January 9, 2007, San Francisco, United States.Steve Jobs takes a few steps on the big stage of the Moscone Center where the traditional Macworld conference is held.Beside him, a giant screen displays the famous Apple apple with a few rays of light that filter behind her.

Hands attached, he takes an inspired air.It's been five days since he repeats this presentation whose content has been kept secret for months."From time to time a revolutionary product that changes everything happens."Arm that moves away to welcome the future customer.Hands that meet to tighten him near him.The boss of the apple brand then embarks on an enumeration of all the products released by his company in recent years.Macintosh, iPod ...

"Today we present three revolutionary products.An iPod with a large touch screen, a revolutionary mobile phone and an innovative internet navigation system."Many words for one object: the iPhone.

Steve Jobs then embarks on his favorite exercise: show how his business is revolutionizing the new technology market.His phone, which required "years of research and development", proposes "a revolutionary user experience".The superlatives are linked, the public is conquered.

Completed the physical keyboard that had made the success of brands like Nokia or Blackberry.No question either of a style to sail in the device ("nobody wants a stylus", slips the prophet of tech).The iPhone is above all a touch screen that you handle with your fingertips.

Palm Pilot, Newton, Simon…

If we compare it to today's smartphones, the device seems ridiculously small.But he has an advantage: he holds in the palm of his hand.The palm ... This is a word that evokes another invention: the palm pilot.As early as 1996, the company Palm put on the market which looks like an iPhone ancestor with a stylus.A pocket computer that will flow to a million copies in a year and a half.

The Palm Pilot also had predecessors.One of them was even signed Apple.In the early 90s, the company launched Newton.Without success, however.Too ahead of his time?Without a doubt.And then always this damn stylus.

"Three things ruined Newton's career: negative criticism in the press, the absence of an internet connection that made popular smartphones, and Apple's identity crisis in the early 90s (company products wereToo expensive for occasional and under-equipped buyers for professional users) ", analyzed the specialized cult of Mac site in 2020.

But between the Newton and the Palm Pilot, there was another precursor.And this one already embarked a lot that made the success of the iPhone.This one does not have a name, but a first name ... Simon.Imagined by IBM, this is the first touch screen smartphone in the history put on the market between 1994 and 1995.It is equipped with a messaging service and can also receive fax.But Simon is thick, in black and white...And then he is wrong to be right too early.Because the possibilities offered by these smartphones will upset our consumption methods.