Former Apple CEO John Sculley dropped some interesting new tidbits about Apple’s history in a recent interview. He said that all the way back in 1984, Jobs was dreaming up the idea of a “Mac phone.”
This “Mac phone” would be a desktop device that acted as a phone, but ran a version of the Mac’s software.
Steve Jobs’ early ‘Mac phone’ concept
Sculley says he realized mobile would be “the next big thing” after helping develop the Apple Newton platform in the ’80s and ’90s, but Jobs was already a step in the right direction envisioning what a Mac phone would look like. He’d have Sculley draw a mockup.
“He was not a drawer, he was a great visionary but he couldn’t draw,” Sculley told TechCrunch, describing the Mac phone concept. “I could draw, I had studied design. So Steve would describe it to me, I’d draw it out.”
They’d go back and forth, with Jobs telling Sculley what he liked and didn’t like, and Sculley would make adjustments to the drawing accordingly. Sometimes the screen would need to be a bit bigger; other times, the device itself would need changes.
The Mac phone never saw the light of day, but Apple did end up making hard models out of it a few years later. “Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as the iPhone,” Sculley said.
Designer Pierre Cerveau came up with a rendering for an iPhone, imagining what it might have looked like if it had been released in 1984. And it’s easy to believe that Steve Jobs‘ vision for a Mac phone back then could have been pretty similar.
“The best definition of a genius is someone who sees the obvious 20 years ahead of the rest of us,” Sculley said.
The interview also featured David Steinberg and mostly discussed the company they co-founded, Zeta Interactive. The company aims to help brands track customer engagement and acquisition in areas where it’s currently difficult to do so, like traditional media.
George Tinari has covered Apple and technology for over six years. On the rare occasion that he’s not sitting in front of his laptop, you can find him eating, awkwardly socializing, listening to music or singing along loudly to said music. You can also follow George on Twitter if you need more complaints and sarcasm in your timeline.
9 responses to “John Sculley drew ‘Mac phone’ concept for Steve Jobs in 1984”
Since Jobs died, Sculley has been out a few times now trying to rewrite his failure as Apple CEO? Dead men can’t fight back right Sculley?
I don’t know if I would characterize things that way. He has made a number of statements about the various bad ideas he pushed through and he referred to the ousting of Jobs as the worst mistake in his life.
The one I’d like to be hearing about is Gil Amelio. During his short tenure he made huge strides in getting Apple’s act together. He was also responsible for buying NeXt and bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple. Amelio received a royal screwing in classic Jobs style, but the fellow deserves a lot of respect.
Read Amelio’s book, On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple. Interesting stuff. His description of the utterly bizarre atmosphere at Apple it worth it on its own.
Sculley is an imbecile. He should have stuck with hawking colored sugar water.
The mockup by Pierre Cerveau (related to Tom Servo?) has a dial. He’s probably too young to know that push button phones came out in 1963 – when Steve Jobs was eight years old.
Sculley goes on and on and tries to make it seem that he was some kind of great product visionary. He wasn’t. He was a bozo. Still is.
Apart from bringing Apple to the brink of bankruptcy, what other notable thing has Scully ever done? Anything? Nothing? Absolutely nothing. Back in your box muppet.
He knew in 1984 that mobile would be the next big thing? This was at a time where DOS ruled and monochrome monitors were leading edge, and when the Internet was still known as ARPANET. Sculley should at least take a couple of minutes to think about what he’s saying so he does not come off as a big buffoon.
The concept of mobile computing was in Science Fiction decades before the internet. Mobile computing did not need to go hand in hand with the internet.
George Tinari, how about being a respectable journalist and crediting the interviewer by name and maybe even a link. You’re using his material, it is the least you could do.
It is common decency, common courtesy and common sense.