A working prototype of this historically significant failed Smart Phone.
This is one of those ‘what if’ items that deserves a special mention when the history of the smart phone is being written. Designed by Johannes Vaananen it was relatively close to release in 2003 when the firm could no longer secure a suitable backer and had to fold. The MyOrigo is special because it claims to have been the first to incorporate many of the iconic smartphone features that we now associate with the release of the iphone in 2007. These features included a touch sensitive interactive screen, finger zooming, screen tilting and vibrating button controls.
Although many of the large tech and phone producers at the time including Nokia brushed this phone off as pure novelty, Apple were shown and given a working prototype at the time. Therefore while the MyOrigo itself never made it into the consumer’s hands, its forward thinking ideas helped revolutionise the smartphones of the future.
Vaananen has written a fascinating book about his invention and a behind the scenes of the phone industry at the time entitled ‘The Smart Device’.
