Video: Apple’s 1993 W.A.L.T phone in action
Apple’s lesser known W.A.L.T. telephone (Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone) was a affair inwards 1993, combining telephone in addition to faxing features. And now, you lot tin run across inwards in activity inwards a novel video.
Thanks to prolific Australian leaker in addition to author Sonny Dickson, nosotros similar a shot expire to run across for the kickoff fourth dimension always a video of W.A.L.T.R. inwards action.
As evidenced past times the video, the paradigm device was powered past times Mac System 6. It ran HyperCard instead of the meliorate known Finder interface in addition to featured a built-in monochromatic enshroud that responded to affect in addition to stylus input.
It’s your classic Mac blended amongst the company’s ill-fated Newton message pad in addition to a desk phone. There are multiple hardware buttons in addition to ports, similar SCSI, VGA out in addition to external audio.
You could customize ringtones, run across the caller ID on the screen, edit the address book, ship in addition to have faxes in addition to fifty-fifty access online banking.
And hither it is inwards action.
Designed inwards partnership amongst BellSouth, the device never went past times the paradigm stage. Remarkably, Dickson was able to expire his hands on i of these rare prototypes.
From his report:
While it doesn’t total to a lot today, it’s all the same extremely interesting to run across the device inwards action, in addition to shows that Apple was thinking almost improving the concept of the desk telephone (albeit non the Galvanic cell at that point) for a really long fourth dimension earlier the master iPhone lastly made its world release.
Manufactured largely from PowerBook 100 parts, all framed amongst a specialized version of Mac OS Classic that is customized amongst WALT bootup text in addition to specific WALT related language. It fifty-fifty included a built inwards difficult elbow grease instead of using firmware.
On a related note, Apple famously used a similar skunkworks approach to exercise prototypes of the master iPhone, which consisted of a PC-style evolution motherboard that contained nearly all of the iPhone’s parts spread out across a large surface area.
In a truthful Apple fashion, W.A.L.T. included a manual amongst a twist:
The odd manual non exclusively called out the device every bit a prototype, only likewise included oddly basic instructions, such every bit ‘Do non purpose WALT nigh water’ in addition to ‘Do non drib WALT,’ every bit good every bit an advisement to in all likelihood avoid stepping on the cords.
Be certain to check out Sonny’s spider web log post if you’re interested inwards a bunch of photographs that demonstrate off the internals.
How exercise you lot similar this slice of Apple history?
Let us know inwards the comments downwards below.
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