loved it.
I lived my youth in the 90s and seeing those people the age of my parents, thinking they were trying to invent stuff we barely have since literally yesterday is crazy. They were so far out and everybody doubted them but today we have to say thank you. And to see many have the same rebuttal about new technologies getting worked on today just amaze me.
Thank you! this was lovely! I still have handspring, treo and a couple of modules, including one that still has an audio recording in its NVRAM of my nephew when he was a baby. What a heartbreak to see how these smart people weren't quite rewarded for their visionaryness (if that's a word) but it's really cool you captured this moment in history in amber. Thank you!
That happens all the time. The father of the modern search engine is a guy from the tiny island of Barbados. He lives a modest but happy life today. These are the people who should be our role models. People who improve the world but don't become greedy parasites.
@@TdotSoul Capitalism rewards parasitism, the next big idea will be missed because some CEO doesn't have the vision and the inventor doesn't have the capital, I mean all the technology: the internet, GPS, touch screens: all military projects, government funded, companies like Apple and Microsoft just steal other peoples ideas and make them profitable, what's sad is that if you do fight to make it big, they can just copy you as soon as it looks promising. Because people will only innovate for profit, free markets actually stifle innovation.
Had a Visor. It was revolutionary. Treo being mainly a Sprint device crippled it in my hometown from day one. These folks at Handspring, the folks at RIM doing the BlackBerry, various others - all had pieces of the puzzle figured out. iPhone 1 was half baked, but as pointed out - it had the other piece, the things learned making the iPod and the media platform. A very interesting time in tech. Nicely done.
"the research and attention to details" are focused more on Handspring and nothing about Apple Newton which was here way before (with GPS, writing email, internet, handwriting recognition, printing, SMS with NewtSMS+) they even have a slot for extension (very common in those time anyway), all that in 1993 until 1998... This from Verge, is just glorification by nostalgia and missing opportunity of those entrepreneurs and pushed by this journalist (old user), they didn't invent anything or innovate, i'm sure they took all the idea just like the Gameboy from the Newton PDA. Remember HandSpring was the competition and answer to Newton, not the other way around. Newton was stopped by steve jobs who was back, because it was not great and too much expensive. Also he was more focus on creating product more than looking at the competition. I'm not even an apple fan but when you know the story and you are honest you can only be filled with annoyance, research within everyone's reach, on top of that ... Like the AVGN said once, the research and attention to details "my ***".
@@exquize1660 they mentioned the Newton, but it was Palm that made touch screen PDAs a household name. The Newton was a proof of concept, but the palm pilot was revolutionary. Not sure why you're so upset.
I thoroughly enjoy this look at Handspring. I was one of the first to purchase a Visor when it came out. I had a Palm Pilot, and when Handspring came out, I knew that this new company had vision. I’ve owned several of the Visor devices, and really appreciate their versatility. It’s really shows that even if you have the vision of the future, not everyone see it the same. Handspring had it right, but not the money or leverage to see it through. It’s too bad that after all their hard work, they don’t get the well deserved credit for paving the way to we use mobile devices today. Thank you for covering this topic.
Hehehehe, my first PDA was Visor Pro. I was a mere student back then but I can see it have better entertainment value than all other nokia phones (so many freeware and shareware games back then). Awesome stuff 👍
What's outrageous is that people REFUSED to even give Handspring a chance. I worked the electronics section of my store and they sold both brands. Nobody wanted to hear me talk about Handspring. They oohed and aahed over the more expensive Palms even though the screens were SMALLER because of the M100 series faceplates (I never understood why they chose that stupid design. I had to recommend a customer REMOVE the faceplate to get more room to tap on the screen!). You couldn't get memory upgrades unless you shelled out a whopping $399 for the M500 series but you wouldn't get a color screen. And even if you did, the Handspring Visor with a color screen looked much better. I used to have a Visor and took advantage of the Springboard. I had a backup cartridge and there was even an adapter to use Sony Memory Sticks! So I could get a whopping 512 MB of memory if I needed. And Palm? They couldn't expand beyond even HALF that!
I had a handspring visor in Junior high (2001-2003) and was one of the few in that age group to have a PDA, a friend of mine had one, we used to play games and beam messages to each other over infra red in study hall. Excellent video. Handspring really was a cornerstone.
Great job, Dieter, as always. One point ... Apple did not have the leverage with the carriers that you think in terms of bringing them iTunes customers. Remember, they originally had to go with Cingular because no other carrier would capitulate to Jobs' demands. Cingular, being an upstart, was the only one willing. AT&T then bought Cingular, becoming the only iPhone carrier at launch, but not by their choice, really; AT&T originally turned down being the carrier for the iPhone. We think of Apple today as this dominant, undeniable force. But back then, it was anything but a sure thing, from the carrier point of view. Full Disclosure: I used to work for both Cingular and AT&T Wireless.
However, you have to also remember that Apple had the money and the ability to sell their phone without any help from any of these companies. As such, Apple could just tell carriers they'd do it themselves and not cave to carrier demands. In the end carriers were forced to deal with Apple because the iPhone was that big. Handspring or Palm couldn't do that. They didn't have the resources to just sell their own thing and tell other carriers to just stick it. Also, there's no denying that the iPhone had a level of polish other phones simply did not when it launched. The iPhone never really did anything new, but what it did do was integrate all of these things into a slick package which wowed everyone. That in itself was a big achievement.
@@wakannnai1 Back then, you couldn't actually just put a phone on a carrier's network. We take that for granted these days. The carriers had to explicitly activate every phone on its network to ensure the phones would "behave." A big part of the pushback from the carriers was that they were concerned the iPhone would chew through data on the networks and lead to congestion (which, of course, they did). That first iPhone didn't even have 3G, stuck on the "2.5G" EDGE network, which made the data problems even worse (taking longer to get even less data). And while the iPhone did use SIM cards, the phones were SIM-locked, so even if you wanted to take that phone to another carrier (that happened to support the same frequencies) after the fact, you couldn't. On top of that, Apple's Visual Voicemail feature required a server component with the carrier, so assuming you could get the carrier to unlock your phone, and you found another carrier that used GSM on the same frequencies your phone used, you would lose this key feature, as no other carrier had the software from Apple to support it.
I like how the tone of this is almost like a time capsule explaining things to future generations. There’s something really cool about it. It also reminded me that I actually had one of these things (and had no idea what to do with it)!
Solid video, and it's good to see the Palm/Handspring team getting some love and attention, they are very much forgotten visionaries. For further reading, I highly recommend the book "Piloting Palm" as a great history of Palm/Handspring from their inception all the way up to Handspring launching its first models. So far as I am aware, its the only such book out there.
Thoroughly enjoyed this doc, more more more! It’s so nice to see some great content being produced around the history of the most important gadget in our lives right now. I remember wanting a Palm Treo in high school just because it really did seemed like a computer for my pocket, phones like the Palm Treo, Nokia 9300 Communicator, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P800, Motorola A1000, HTC TyTN, the early BlackBerrys etc… All sparked a lot of our minds on just where smartphones would go in the future. Would be great to see a documentary like this on Psion, the road to Symbian, and how Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola etc… chose their own strategies with it.
The Verge killing it with more great content. I am so here for this deep dives into concepts and ideas. I love it! The Verge has become one of my favorite channels. This documentary was incredible. It was made with so much passion and love for the products, ideas, and the people involved. Ahead of their time for sure, and the spotlight was stolen by Apple. But I am very glad to see the people who made innovation happen get the credit. What I wild tech would we live in now. All thanks to the wonderful group of friends!
After all the teases, I'm so glad that this finally appear on UA-cam! As someone who owns Treo 600, I'm glad that I finally get to learn about Handspring from this documentary. What an incredible smartphone for its time.
This was awesome. I was a rabid Palm user. I had 4 versions and still have them in my tech drawer. I always wanted a Treo, but by the time they came out, I just couldn't swing it. As much as I love my current smartphone, I miss the Palms. They were so simple to use but absolutely perfect in so many ways. Thank you for this great look back!
I agree. Not sure what it was particularly, but I loved the time I had with my palm vx. It was a beautiFul device that worked so well. I think it might have been although limited to a few tasks, it did those tasks so well. The design may have started the trend of glued together products, but it was just so sleek and solid, handspring was a chunky plastic toy in comparison. Towards the end mine started suffering from touch going wonky, but with calibration on restart I eeked out some more life
This is actually incredibly interesting. During the video you keep saying it “doesn’t seem like a big deal” but I think that even for those who absolutely take everything about modern phones for granted will find this incredible. You have a handful of people who just decided to completely create an industry, and just had the audacity to call up the biggest companies and be like “you need to make this work on this plastic brick”. It’s absolutely amazing that this went under the radar for so many of us.
I recall working at Circuit City and remember thinking how PDAs would be the future. Played with Compaq, Cassiopia, Psion, Palm, etc. Was a great time watching the market change.
I remember when I started working at AT&T back in 2002 and getting my first introduction to the PDA world. I was SOLD that this was the future. What a great trip down memory lane!
I would still put the Visor in the top 5 best devices I've owned. It was so versatile and usable, and the graffiti was very efficient. Mine is still in my desk drawer, and when I fire it up, still works like it did the day I bought it. Great to see Handspring get some respect.
I remember my Handspring Visor. I loved it and really thought it would be the future. Unfortunatly it was not, but it totally affected the future. I had friends that used the Palm Pilot and did not get the Handspring's possiblities with the Springborad slot. I really enjoyed this video and I find it very interesting to see what was going on and what the vision was. Sometimes you are just too far ahead and technology/users need to catch up.
Really I used palm up until the treo even wrote some 'cards' for the OS which was webkit based front end. it was a slick phone. I didn't use a iPhone until the 3gs. got that on launch day and never went back,
Oh man. This documentary is amazing. I loved my Treo phones and Palm years back. Truly terrific gadgets. Sadly they fell behind but their legacy will forever continue. I will always have a special place in my heart for Palm and Treos. Congrats on the documentary.
That was so good! So much nostalgia I can hardly handle it :) Thanks Dieter and everyone else who contributed to this video. People have forgotten all this history, and it's great to see such a wonderfully produced reminder of it.
I'm glad to have run across this video. I was one of the beta testers of the memory module. I owned quite a few modules and blew a ton of money, but also knew it was all bleeding edge and would hold a place in history.
This was awesome! So many memories. I worked for FranklinCovey retail from 1996-2005 and saw a lot of this journey up close. I think the Palm V and the Treo most definitely prepared the world for the breakthrough of the iPhone. Thanks for the well done recounting of this important history.
I absolutely loved this. So interesting. I actually had that orange Handspring Visor...as a 13 year old. What on earth I needed it for, I have no idea, but I sure loved it!
I have been a loyal user of Palm since its original version. I love the video, its production, the interviews. I always wanted a Spring, but I could never get one. Today, as the narrative states, most features in the Palms are taken for granted in our phones, but for those years, most of them were glimpses of the future, not many could see.
Beautifully written, shot, recorded, produced, presented, edited, ..., ..., ... Outstanding work Dieter & team. Thank for an enjoyable 30 minutes of nostalgia and fascination.
An absolutely amazing doc. As someone who was an owner of these devices, I always wondered WHY??? Why did such a great and awesome product go away and force some hard choices to either go to an Apple or Android device. To hear and see a detailed background of the reasons was very enjoyable. Thank you very much for this.
Thanks for this video. These people really need to be mentioned not only as an important step, but an essential one, in the development of the smartphone.
Handspring always gives me good memories. I had a Visor deluxe, Platinum and Prism, lots of expansions (mostly extra memory, though) and other nice gadgets like the best foldable keyboard I've ever seen, Targus Stowaway. Those were fun to work with, but I could never use modem additions for these (those weren't allowed in Germany), thus my really first smartphone was an android G1.
Wow! Another guy like me! I, too, thought that Stowaway was just THE BEST. I, too, owned several different Visors and a bunch of modules. My big problem, though, was I was doing the European biz dev for an Israel - America startup, and nothing worked everywhere. I could only use my Visor Phone when I was in the (Washington DC) Beltway region; I had a Nokia Series 40 phone in Israel, and IIRC an Ericsson that I was using in Germany and the UK, switching SIMs. Before "Convergence" I had four phone numbers (plus my two office lines in Israel and Virginia, with my PA working at the latter) and was constantly lugging around a briefcase worth just of hardware, what with my PowerBook G3 "Wall Street" and 4-5 modules for it, the Handspring cradle, the Visor and its plugins (4?), the Nokia and the Ericsson, transformers for charging everything, and a little kit with AC outlet and telephone adapters to keep me connected as I trotted the globe. The Visor Phone was the worst telephone, but I loved it best because it was right there in my breast pocket.
@@graynewetzky6430 I had little resources for buying a laptop or "full computer" during university, and I remember typing reports etc on my HandSpring Visor with my Stowaway keyboard... Also remember the BEST game "Billiards" *(or something), first mobile game emulating physics I used! Lovely times!
Had a Visor, and later the color Prism model, and had a number of Springboard modules, including a Magellan GPS and the CDMA VisorPhone when it came out. Really loved the platform and was experimenting with developing custom Springboard modules when it became clear the Visor wouldn't continue to exist.
So well done. Thank you for making and sharing this. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Even if we don’t know it. I remember getting a Palm Pilot as a graduation gift in 2001 and being made fun of, but I didn’t care. I just knew there was something special about having all of those functions in 1, pocket-sized device.
i was excited about these and desperately wanted to play with my aunts palm pilot even as a kid. she kept on telling me it wasn't a toy, i didn't care. i could see the potential even then
So much information, so much learnings. This is great honestly! Thanks for creating and sharing this! I especially forgot the stranglehold the Cellphone carriers had on the industry, and how Apple changed that because of iPhone which I recall was originally on AT&T and everyone wanted it. It's crazy how much the original creators of a thing don't get their due in the success of that thing.
AT&T and ONLY AT&T for at least a year. I remember that AT&T would send physical paper bills to their customers with itemized use info. After using the iphone consumers would literally get 50 and 60 page bills sent to their homes.
@@Christian_Luczejko so for the last month or so it was on the verge app on Roku, or Google TV, nowhere else. Interesting decision by the verge. Curious to know what their goals was with that..?
I can't believe how nostalgic I feel seeing those Palm devices. I absolutely loved them and have a very clear memory of the day I got my first Palm Pilot. I couldn't afford my own Mac so was a kind of substitute until I could earn proper money (was still studying at uni)
Loved my Visor Edge. Had the phone and sound player modules. Everyone made fun of me because my phone was so big. I also love being able to say that I had a smartphone years before iPhone.
I think a few people did. I had the Nokia 9210 Commmunicator then Sony Ericsson P800i then the P900i and lastly before the I got the iPhone the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 which ran Windows 6.1. The first 2 mentioned here ran Synbian. But none of them were as smooth as the iPhone.
I've waited a long time for someone to make this. I had the handspring visor and was a BBS and Internet user for 10 years by 1999 already. it was clear that we all needed pocket computers that hook together and could get online. I did so much with it but I hated the cell phone market. it just had a different view of the world.
I had one of the Handspring devices. 3Com were clueless and didn't know what they had. Handspring was a lot better, and they developed a device that was just incredible, easy to use and the phone connectivity worked reasonably well for the time. The Graffiti handwriting was also great and easier than typing. The expansion models were really cool for the time.
This is so great! Thank you for doing this. I’ve always loved this story. I’d like to see the expanded version someday. It seems that there is so much more to the story.
As someone who has always been interested in diving deeper into tech history and trivia and the people that made the industry happen, I was shocked that I never really knew about what these folks achieved. This documentary has the exact feel of the last episode of Silicon Valley, where they all look back on what could have been, and acknowledge the great ideas that came out of the venture
This was like a trip down memory lane for me. I remember exactly where I was at during the iPhone announcement and the launch of Web OS. What a great documentary.
Thoroughly enjoyed the doc while I was in line getting tested. I remember the Palm Pilot & Treo like it was yesterday. Pretty revolutionary for its time. Kudos to the team that put this film together. It kept me engaged the whole time.
What an absolutely incredible piece!!! What a walk down memory lane. I had one of the first Handspring Springboard phones. Boy I loved it. I truly believed Jeff Hawkins vision of the future. He was correct. This was such an incredible follow up piece and I truly appreciated it. So amazing to to travel back with these truly visionary futurists. Kudos on this look back.
First, a compliment for bringing this great documentary and please keep making more like this. I am from the generation that had PDAs and it's good to show to this generation where it all began. After watching it, I am wondering what would happen if Handspring had registered some patent that could profit from their ideas. What I learned is never present an idea to someone who could steal it from you.
Thanks for the memories! I loved my Palm, Visor, Treo and Palm Centro (last of a kind, a real smartphone). I regret getting them lost at Narnia now. Keep up this great content!
I was always wondering why Apple called the Launcher of the iPhone "Springboard" (you know the homescreen with your Icons). Seems they acknowledged what they looked at to realize it.
Sounds more like Jobs was just rubbing it in their faces … If Jobs/Apple wanted to give them credit they would have bought them out and have them developing the product in house
With the fortune of hindsight, it's interesting to take a look back at the very first inkling of a smartphone and the amazing ideas they had at the time. It's hard to imagine a world without the modern smartphone and everything it does. From my first iPhone 3Gs in 2011 to my 2021 Samsung galaxy, it'll be interesting to see what phones will do in another decade or two.
I had Palm Treo in 2003 and it was great. When iphone came out in 2005, it was still undecided what OS that OEM would go with. Except Blackberry, every OEM at that time used Microsoft CE as OS in their smart phones.
Outstanding video. I know it takes a lot of time and resources but I totally wish The Verge would produce more of these tech documentaries! Well done guys
I had the Handspring phone back around 20 years ago. It was great, as it was a combination of a PDA (PalmPilot) and a phone. It was fun to use. Only flaw was that the phone "app" would crash on rare occasion. Windows CE devices came afterward, and I had both, but I hated the Windows CE as it was awful.
Windows CE still runs a huge number of Point of Sales devices (I was once a POS technician), if you go to a restaurant and see one of those huge bulky gray checkout screens made by Micros its most likely running Windows CE.
I had Treo in 2003 and then moved to windows phone (Motorola). Never had an interest in Blackberry. When Iphone came out in 2005, I couldn't get one so I settled with Motorola.
This was really interesting. I hope you do more documentaries like this on different technological pioneers. It really does make one think about how just because something fails doesn't mean it was a bad idea.
Is this why the iOS Application launcher (Homescreen) is known internally as "SpringBoard"? Would be a nice way to give credit for the shoulders that they stood on to create the product.
This is a great documentary. Salute to the builders of Handspring. We wouldn't have our modern phones today if not for all of your futuristic visions. Thank you!
I skirted this clip like 4-5 times and didn’t click on it. What a bad choice that was. This is super well done and a great story was told here. Loving every minute of it!
I remember the Handspring with GSM phone. I was considering buying one, but already had both a cell phone and Palm Pilot. Also, IIRC, the RIM BlackBerry was the first smart phone. Also, Nokia had the first tablet like device (I bought a Nokia N800 about 15 years ago) which was based on Linux. It used a stylus to interact with the display. I bought a Google Nexus 1 and have been running Android devices ever since, most recently buying a Google Pixel 6.
Unfortunately, Tech always goes this route where someone kind of has to be the whipping boy who pushes technology forward before it's time only for others to come after to "invent" what was already there
Yeah, I think when they presented this to Jobs, he "came up" with the idea of iPhone. (Or in other words stole it- everything from virtual keyboard, trough apps to music player was on Palm devices and these guys came up with an idea to combine it with a phone, so even that wasn't his own) This happens way too often- a startup offers amazing product to a corporation, they refuse it and magically come up with it "on their own" months or years later.
@@jackwilson5542 It also shows how people are too worried about "going with the myths". I still meet morons who think Apple invented the smartphone or even the MP3 player! yes, there are people who think Apple invented everything electronics related. I'm serious. Most blind person I ever met was a guy who came into my old job looking for an MP3 player. I never forgot the conversation: Hello! Welcome to ***, what can we help you with? I need to buy an MP3 player. Sure, we have several over he... Customer gets annoyed and interrupts. No, no, no, no. I need an MP3 PLAYER! It's called the Ipod!! Sir, MP3 is an audio format. The Ipod is a model name owned by Apple. These here all play music in the same format. They are MP3 players. No, no, no, no, no. (Seriously, he talked exactly like that and treated me like a child just learning how to walk for the first time! He was very rude and patronizing), ONLY Apple makes MP3 players. They are called Ipods. These are NOT MP3 players! I need an IPOD!!! I gave up and walked away, dumbfounded by how narrow minded some people can be. This guy truly lived in an Apple-scented bubble. And he was NOT the first Apple cultist I've met.
So many good hardware photos in this, all the torn-down devices really added flavor to the visuals. Thank you for that, usually all we get is pixels and icons warped to funny perspectives, and actually seeing the boards and the chips and the battery contacts (oh yeah, the early palmpilots ran on alkalines!) helps give a tangible grounding to the whole story.
Its absolutely amazing how many people believe that the iPhone invented the smartphone... it was and remains a great product, but its great to see these guys getting the attention it should. RIP Palm Pre!
My first PDA device was a Handspring. I was going to save for the phone module but Sony Ericsson and Nokia suddenly got us distracted with 3G. Blackberry brought us back to the good old days but the iPhones and Android smartphones showed us what the Handspring creators wanted to get done all along.
I remember my handspring, it was awesome and I was so excited to have “new” technology. It’s amazing to hear the back story of the innovators. What amazing minds.
Excellent documentary, brings back fun memories of using palm devices. Would have been interesting for you to include how early Blackberry products influenced their potential market.
Yeah, blackberry was huge. I remember finding out that it was also huge in Indonesia. Dont know why but a lot of people had devices and used their network/program to talk as much as you would whatsapp or whatever else today. I think its popularity there lasted well past its time here.
Wow this was fantastic. I had a Treo 650 and it felt more like an obligation than a companion (it was funded for and by work). As the IT guy, I would have to drive to a location that had Verizon signal so I could activate them for the staff. I "upgraded" to a Treo... I think 700W which had Windows and wow what a downgrade. It only got worse from there, sadly. When the iPhone launched it felt like finally getting clean water. None of the things the Treo did better mattered at that point, because I really enjoyed the experience so much more that it was worth the tradeoffs. Being first is no guarantee in this business. You have to own the supply chain, and in order to do that you need money. Costs money to make money, and few ever are willing to make that kind of investment. Great story!
Great documentary. Wonderful summary. This really highlights the late-market entry strategy that apple took. There were others in the PDA market before handspring, who were on a similar track, albeit in different geographic markets. Sharp’s color screen Zaurus PDA was on display at CeBIT in 1996 (albeit a Japanese language only version). It had email, a web browser and could be connected via a standard modem. PSION owned the PDA market in the UK from the late 1980s, with a hand held PDA that could synch to your laptop. The first PDA with analog cellular phone functionality, was the IBM Simon, which could be considered the first smartphone The Nokia 9000 Communicator was a smartphone + PDA which was successful globally and was arguably one of the first successful smartphones(1996). 1996 also saw the debut of Palm’s first PDA product.
It's documentaries like this that makes The Verge so much ahead of other tech youtube channels. Been following the channel for a long time and it is always job Well done by you guys. This was super informative to say the least.
Really great tech-umentary, loved they fact that it highlights that Jobs did not create the smart phone. Just wished you mentioned BlackBerry because they are the reason the communication devices became productive and not just a rolodex in your pocket.
Handspring and Palm devices were definitely not just rolodex in your pocket. But BlackBerry deserves prominent mention among the pre-Apple pocket computers as the first with a good email program and a keyboard! (Apple's insight/leap/achievement was that the keyboard didn't *have* to be physical.)
Hey Dieter! This is Bob_C from the Treocentral days, the guy who wrote the open letter to Palm for the 700p firmware update. You did a fantastic job with this video. It brought back many great memories, including Silly Season! Was very happy for you when I saw you moved onto Google. Am sure you will bring many great ideas that will enhance the user experience for years to come. Best wishes!
What was your first smartphone?
Nokia XpressMusic X6 if it is considered a smartphone. If not then iPhone 5.
Nokia 6288
Samsung Galaxy S2
iPhone SE (2016). It was surprisingly cheap on my family’s contract plan. Back then you could get a 2yo flagship (iPhone 5s or Galaxy S5) for free with a cheap contract - sad those days are over. The SE was only a couple of dollars more but had the same flagship camera and processor speed of a iPhone 6s or Galaxy S7 that was on contract for way way more.
BlackBerry
If I can be honest, I was shocked when I realized this was from The Verge. This is an excellent little documentary.
me too !
For people who don't follow verge, here's a quick tip: anything with deiter in it is a must watch for any tech enthusiast
Surprisingly good, now i have to put the verge back on my do not suggest channel list, idk how it got off of there but i do appreciate that i got the first video from them I've ever considered good
@@kiyosenl.3889 literally
@@AniketGidye 👍
This was incredibly well done and really enjoyable.
Thank you Jon!
Enjoyed the documentary, but I find the "first real smartphone" a bit dubious. What about devices like Nokia 9000? Treo 180 came in 2002 which was also the year for contemporaries like Nokia 9210i, Nokia 7650, Sony Ericsson P800 that were all true smartphones and I'd say more appealing ones at that.
@@TheVerge the resource limit for the other comment has been reached but I wanna answer the question now because I spent time on it! Haha you probably never see it but... anyway... God I had loaaaddssss... I had a phone from the age of 9 so my first would be impossible to remember but the first one I remember that stands out is the old 3pay camera phone with the camera that could spin for selfies. And before that I remember I think it was a Siemens that could have polyphonic ringtones on it and it was amazing to me only having matrix screens and beeps in the past... would play a 30 second segment of Kylie Minogue - can't get you out of my head, which came on the phone on repeat over and over again. Drove people nuts haha. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk 🤣👍
I agree
I wanted the Springboard, but in the end got the Blackberry 8800
I wrote PalmOS software, back in the day. A Handspring Visor Deluxe was my preferred device of choice; 8MB of storage was plenty for non-audio-visual content. I still have the 8MB CompactFlash card I used for backup from those days; dented, with label peeled off. In fact, I wrote the file management software for one of the third-party Springboard CF card adapters (FileCaddy), and backup software (VFS QuickBack), amongst others.
Handspring introduced me to embedded systems development. Kopsis Engineering (manufacturer of that CF adapter) gave me my first real commercial private codebase → open source project.
And I will forever be grateful. Thank you for this retrospective.
Do you remember the GoType clamshell keyboard from Landware? I still have mine and would give my eyeteeth to turn it into a Bluetooth keyboard I can use with my OnePlus phone. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Was thinking about this after you commented. I owned several of those types of keyboards; one from Targus, can't remember the others. W-fold things with integral stands. One used infra-red serial (universal), another actually used the Handspring Visor dock connector.
With an Arduino translating the "raw serial" and pretending to be a Bluetooth HID device, it's totally doable!
@@DaniLong
@@GothAlice I have a few of those keyboards still in a box somewhere. I have the W-fold one and at least two clamshell keyboards. I have a CF card Visor module (don't remember the brand), the phone module, 8-Meg module, a modem module, along with 2-3 different Visors and a Handspring Treo 180. I loved the Handspring line - so many great gadgets that were way ahead of their time.
@GothAlice I was on Facebook just now and I was reminded of this awesome doc that I shared on there in 2022, after seeing it on Twitter from one of my mutuals. You should write a book about your experience. In fact all of the people on this doc should. I'd love to read about this. Do you or anyone know of any books about this history that are as good as this doc when I first saw it?
@@DaniLong I had one of those, very nice keyboard, but it didn’t work with my Palm 3 for some reason :( I use a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard now with my iPhone, very comfortable to type on, fills that niche that i had wanted to fill with the Palm
I love when credit is given where credit is due. Certainly Steve Jobs was a singular force at the crossroads of technology and the way we interact with it, but even those we hail as geniuses stand on the shoulders of pioneers who came before. Great video and tribute to some of the unsung heroes behind one of the most significant products in history.
I think it's all about the timing. The iPhone would have failed if it came out like 5 years before.
@@yasirsaheed id assume they thought of that when deciding when to release the iphone
@@yasirsaheed I agree. Apple has a great record of stepping into a market when the timing is just right, rarely too soon.
Well said.
Well said 👍🏻
I would love to see more of these series from you guys. I imagine a great postmortem on Web OS, a parallel story on Blackberry/RIM, a completely different story on Nokia, a deep dive on the 7 years that the Sidekick was a thing.
Yes, agreed 💯
Yeah, I was wondering why there was no mention of Blackberry in this video at all.
WebOS is still in use to this day. Its been bought by LG, and is running on their SmartTVs. :)
Yes!!
If you know Dieter's history, you know he'd love to do a story about the Pre and WebOS.
I shared an eighth grade chemistry class with Donna and knew at the time, here is the smartest person I have ever met, but without the ego, I wonder what she will achieve later in life? That was 1969-70 at humble Fairplain Jr H.S. in Michigan. Found years later Donna and partners had just left PDA titan Palm Pilot to found Handspring, but mergers and acquisitions later Handspring was put asunder. Thanks for this mini-doc that has brought this history together for me. Fascinating!
She is still totally down to earth. I've been lucky to work for her at Claris and Palm. She's a great business thinker, and furthermore capable of being your boss and your personal friend outside of work. I'll be forever grateful that I was so lucky
This was one of the best tech documentaries I've seen in the past few years. Terrific job, thank you for creating this!
There was not a single Tech interviewed in this documentary, everyone was management. This is the reasons dislikes are no longer counted. 🤦♂️
the 6-part xbox documentary that came out this last week is also really top notch
@@vladimirvparfenov3935 is the xbox doc on youtube?
@@vladimirvparfenov3935 jmmjmiijkmjijikjiimjmjjimjimjijjmjiijjjiijijmjmimijmijmmimijmjmj8jiimjmjiijiiijimimimimjimmijimijijimiiimmiiiijijijiijmmiijimjijmmmijijiimjmjijimjmjiimjijmm8mmmimjmijmjjjjjmimm8jmjmjjmiijmmmjijmjmjiimjmimijjiikijmjjmjjimiijmmjmiiiimmiijmjijiiiijijiijimimjmijmjmjmmiimiiijmjiijijijjmjjjmjmiimiimjmiimiimmijmjijmjjmmijijiiiiiiijjmmjimjijimiimmjikiiijmimiimmijmiiijmkikkmmmmjmmjiiiiimiiimiiijmjiijmiijmijijmmkiiimikiijiimiimiiimiijiimjijmiiijmmiimiiiimijijiimijiijijjimiiimimjmjimiiiimjmjijjmjmikijimimiiijmijijiiiijiijiijmjmiimjjijiimiimikiiijmijikimiimmjijjimmjmiijikjiikiiijiimmimmiijimmijijiijiijiiiiimiiiiiijmimiiiijiiikikjmjmij8mjiimjimimjimimmiijiiimiiiiiiiiiiiijiiimjijimjiiiiijijjiiimiiiijiiiimijimijiii8ijmiiiiiiijiijjiijijiiimimjjiijmmiiimjiiiiiiiiiimjmmijiiiiiiiijiiiimiimijjiikiiiiimijjmjjjmiijijmiiijiiimmiiimjimiiimmmiimiiiijiimijjmiimiijijimijijijmjimiiijiiijijiimjiiiiijiiijijiimiiijiijjiiiiiiijiikimiiiiiimiikiijijijmjjijjiijiijmjjiiiijiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimjiiijiimijiiiiiiimjiiiijmijijijjiiiimiiiijijiiimjmjiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiimiiiiiiijiiiiijijijiiiiimiiiijiiijimjijiiiiiiijiijiiijiiijiijijiiijiiiiiiiiiijjiiiiiiiiijiiiiiijiiiiijijijijiijjiijmimijiimijijkijijiiijjiiiiiiimjjiiiiimjmiijiiiimjmjiiiiiiijiiimiiiiiiiiiiiijjiiimjijjijiiiiiimjmjiiiiijiiiijimjijijiiimijijijmjmjiiijiiiijiiiiijjiiiiijiiiiiiiiiijiiiijiiiiiiijijiijijiiiiiijiiiiiiiimiijiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii8iiiiiiiiiiiijjijiijjijiiiiiiimijiijiiiiiiiijiiijiiiiiijiiijimiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiimiiimijiiiiiiijiiijiiiiiiiiiiijiijmiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiijiiiiiiijjijiijiijijiijiijiiiiiiiiiiiiijjjjjijijjijiiijmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimjjijmjiijijiiiiijimjimijiiiiiiiijiiiiijijiiiiijiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiiiiimij8iiiiiiiiijjijiiiijiiiiiiiijiiiijiiiiiiijiiiijjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiijiijiiiiikiiiijiijiiijiiiiiijijiiijiiiiiiiijiiijijiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiijiijiiijjijijijiijiijiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiikjijijiijiiiiiiijiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijjijjiiiijiiimjiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiijiiiiiijjiiiijjiiiiijjiijiiijiiiiijiijijijiijiijiiijiiiiiiiimjiiiijijijmjjiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijiiijjiijiiiijiiiiiiiiiijiijijijiiiiiiijijijiiiiiiiiiijjiiiiiiijjiiiijjiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiijjiijijijiiiijijiiiiiijiijijiiiiijjiiiiiiiijiiiiiiijiiiiijijjiijijiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiijjiijiiiiiiiiijiiijjiiiiiiiijiiiiiiijijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijiiijiiiiiiiiiiiimmjiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiijiiiiijiiiijiiijjiiiiiiiiijiijjiijijmiijiijjjiijiiiiiiiijjiiiiiiijjiiijiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiijiijiiiijijiiijimiiiiiiiiijiiiiijiiiiiijiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiii8iiiijjiiiiiiiijiiiijiijijijiiijjjiiijiiijiijjjiiiiiiiiiijijiiiiiijjiiijii8iijiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiijiiiijjjiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiijjiiiijiiiijjiiiiijjiiijijiijjjiiiiijijijiiiijjiiiiiiijiiijjjiiijijiiiijjiijijijiijjjjjiijjiiiiiiiijijiiiiiiiiiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiijiijijjijiiiiiiijiijiiiiiiiiiijiijiijjijiiiiiijiiiijiiijjijijjiiijjiiiijijijiiijiiiiijiijijiijjjijiiijiiiiiiiiiiijiijiiiiiiijiiiiiiiijjjjjijijjjjiiiijiiiiiiiijijjjiiiiiiiijiiiijiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijjiiijijiijjijiiiiijjjijiiijijjiiiiijiijiijjjijiijiiijijiiiijjiiiijjjjjjiijjiiiij8jiiiiijiijmjjiijiiiiijjjiijjjjimjjjjiiiij8jjiiiijjiiijiiijjjiiijjjiij8ijjijjiiiiijiiiijiiiijiiiiiiijiiijiiiiiijijiiiijiiijiiiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiijjjmiiiiiiiijiiijijjiiijjiiiiiiijiiiiiiijiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiijiiiiiiijiijjiiiijiiijjiiijijjjiijiiijiijiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiijjiiiiiiiiiiijijiiiijiiiiiiijijjijjiiiiijiiiiiiiijiiiiiijjiiiijiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijijiiiimñjiimminbn knmiimnjjjmjjmjjmmmjmjjjmjmmmjjmjjmmimmmmmmmmmmmmjmmjjjijmmmmmjjmjjjmjjhlcbbvcbcvvc.v
I was one of "the few" who bought a Handspring Visor back in the day. I was a working student at the time, it really was a great device.
I’d consider them fairly popular for the time. My friends and I had them in high school and they were great to use.
Yeah they were pretty popular outside the professional class who had Palm's. It was by far the cheapest PDA at the time especially with that expandable slot, exclusive apps, and 'big' (for the time) display. Palm had budget devices like the m100 and 105 for the same price, but they were heavily compromised devices in comparison. I remember buying one for $200. Was a big deal as a little kid at the time scrounging up all that money from summer work. But it was incredible to me. It felt like the future. I used to even make some apps in Basic for the thing and post it online. Then beam them to friends and see what they think.
I used to write assignments in my PDA in middle and later high school. Heck I even wrote a short story on it. Mastering Grafitti was fun.
Looking back I probably used my PDA more than even my smartphone today as a computer replacement. Something about the simplicity of the device and using it constantly as a writing instrument felt more natural versus the multitude of apps that I don't really use productively.
@@jonathanpusar5931 Where did you live at the time? I was living in northern Texas and they're truly behind the times or just blinded by loyalty. NOBODY liked Handspring and I think in my entire life, I've seen less than a dozen people using Handspring PDAs. I had to sell both brands for a living and it was impossible to get people to listen. They just leaped blindly towards Palm and wouldn't even TOUCH the Handsprings. I say that's what drove the brand under. Nobody wanted to give them a chance. From my experience in sales, Texas is a bad market to push new technology. They're worried only about BRANDS, not features or practicality. I find Palm hilarioiusly overpriced for a PDA. When Handspring went under, I still refused to buy a Palm and got a Sony Clie instead, LOL....
I had one too! I loved it!
I had a Treo 600. I actually went to a launch event in NYC held for the device. As an industry professional they offered me a device to try for 180 days and then I purchased it for $250 from them. I loved it.
Treos were outstanding..
Still miss mine.
I lived my youth in the 90s and seeing those people the age of my parents, thinking they were trying to invent stuff we barely have since literally yesterday is crazy. They were so far out and everybody doubted them but today we have to say thank you. And to see many have the same rebuttal about new technologies getting worked on today just amaze me.
Just like watching a preacher in 2020! God will save you from covid just pray the germs away lol
Thank you! this was lovely! I still have handspring, treo and a couple of modules, including one that still has an audio recording in its NVRAM of my nephew when he was a baby. What a heartbreak to see how these smart people weren't quite rewarded for their visionaryness (if that's a word) but it's really cool you captured this moment in history in amber. Thank you!
Visionaryness .. um, I think the word you're looking for is genius.
That happens all the time. The father of the modern search engine is a guy from the tiny island of Barbados. He lives a modest but happy life today. These are the people who should be our role models. People who improve the world but don't become greedy parasites.
@@TdotSoul Capitalism rewards parasitism, the next big idea will be missed because some CEO doesn't have the vision and the inventor doesn't have the capital, I mean all the technology: the internet, GPS, touch screens: all military projects, government funded, companies like Apple and Microsoft just steal other peoples ideas and make them profitable, what's sad is that if you do fight to make it big, they can just copy you as soon as it looks promising. Because people will only innovate for profit, free markets actually stifle innovation.
i think the proper word for visionaryness is just… vision?
@@bennett4789 visionocity :)
Had a Visor. It was revolutionary. Treo being mainly a Sprint device crippled it in my hometown from day one.
These folks at Handspring, the folks at RIM doing the BlackBerry, various others - all had pieces of the puzzle figured out. iPhone 1 was half baked, but as pointed out - it had the other piece, the things learned making the iPod and the media platform.
A very interesting time in tech.
Nicely done.
Beautiful Doc! I appreciated the research and attention to details that went into this.
"the research and attention to details" are focused more on Handspring and nothing about Apple Newton which was here way before (with GPS, writing email, internet, handwriting recognition, printing, SMS with NewtSMS+) they even have a slot for extension (very common in those time anyway), all that in 1993 until 1998... This from Verge, is just glorification by nostalgia and missing opportunity of those entrepreneurs and pushed by this journalist (old user), they didn't invent anything or innovate, i'm sure they took all the idea just like the Gameboy from the Newton PDA.
Remember HandSpring was the competition and answer to Newton, not the other way around.
Newton was stopped by steve jobs who was back, because it was not great and too much expensive.
Also he was more focus on creating product more than looking at the competition.
I'm not even an apple fan but when you know the story and you are honest you can only be filled with annoyance, research within everyone's reach, on top of that ...
Like the AVGN said once, the research and attention to details "my ***".
@@exquize1660 they mentioned the Newton, but it was Palm that made touch screen PDAs a household name. The Newton was a proof of concept, but the palm pilot was revolutionary. Not sure why you're so upset.
@@exquize1660 racist
I thoroughly enjoy this look at Handspring. I was one of the first to purchase a Visor when it came out. I had a Palm Pilot, and when Handspring came out, I knew that this new company had vision. I’ve owned several of the Visor devices, and really appreciate their versatility. It’s really shows that even if you have the vision of the future, not everyone see it the same. Handspring had it right, but not the money or leverage to see it through. It’s too bad that after all their hard work, they don’t get the well deserved credit for paving the way to we use mobile devices today. Thank you for covering this topic.
Hehehehe, my first PDA was Visor Pro.
I was a mere student back then but I can see it have better entertainment value than all other nokia phones (so many freeware and shareware games back then). Awesome stuff 👍
What's outrageous is that people REFUSED to even give Handspring a chance. I worked the electronics section of my store and they sold both brands. Nobody wanted to hear me talk about Handspring. They oohed and aahed over the more expensive Palms even though the screens were SMALLER because of the M100 series faceplates (I never understood why they chose that stupid design. I had to recommend a customer REMOVE the faceplate to get more room to tap on the screen!). You couldn't get memory upgrades unless you shelled out a whopping $399 for the M500 series but you wouldn't get a color screen. And even if you did, the Handspring Visor with a color screen looked much better. I used to have a Visor and took advantage of the Springboard. I had a backup cartridge and there was even an adapter to use Sony Memory Sticks! So I could get a whopping 512 MB of memory if I needed. And Palm? They couldn't expand beyond even HALF that!
I had a handspring visor in Junior high (2001-2003) and was one of the few in that age group to have a PDA, a friend of mine had one, we used to play games and beam messages to each other over infra red in study hall. Excellent video. Handspring really was a cornerstone.
Great documentary, love how the narrative developed as the story unfolds.
Great job, Dieter, as always.
One point ... Apple did not have the leverage with the carriers that you think in terms of bringing them iTunes customers. Remember, they originally had to go with Cingular because no other carrier would capitulate to Jobs' demands. Cingular, being an upstart, was the only one willing. AT&T then bought Cingular, becoming the only iPhone carrier at launch, but not by their choice, really; AT&T originally turned down being the carrier for the iPhone. We think of Apple today as this dominant, undeniable force. But back then, it was anything but a sure thing, from the carrier point of view.
Full Disclosure: I used to work for both Cingular and AT&T Wireless.
I remember. I was on Sprint and couldn’t get an iPhone for the first few years.
However, you have to also remember that Apple had the money and the ability to sell their phone without any help from any of these companies. As such, Apple could just tell carriers they'd do it themselves and not cave to carrier demands. In the end carriers were forced to deal with Apple because the iPhone was that big. Handspring or Palm couldn't do that. They didn't have the resources to just sell their own thing and tell other carriers to just stick it. Also, there's no denying that the iPhone had a level of polish other phones simply did not when it launched. The iPhone never really did anything new, but what it did do was integrate all of these things into a slick package which wowed everyone. That in itself was a big achievement.
@@wakannnai1 Back then, you couldn't actually just put a phone on a carrier's network. We take that for granted these days. The carriers had to explicitly activate every phone on its network to ensure the phones would "behave." A big part of the pushback from the carriers was that they were concerned the iPhone would chew through data on the networks and lead to congestion (which, of course, they did). That first iPhone didn't even have 3G, stuck on the "2.5G" EDGE network, which made the data problems even worse (taking longer to get even less data). And while the iPhone did use SIM cards, the phones were SIM-locked, so even if you wanted to take that phone to another carrier (that happened to support the same frequencies) after the fact, you couldn't.
On top of that, Apple's Visual Voicemail feature required a server component with the carrier, so assuming you could get the carrier to unlock your phone, and you found another carrier that used GSM on the same frequencies your phone used, you would lose this key feature, as no other carrier had the software from Apple to support it.
Why is it there's always some Eugene Snorklelbender going "Well actually..."
I started work in Verizon back in 2007 and they were kicking themselves for turning away Steve Jobs.
I like how the tone of this is almost like a time capsule explaining things to future generations. There’s something really cool about it.
It also reminded me that I actually had one of these things (and had no idea what to do with it)!
Solid video, and it's good to see the Palm/Handspring team getting some love and attention, they are very much forgotten visionaries. For further reading, I highly recommend the book "Piloting Palm" as a great history of Palm/Handspring from their inception all the way up to Handspring launching its first models. So far as I am aware, its the only such book out there.
Vision is great, but without the ability to execute that vision…it means nothing.
Indeed, pls read "Piloting Palm" for more historical details (disclaimer: former Palm / Treo user here)
Thoroughly enjoyed this doc, more more more! It’s so nice to see some great content being produced around the history of the most important gadget in our lives right now. I remember wanting a Palm Treo in high school just because it really did seemed like a computer for my pocket, phones like the Palm Treo, Nokia 9300 Communicator, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P800, Motorola A1000, HTC TyTN, the early BlackBerrys etc… All sparked a lot of our minds on just where smartphones would go in the future.
Would be great to see a documentary like this on Psion, the road to Symbian, and how Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola etc… chose their own strategies with it.
Are you South African?
The Verge killing it with more great content. I am so here for this deep dives into concepts and ideas. I love it! The Verge has become one of my favorite channels. This documentary was incredible. It was made with so much passion and love for the products, ideas, and the people involved. Ahead of their time for sure, and the spotlight was stolen by Apple. But I am very glad to see the people who made innovation happen get the credit. What I wild tech would we live in now. All thanks to the wonderful group of friends!
caedengoering
You don't understand it, Steve was inviting everyone, already developing his iPhone !
Thank you, it felt like a love letter to the Handspring team and those good old days.
PS. Video production is outstanding, so good at all levels!
After all the teases, I'm so glad that this finally appear on UA-cam!
As someone who owns Treo 600, I'm glad that I finally get to learn about Handspring from this documentary. What an incredible smartphone for its time.
This was awesome. I was a rabid Palm user. I had 4 versions and still have them in my tech drawer. I always wanted a Treo, but by the time they came out, I just couldn't swing it. As much as I love my current smartphone, I miss the Palms. They were so simple to use but absolutely perfect in so many ways. Thank you for this great look back!
I agree. Not sure what it was particularly, but I loved the time I had with my palm vx. It was a beautiFul device that worked so well. I think it might have been although limited to a few tasks, it did those tasks so well. The design may have started the trend of glued together products, but it was just so sleek and solid, handspring was a chunky plastic toy in comparison. Towards the end mine started suffering from touch going wonky, but with calibration on restart I eeked out some more life
Yea
The UI was a delight to use!
I remember I had the tiniest little palm with super tiny and super gummy keys. I adored that phone.
I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time. Herr Dieter is the coolest.
This is actually incredibly interesting. During the video you keep saying it “doesn’t seem like a big deal” but I think that even for those who absolutely take everything about modern phones for granted will find this incredible. You have a handful of people who just decided to completely create an industry, and just had the audacity to call up the biggest companies and be like “you need to make this work on this plastic brick”. It’s absolutely amazing that this went under the radar for so many of us.
I used to go everywhere with my trusted PalmPilot and Nokia phone, and couldn't be happier. This brings back memories!!!
I recall working at Circuit City and remember thinking how PDAs would be the future. Played with Compaq, Cassiopia, Psion, Palm, etc. Was a great time watching the market change.
I remember when I started working at AT&T back in 2002 and getting my first introduction to the PDA world. I was SOLD that this was the future. What a great trip down memory lane!
I would still put the Visor in the top 5 best devices I've owned. It was so versatile and usable, and the graffiti was very efficient. Mine is still in my desk drawer, and when I fire it up, still works like it did the day I bought it. Great to see Handspring get some respect.
I remember my Handspring Visor. I loved it and really thought it would be the future. Unfortunatly it was not, but it totally affected the future. I had friends that used the Palm Pilot and did not get the Handspring's possiblities with the Springborad slot. I really enjoyed this video and I find it very interesting to see what was going on and what the vision was. Sometimes you are just too far ahead and technology/users need to catch up.
Really I used palm up until the treo even wrote some 'cards' for the OS which was webkit based front end. it was a slick phone. I didn't use a iPhone until the 3gs. got that on launch day and never went back,
Oh man. This documentary is amazing. I loved my Treo phones and Palm years back. Truly terrific gadgets. Sadly they fell behind but their legacy will forever continue. I will always have a special place in my heart for Palm and Treos. Congrats on the documentary.
Treo signal reception was extraordinary good. Early gens of iphone were horrible with receptions.
That was so good! So much nostalgia I can hardly handle it :) Thanks Dieter and everyone else who contributed to this video. People have forgotten all this history, and it's great to see such a wonderfully produced reminder of it.
I'm glad to have run across this video. I was one of the beta testers of the memory module. I owned quite a few modules and blew a ton of money, but also knew it was all bleeding edge and would hold a place in history.
thats a lie.
C'mon Derek! Tell Fusion1790 he's the liar. Derek, where are you?
I didn’t know anything about the history of Treo before. Congrats Dieter, phenomenal video.
This was awesome! So many memories. I worked for FranklinCovey retail from 1996-2005 and saw a lot of this journey up close. I think the Palm V and the Treo most definitely prepared the world for the breakthrough of the iPhone. Thanks for the well done recounting of this important history.
I absolutely loved this. So interesting. I actually had that orange Handspring Visor...as a 13 year old. What on earth I needed it for, I have no idea, but I sure loved it!
SAME i had the orange one
I have been a loyal user of Palm since its original version. I love the video, its production, the interviews. I always wanted a Spring, but I could never get one. Today, as the narrative states, most features in the Palms are taken for granted in our phones, but for those years, most of them were glimpses of the future, not many could see.
Beautifully written, shot, recorded, produced, presented, edited, ..., ..., ...
Outstanding work Dieter & team. Thank for an enjoyable 30 minutes of nostalgia and fascination.
An absolutely amazing doc. As someone who was an owner of these devices, I always wondered WHY??? Why did such a great and awesome product go away and force some hard choices to either go to an Apple or Android device. To hear and see a detailed background of the reasons was very enjoyable. Thank you very much for this.
You could have used a BlackBerry
@@BTW... i use a blackberry lol
Thanks for this video. These people really need to be mentioned not only as an important step, but an essential one, in the development of the smartphone.
Very well researched and documented. I had a palm, handspring, and a treo, so this documentary was pure nostalgia.
I really loved this documentary and a special thanks to Dieter and all the Verge Members who made this documentary
Great documentary!
Handspring deserves most of the credits for the cell phone idea
Handspring Era was the funnest time in tech for me. All the modules were so fun to research and to think about new ones. I loved that company!
Handspring always gives me good memories. I had a Visor deluxe, Platinum and Prism, lots of expansions (mostly extra memory, though) and other nice gadgets like the best foldable keyboard I've ever seen, Targus Stowaway. Those were fun to work with, but I could never use modem additions for these (those weren't allowed in Germany), thus my really first smartphone was an android G1.
Wow! Another guy like me! I, too, thought that Stowaway was just THE BEST. I, too, owned several different Visors and a bunch of modules. My big problem, though, was I was doing the European biz dev for an Israel - America startup, and nothing worked everywhere. I could only use my Visor Phone when I was in the (Washington DC) Beltway region; I had a Nokia Series 40 phone in Israel, and IIRC an Ericsson that I was using in Germany and the UK, switching SIMs. Before "Convergence" I had four phone numbers (plus my two office lines in Israel and Virginia, with my PA working at the latter) and was constantly lugging around a briefcase worth just of hardware, what with my PowerBook G3 "Wall Street" and 4-5 modules for it, the Handspring cradle, the Visor and its plugins (4?), the Nokia and the Ericsson, transformers for charging everything, and a little kit with AC outlet and telephone adapters to keep me connected as I trotted the globe. The Visor Phone was the worst telephone, but I loved it best because it was right there in my breast pocket.
@@graynewetzky6430 I had little resources for buying a laptop or "full computer" during university, and I remember typing reports etc on my HandSpring Visor with my Stowaway keyboard... Also remember the BEST game "Billiards" *(or something), first mobile game emulating physics I used! Lovely times!
Had a Visor, and later the color Prism model, and had a number of Springboard modules, including a Magellan GPS and the CDMA VisorPhone when it came out. Really loved the platform and was experimenting with developing custom Springboard modules when it became clear the Visor wouldn't continue to exist.
So well done. Thank you for making and sharing this. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Even if we don’t know it.
I remember getting a Palm Pilot as a graduation gift in 2001 and being made fun of, but I didn’t care. I just knew there was something special about having all of those functions in 1, pocket-sized device.
i was excited about these and desperately wanted to play with my aunts palm pilot even as a kid. she kept on telling me it wasn't a toy, i didn't care. i could see the potential even then
So much information, so much learnings. This is great honestly! Thanks for creating and sharing this! I especially forgot the stranglehold the Cellphone carriers had on the industry, and how Apple changed that because of iPhone which I recall was originally on AT&T and everyone wanted it. It's crazy how much the original creators of a thing don't get their due in the success of that thing.
AT&T and ONLY AT&T for at least a year. I remember that AT&T would send physical paper bills to their customers with itemized use info. After using the iphone consumers would literally get 50 and 60 page bills sent to their homes.
@@Rocky-zy9el wild times
Omg, i almost forgot about the palm pilot. I had a couple. It was a whole era. The past 20 years technology grew so rapidly.
I’m so glad you finally released this on UA-cam lol my family does NOT want me occupying the TV with tech documentaries 😂
Same bro
Where was this prior to UA-cam?
@@Christian_Luczejko some website or place idk
@@Christian_Luczejko so for the last month or so it was on the verge app on Roku, or Google TV, nowhere else. Interesting decision by the verge. Curious to know what their goals was with that..?
I can't believe how nostalgic I feel seeing those Palm devices. I absolutely loved them and have a very clear memory of the day I got my first Palm Pilot. I couldn't afford my own Mac so was a kind of substitute until I could earn proper money (was still studying at uni)
Loved my Visor Edge. Had the phone and sound player modules. Everyone made fun of me because my phone was so big. I also love being able to say that I had a smartphone years before iPhone.
I think a few people did. I had the Nokia 9210 Commmunicator then Sony Ericsson P800i then the P900i and lastly before the I got the iPhone the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 which ran Windows 6.1. The first 2 mentioned here ran Synbian. But none of them were as smooth as the iPhone.
It's funny. Now, having a bigger phone is better.
Back then, smaller was better.
Same here. "Why so big" They had no idea what I had. LOL. Joke was on them.
This is amazing. So well done. Brings back great memories of using Palm, Sony Clie, and Treo!
almost forgot about the Sony Clie, I remember using that for a while I think I still own mine.
And T-Mobile sidekick
GREAT documentary! Takes me back. It's amazing to see how far the smartphone platform has gone in 20 years.
Good enough to watch a second time. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen, these interviews are so energetic
I've waited a long time for someone to make this. I had the handspring visor and was a BBS and Internet user for 10 years by 1999 already. it was clear that we all needed pocket computers that hook together and could get online. I did so much with it but I hated the cell phone market. it just had a different view of the world.
I had one of the Handspring devices. 3Com were clueless and didn't know what they had. Handspring was a lot better, and they developed a device that was just incredible, easy to use and the phone connectivity worked reasonably well for the time. The Graffiti handwriting was also great and easier than typing. The expansion models were really cool for the time.
This is so great! Thank you for doing this. I’ve always loved this story. I’d like to see the expanded version someday. It seems that there is so much more to the story.
As someone who has always been interested in diving deeper into tech history and trivia and the people that made the industry happen, I was shocked that I never really knew about what these folks achieved.
This documentary has the exact feel of the last episode of Silicon Valley, where they all look back on what could have been, and acknowledge the great ideas that came out of the venture
This was like a trip down memory lane for me. I remember exactly where I was at during the iPhone announcement and the launch of Web OS. What a great documentary.
Thanks for preserving this iconic history. 👍
Thoroughly enjoyed the doc while I was in line getting tested. I remember the Palm Pilot & Treo like it was yesterday. Pretty revolutionary for its time. Kudos to the team that put this film together. It kept me engaged the whole time.
What an absolutely incredible piece!!! What a walk down memory lane. I had one of the first Handspring Springboard phones. Boy I loved it. I truly believed Jeff Hawkins vision of the future. He was correct. This was such an incredible follow up piece and I truly appreciated it. So amazing to to travel back with these truly visionary futurists. Kudos on this look back.
Ah the memories. Loved my PDA.
First, a compliment for bringing this great documentary and please keep making more like this. I am from the generation that had PDAs and it's good to show to this generation where it all began. After watching it, I am wondering what would happen if Handspring had registered some patent that could profit from their ideas. What I learned is never present an idea to someone who could steal it from you.
I was hoping the same thing. I keep thinking about xerox and the mouse.
Although patent law is a bit too broad, or perhaps too strong.
Gosh, I love Dieter for his retro-tech stories!
Thanks for the memories! I loved my Palm, Visor, Treo and Palm Centro (last of a kind, a real smartphone). I regret getting them lost at Narnia now. Keep up this great content!
I was always wondering why Apple called the Launcher of the iPhone "Springboard" (you know the homescreen with your Icons). Seems they acknowledged what they looked at to realize it.
Glad to know If Apple did give credit to Springboard.
@@terigcreatives Would be great if they gave credit to anything lol
Sounds more like Jobs was just rubbing it in their faces … If Jobs/Apple wanted to give them credit they would have bought them out and have them developing the product in house
lol no. apple was taunting them
@@0x0michael no they were not, the company was dead by the release time and this was almost certainly named by it's developer/developer team.
With the fortune of hindsight, it's interesting to take a look back at the very first inkling of a smartphone and the amazing ideas they had at the time. It's hard to imagine a world without the modern smartphone and everything it does. From my first iPhone 3Gs in 2011 to my 2021 Samsung galaxy, it'll be interesting to see what phones will do in another decade or two.
I had Palm Treo in 2003 and it was great. When iphone came out in 2005, it was still undecided what OS that OEM would go with. Except Blackberry, every OEM at that time used Microsoft CE as OS in their smart phones.
I still have my Treo 180 and my Treo 600. The battery in the 600 still holds a charge after all these years.
Outstanding video. I know it takes a lot of time and resources but I totally wish The Verge would produce more of these tech documentaries! Well done guys
I had the Handspring phone back around 20 years ago. It was great, as it was a combination of a PDA (PalmPilot) and a phone. It was fun to use. Only flaw was that the phone "app" would crash on rare occasion. Windows CE devices came afterward, and I had both, but I hated the Windows CE as it was awful.
Windows CE still runs a huge number of Point of Sales devices (I was once a POS technician), if you go to a restaurant and see one of those huge bulky gray checkout screens made by Micros its most likely running Windows CE.
I had Treo in 2003 and then moved to windows phone (Motorola). Never had an interest in Blackberry. When Iphone came out in 2005, I couldn't get one so I settled with Motorola.
I had a Palm V and a Visor. This documentary brought back memories! Well done folks.
This was really interesting. I hope you do more documentaries like this on different technological pioneers. It really does make one think about how just because something fails doesn't mean it was a bad idea.
Underrated video. 1.3M views after a year for a video of this quality is not enough!
Very well done. My compliments to the chef!
Loved loved loved my Palm Treo 650 back in 2006, so robust and the keyboard and screen were phenomenal.
As always - I see Dieter, I click on the video.
Great documentary!
Is this why the iOS Application launcher (Homescreen) is known internally as "SpringBoard"? Would be a nice way to give credit for the shoulders that they stood on to create the product.
This is the comment I was looking for
This is a great documentary. Salute to the builders of Handspring. We wouldn't have our modern phones today if not for all of your futuristic visions. Thank you!
Amazing!! Kudos to the team for bringing out such a well made documentary.
I skirted this clip like 4-5 times and didn’t click on it. What a bad choice that was. This is super well done and a great story was told here. Loving every minute of it!
Please tell me this is gonna be a Docu-series. I want more! I love the abstract question "what is a computer" and all the people made it happen.
I am surprised that they never mentioned that the user interface for the iPhone is officially called “Springboard”. Seems like this must be related
I still got my Palm Treo and it works all these years later!
I remember the Handspring with GSM phone. I was considering buying one, but already had both a cell phone and Palm Pilot. Also, IIRC, the RIM BlackBerry was the first smart phone. Also, Nokia had the first tablet like device (I bought a Nokia N800 about 15 years ago) which was based on Linux. It used a stylus to interact with the display. I bought a Google Nexus 1 and have been running Android devices ever since, most recently buying a Google Pixel 6.
Unfortunately, Tech always goes this route where someone kind of has to be the whipping boy who pushes technology forward before it's time only for others to come after to "invent" what was already there
Yeah, I think when they presented this to Jobs, he "came up" with the idea of iPhone. (Or in other words stole it- everything from virtual keyboard, trough apps to music player was on Palm devices and these guys came up with an idea to combine it with a phone, so even that wasn't his own) This happens way too often- a startup offers amazing product to a corporation, they refuse it and magically come up with it "on their own" months or years later.
@@jackwilson5542 It also shows how people are too worried about "going with the myths". I still meet morons who think Apple invented the smartphone or even the MP3 player! yes, there are people who think Apple invented everything electronics related. I'm serious. Most blind person I ever met was a guy who came into my old job looking for an MP3 player. I never forgot the conversation:
Hello! Welcome to ***, what can we help you with?
I need to buy an MP3 player.
Sure, we have several over he...
Customer gets annoyed and interrupts. No, no, no, no. I need an MP3 PLAYER! It's called the Ipod!!
Sir, MP3 is an audio format. The Ipod is a model name owned by Apple. These here all play music in the same format. They are MP3 players.
No, no, no, no, no. (Seriously, he talked exactly like that and treated me like a child just learning how to walk for the first time! He was very rude and patronizing), ONLY Apple makes MP3 players. They are called Ipods. These are NOT MP3 players! I need an IPOD!!!
I gave up and walked away, dumbfounded by how narrow minded some people can be. This guy truly lived in an Apple-scented bubble. And he was NOT the first Apple cultist I've met.
So many good hardware photos in this, all the torn-down devices really added flavor to the visuals.
Thank you for that, usually all we get is pixels and icons warped to funny perspectives, and actually seeing the boards and the chips and the battery contacts (oh yeah, the early palmpilots ran on alkalines!) helps give a tangible grounding to the whole story.
Its absolutely amazing how many people believe that the iPhone invented the smartphone...
it was and remains a great product, but its great to see these guys getting the attention it should.
RIP Palm Pre!
My first PDA device was a Handspring. I was going to save for the phone module but Sony Ericsson and Nokia suddenly got us distracted with 3G. Blackberry brought us back to the good old days but the iPhones and Android smartphones showed us what the Handspring creators wanted to get done all along.
I remember my handspring, it was awesome and I was so excited to have “new” technology. It’s amazing to hear the back story of the innovators. What amazing minds.
Excellent documentary, brings back fun memories of using palm devices. Would have been interesting for you to include how early Blackberry products influenced their potential market.
Yeah, blackberry was huge. I remember finding out that it was also huge in Indonesia. Dont know why but a lot of people had devices and used their network/program to talk as much as you would whatsapp or whatever else today.
I think its popularity there lasted well past its time here.
Wow this was fantastic. I had a Treo 650 and it felt more like an obligation than a companion (it was funded for and by work). As the IT guy, I would have to drive to a location that had Verizon signal so I could activate them for the staff. I "upgraded" to a Treo... I think 700W which had Windows and wow what a downgrade. It only got worse from there, sadly. When the iPhone launched it felt like finally getting clean water. None of the things the Treo did better mattered at that point, because I really enjoyed the experience so much more that it was worth the tradeoffs. Being first is no guarantee in this business. You have to own the supply chain, and in order to do that you need money. Costs money to make money, and few ever are willing to make that kind of investment. Great story!
I was glued to my screen from the beginning. Job well done by The Verge. Please produce more pieces like this.
Great documentary. Wonderful summary. This really highlights the late-market entry strategy that apple took. There were others in the PDA market before handspring, who were on a similar track, albeit in different geographic markets. Sharp’s color screen Zaurus PDA was on display at CeBIT in 1996 (albeit a Japanese language only version). It had email, a web browser and could be connected via a standard modem.
PSION owned the PDA market in the UK from the late 1980s, with a hand held PDA that could synch to your laptop.
The first PDA with analog cellular phone functionality, was the IBM Simon, which could be considered the first smartphone
The Nokia 9000 Communicator was a smartphone + PDA which was successful globally and was arguably one of the first successful smartphones(1996).
1996 also saw the debut of Palm’s first PDA product.
It's documentaries like this that makes The Verge so much ahead of other tech youtube channels. Been following the channel for a long time and it is always job Well done by you guys.
This was super informative to say the least.
This was FANTASTIC - Please do more Dieter!!!
Really great tech-umentary, loved they fact that it highlights that Jobs did not create the smart phone. Just wished you mentioned BlackBerry because they are the reason the communication devices became productive and not just a rolodex in your pocket.
Handspring and Palm devices were definitely not just rolodex in your pocket. But BlackBerry deserves prominent mention among the pre-Apple pocket computers as the first with a good email program and a keyboard! (Apple's insight/leap/achievement was that the keyboard didn't *have* to be physical.)
Hey Dieter! This is Bob_C from the Treocentral days, the guy who wrote the open letter to Palm for the 700p firmware update. You did a fantastic job with this video. It brought back many great memories, including Silly Season! Was very happy for you when I saw you moved onto Google. Am sure you will bring many great ideas that will enhance the user experience for years to come. Best wishes!