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INSIDE APPLE R&D
WHEN APPLE PULLS THE PLUG
The top 5 innovations that Apple never released.
Apple’s ingenuity doesn’t always come to fruition. To psych
you up for Mac Expo 2009, we scoured Apple’s product-release
archives to reveal the most interesting failed and canceled
R&D efforts.
Apple has pumped countless dollars into products that don’t
make it to production. Prototypes out of Cupertino are now
the stuff of lore, fetching big bucks on eBay and spawning
tall tales of what was, and what could have been. Tablets,
phones, artificial intelligence...and these are just the five most
interesting we dug up.—Michael Simon
1 PENLITE
Anyone clamoring for a tablet Mac might try using Time Machine to travel back to 1993 to
persuade then-CEO John Sculley to take some of his eggs out of Newton’s basket. Blinded
by the ultimately doomed MessagePad, Sculley pulled the plug on PenLite, a lightweight,
full-fledged PowerBook Duo with a stylus instead of a mouse and a touchscreen instead of
a keyboard. We’re still waiting for it.
2 POWERBOP
While Apple loses points for the uncool antennae and idiotic name, the technology behind
PowerBop is quite revolutionary. Designed as the first wireless laptop in Apple’s product line,
PowerBop was canceled in 1993 due to incessant bugs and an unreliable network. By the time
Apple got it to work, it was called AirPort and the rest is, well, history.
3 APPLE INTERACTIVE TELEVISION
The holy grail of products that didn’t make it to shelves, Apple’s original set-top box beat TiVo
to the punch by several years and was the first of its kind to allow pausing and rewinding of
live TV and even recording (to an attached VCR). A true computer for the living room, Apple
ITV included a full complement of ports, but no hard drive. Without a service to connect to, or
anywhere to store media, the thing is pretty useless, but that doesn’t stop people from paying
more for an Apple ITV prototype (about $250 on eBay) than for a working Apple TV.
4 KNOWLEDGE NAVIGATOR
A prototype that now exists only in video form, it’s doubtful that the tech behind Knowledge Navigator
even exists today, let alone in the late ’80s, when it came to light. This brainchild of John Sculley is
nothing short of remarkable—a digital hub with a brain, human voice, and snappy bow tie. Leave it
alone and it takes messages, schedules meetings, organizes files, and brushes up on esoteric facts
key to its master’s profession. Engage it and it’ll respond to your questions (and ask follow-ups), scour
the Web faster than Google, and even ignore your mother’s phone calls. It’s ridiculous now; it was
certifiably insane in 1987. To see the video for yourself, go to tinyurl.com/69dmdo.
5 VIDEOPAD
At Mac Expo 1995, Apple piqued the industry’s curiosity with talk of the VideoPad, a flip-style device that merged a cell phone, PDA, and videophone. We’re not really sure how—or
if—it ever worked, but it’s likely the reason for the iPhone’s lack of video capabilities.
Clearly, the VideoPad scarred somebody at Apple for life.
