IBM Simon Personal Communicator

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The IBM Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994, is widely regarded as the first true smartphone. It was designed by IBM and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric. The device featured a touchscreen interface, allowing users to interact with a variety of applications, including email, fax, and a calendar. It also included a notepad, address book, and calculator, making it a versatile tool for both personal and professional use. The Simon supported voice calls, emails, and faxes, integrating multiple communication methods into one device. The Simon used a Vadem VG230 system-on-a-chip and had 1 MB of PSRAM along with 32 KB of SRAM. It included a monochrome LCD display and supported PCMCIA cards for additional storage or functionality. Despite its innovative features, the device was bulky and had a short battery life. It was sold by BellSouth in the U.S. for approximately $899 without a contract. Although it sold only 50,000 units, the IBM Simon laid the groundwork for future smartphones by combining telephony with computing capabilities in a portable format.