General Magic Phone Predates Steve Jobs iPhone

My company made this while I was VP of Strategic Alliances at General Magic. I went on to make many such short films to express Marc Porat's and AT&T's vision for the coming of handheld communicators. In a way this video looks old now. but in another way, it is as modern as tomorrow. To see my other work, visit www.thehoffmancollection.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• newton
• Palm
• pre-general magic
• handheld communicators
• smartphone
• Marc Porat
• history of communication
• cell phone
• iPhone
• Motorola
• Sony
• Internet device
• technology
• science
• wireless
• wireless technology
• blackberry
• nokia
• phones
• samsung
• history
• internet
• Mobile Phone
• Cell Phone
• Android

[carlettosan]

Loved my Magic Link... Def ahead of its time! Too bad for the Sony marketing... could have been a very successfull product !!! I remember connecting via built-in modem from Bali to Italy in 1994 summer via SLIP connection and retrieving my email from my Italian internet provider of the time (mclink.it). Amazing!

[allinaday]

@carlettosan Thank you for your comment. It is General Magic and my work with the company that brought me to Northern California in 1992 to help them launch. Almost 20 years later, CEO Marc Porat's vision for the company and what he called, "Whole Person Thinking" is visionary and the vision has not yet been fully achieved.

DavidHoffman–filmmaker

[carlettosan]

What is Mark Porat's up to now?

I created a page for the Magic Link PICs on Facebook, feel free to join and add some interesting content.

Look for: Sony Magic Link Personal Intelligent Communicator

It's the only page on Facebook on the Magic Link series... ;-)

[orangeguru]

... and today Apple is reselling all these old ideas as their cool new "Inventions".

Bah!