Lot 61
PROTOTYPE OF APPLE VIDEO PAD 2. Apple INC. [Palo Alto: Developed 1994-5.]
4 December 2019, 13:00 EST
New YorkUS$12,000 - US$18,000
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PROTOTYPE OF APPLE VIDEO PAD 2.
Apple INC. [Palo Alto: Developed 1994-5.] Prototype design model of the Video Pad 2, with hinged flip-top, 180 x 232 mm, height 33 mm. Made of heavy duty plastic with mock memory card slot, power socket and phone line input socket, silver-papered screen, flip top with space for a video screen and two speakers either side. In its original black leather carrying case, impressed with Newton light bulb logo.
Provenance: Purchased in Palo Alto from an Apple Engineer in 1999.
A UNIQUE PROTOTYPE DESIGN FOR THE APPLE VIDEO PAD 2, the only surviving concept prototype for the Video Pad PDA. Three designs were put forward by Apple as Video Pad 1,2 and 3, developed in the period of 1993 to 1995 under CEO John Scully. Video Pads 1 and 3 were the only examples shown to the public. They were made from a conceptual design sketch drawn by John Scully and pictured in the May 1995 issue of Macworld. The prototypes were described as a "mocked-up videophone married to a PDA ... Designs like this purposely ignore present-day constraints such as cost and component availability ... Sometimes Apple's designers respond to a hot-button issue from someone from the top." The Video Pad was a move forward from the Newton Message Pad, which Scully also pushed into production, 1993-1997. Steve Jobs cancelled the Newton soon after his return in 1997.
This concept of Video Pad was, in effect, the first attempt by Apple to move into the phone market and was a natural development from the Newton Message Pad. It was a precursor to video telephony, the iPad and the iPhone &mdash products the company would release 10 years later to great success.
The Video Pad was a product well before its time - requiring technologies that were not yet mature enough to offer the desired functionality. It came at a time when Apple was looking for new devices and concepts to move on from the Steve Jobs-era, and in the 1990s the mobile phone and PDA were the way to go. It is unclear from an examination of the prototype if the unit was to operate on the cellular network or strictly over a phone line, but it is an easy assumption that Apple would be targeting the growing mobile market.
The Atlantic.com June 2017, Technology section, includes an article by Adrienne Lafrance discussing the Apple Videophone-PDA developments in some depth.
Provenance: Purchased in Palo Alto from an Apple Engineer in 1999.
A UNIQUE PROTOTYPE DESIGN FOR THE APPLE VIDEO PAD 2, the only surviving concept prototype for the Video Pad PDA. Three designs were put forward by Apple as Video Pad 1,2 and 3, developed in the period of 1993 to 1995 under CEO John Scully. Video Pads 1 and 3 were the only examples shown to the public. They were made from a conceptual design sketch drawn by John Scully and pictured in the May 1995 issue of Macworld. The prototypes were described as a "mocked-up videophone married to a PDA ... Designs like this purposely ignore present-day constraints such as cost and component availability ... Sometimes Apple's designers respond to a hot-button issue from someone from the top." The Video Pad was a move forward from the Newton Message Pad, which Scully also pushed into production, 1993-1997. Steve Jobs cancelled the Newton soon after his return in 1997.
This concept of Video Pad was, in effect, the first attempt by Apple to move into the phone market and was a natural development from the Newton Message Pad. It was a precursor to video telephony, the iPad and the iPhone &mdash products the company would release 10 years later to great success.
The Video Pad was a product well before its time - requiring technologies that were not yet mature enough to offer the desired functionality. It came at a time when Apple was looking for new devices and concepts to move on from the Steve Jobs-era, and in the 1990s the mobile phone and PDA were the way to go. It is unclear from an examination of the prototype if the unit was to operate on the cellular network or strictly over a phone line, but it is an easy assumption that Apple would be targeting the growing mobile market.
The Atlantic.com June 2017, Technology section, includes an article by Adrienne Lafrance discussing the Apple Videophone-PDA developments in some depth.