iPhone Started as 'Safari Pad'?
Apples multitouch technology began life not as a cellphone, but as a notepad-sized skunkworks project internally dubbed Safari Pad, run by Tim Bucher, then Apples head of Macintosh hardware. To his credit, Mr. Jobs seized on the technology and morphed it into the iPhone.
This adds a bit of information to a revealing Wired article which reported that Apple engineers had spent about a year working on a Tablet PC before being redirected to the iPhone project.
When Markoff asked Jobs directly about the possibility of a larger iPod Touch tablet, he said "I can't talk about unannounced products."
Recent rumors have suggested that Apple may be reviving a mini-tablet project with a device 1.5 times the size of the current iPhone/Touch. The rumored Apple device is expected to also incorporate Apple's touch OS X that currently powers the iPhone. Adding to our expectations, Apple executives have described their mobile devices as the first "mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform" with a belief that the new Software Development Kit (SDK) will broaden this platform even more.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Additionally, what is the purpose of the tablet?
Apple may be reviving a mini-tablet project with a device 1.5 times the size of the current iPhone/Touch
What, a device Apple users have been begging to be allowed to buy from Apple of a decade? Why would Apple offer something like that? :rolleyes:
O! Are you suggesting the Tablet I've waited a decade for is rumored to arrive?!
They all start out as rumors.
What, a device Apple users have been begging to be allowed to buy from Apple of a decade? Why would Apple offer something like that? :rolleyes:
"Allowed"? You make it sound like Apple had the iPhone, multi-touch and all, ready to go in the 90s, but they were too busy rubbing their hands in villainous laughter to rain it down on you.
I'm sure dozens of different mini-computers landed on Steve's desk and were promptly returned because he hated them. Even the current iPhone, great as it is, has many hurdles to jump before it becomes a full-on tablet device.
The ease with which one can photoshop the Apple logo onto the picture of a 6" all-screen device nowadays fools many into thinking that Apple can obviously make such a product easily. It's not just hard to do; it's hard to know just *what* to do.
[ Read All Comments ]

Analytics firm Chitika today released a report showing that by its metrics iOS has now surpassed OS X in overall web traffic share in the United States. Chitika's methodology involves an analysis...
One of the most frequent reasons for an iPhone to go on a trip to the Apple Store's Genius Bar is because of water damage. Typically, a water damaged iPhone can be replaced for a flat $199...
TheVerge's Joshua Topolsky summarizes the iPad 3 casing findings reported earlier today, but also adds his own sources regarding some details of the iPad 3.
Image from RepairLabs
As...
Last July, Apple discontinued the white MacBook from its consumer lineup, pushing consumers toward the company's popular MacBook Air line or the 13-inch MacBook Pro. The company didn't kill...
Popular iPhone Twitter client Tweetbot has finally arrived on the iPad, with a user interface instantly familiar to any current Tweetbot user. Designed for the Twitter power-user, Tweetbot packs a...