1. The Penlite
The Penlite is Apple's first prototype of a tablet computer. Created in 1992, the project was designed to bring the Mac OS to a tablet. But it was canceled in favor of the other corporate's project - Newton (series of personal digital assistants (PDAs)).
The stylus-based user interface for MacOS was one of Arno Gourdol's (longtime software developer who spent years working with both Apple and Adobe) first projects during a decade-long career at Apple, one he started as an intern. The platform was an attempt by Apple to answer a big question about the viability of handheld computing. The company had two separate groups attempting to answer the question at once—the PenLite group, and the Newton group.
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| Picture 1. The Penlite (prototype) |
"The project started when a brilliant engineer managed to get MacOS to boot on a 68000-based PDA from Sharp (I believe). It was ridiculous, of course, because you had a minuscule black and white screen and the UI was unusable, but it was a proof of concept. The Newton had started with the premise: 'What if we could reinvent the user experience from scratch?' This project was asking: 'What if you could still run the Mac apps you love?' Ultimately it wasn't clear what was the better approach, and so both projects went on." - Arno Gourdol
2. Apple Paladin
In the mid-1990s, Apple tinkered with creating an integrated, all-in-one office appliance that included a computer, telephone, scanner, fax machine, modem, and printer. The result was the Apple Paladin prototype. It combined the guts of an Apple PowerBook Duo 230 (including its grayscale monitor) with a StyleWriter 1200 printer in a sleek white enclosure.
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| Picture 2. Apple Paladin (prototype) |
The Apple Paladin had a monochrome LDC display and a 160 MB hard drive. OS 7.1 (Big Bang) was used as the operating system. The main program, Complete Office, allowed you to switch between phone, fax and computer at the touch of a button. An interesting feature is the absence of a logo on the case.
Early tests of the unit proved problematic, and after an internal corporate reshuffle, the Paladin was left without a key development division, so it was remaining just a project outside global recognition.
3. iReview
iReview was a service offered by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) dedicated to reviews of Internet content. During the 2000 Macworld Conference in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced this service along with iTools, which was the free predecessor to Apple's current iCloud subscription service.
iReview was part of a reaction to the commercial success of the iMac that resulted in thousands of new computer owners suddenly having access to the Internet. The main purpose of the service was to give new users a place for detailed reviews on websites on the World Wide Web. iReview was integrated into the Apple website as part of the new "tabbed" layout, with a dedicated tab alongside iCards, iTools, the online store, QuickTime, and online support. Once a visitor clicked on the iReview tab, they could choose from one of 15 categories of websites for specific reviews on subjects that may be of interest. Each initial review was published by Apple employees, who gave their input on the site along with a detailed review and an overall rating. Visitors to iReview were also able to review and rate the sites themselves as well. Users could organize the viewing of reviews by ratings or by simple searches.
Unfortunately, in February 2001, Apple cancelled the iReview service. Its failure to generate traffic is generally attributed to a lack of awareness of the service by most web users, a lack of perceived openness of the system, and the idea that most people would typically not spend time reading others opinions of websites when they could quickly generate their own opinions by visiting the sites themselves.
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