History

Early years
The first caller identification receiver (1971).Devices that combined telephony
and computing were first
conceptualized by Nikola Tesla in 1909 and Theodore Paraskevakos in 1971 and pat
ented in 1974, and were
offered for sale beginning in 1993. Paraskevakos was the first to introduce the
concepts of intelligence,
data processing and visual display screens into telephones. In 1971, while he wa
s working with Boeing in
Huntsville, Alabama, Paraskevakos demonstrated a transmitter and receiver that p
rovided additional ways
to communicate with remote equipment, however it did not yet have general purpos
e PDA applications in a
wireless device typical of smartphones. They were installed at Peoples' Telephon
e Company in Leesburg,
Alabama and were demonstrated to several telephone companies. The original and h
istoric working models
are still in the possession of Paraskevakos.[7]
Forerunner
IBM Simon and charging base (1994).
The first mobile phone to incorporate PDA features was a prototype developed by
Frank Canova in 1992 while
at IBM and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. It
included PDA features and
consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The S
imon was the first commercially
available device that could be properly referred to as a "smartphone", although
it was not called that in 1994.
In addition to placing and receiving cellular calls, Simon could send and receiv
e faxes and emails and included
an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock a
nd notepad, utilizing its touch
screen display.[12] The term "smart phone" appeared in print as early as 1995, d
escribing AT&T's PhoneWriter
Communicator.
PDAs
In the mid-late 1990s, many mobile phone users carried a separate dedicated PDA
device, running early versions
of operating systems such as Palm OS, BlackBerry OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC.[1]
These operating systems would
later evolve into mobile operating systems. In March 1996, Hewlett-Packard relea
sed the OmniGo 700LX, a modified
HP 200LX palmtop PC that supported a Nokia 2110 phone with ROM-based software to
support it. It had a 640200
resolution CGA compatible four-shade gray-scale LCD screen and could be used to
place and receive calls, and to
create and receive text messages, emails and faxes. It was also 100% DOS 5.0 com
patible, allowing it to run
thousands of existing software titles, including early versions of Windows.
In August 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000 Communicator, a digital cellular p
hone based on the Nokia 2110 with an integrated PDA based on the PEN/GEOS 3.0 op
erating system from Geoworks. The two components were attached by a hinge in wha
t became known as a clamshell design, with the display above and a physical QWER
TY keyboard below. The PDA provided e-mail; calendar, address book, calculator a
nd notebook applications; text-based Web browsing; and could send and receive fa
xes. When closed, the device could be used as a digital cellular phone. In June
1999 Qualcomm released the "pdQ Smartphone", a CDMA digital PCS Smartphone with
an integrated Palm PDA and Internet connectivity.[14]
Subsequent landmark devices included:
The Ericsson R380 (2000) by Ericsson Mobile Communications.[15] The first device
marketed as a "smartphone",[16] it combined the functions of a mobile phone and
PDA, and supported limited Web browsing with a resistive touchscreen utilizing
a stylus.[17]
The Kyocera 6035 (early 2001) introduced by Palm, Inc. Combining a PDA with a mo
bile phone, it operated on the Verizon network, and supported limited Web browsi
ng.[18][19]
Handspring's Treo 180 (2002), the first smartphone to combine the Palm OS and a
GSM phone with telephony, SMS messaging and Internet access fully integrated int
o the OS.[20]
Smartphones before present-day Android-, iOS- and BlackBerry-based phones typica
lly used the Symbian operating system. Originally developed by Psion, it was the
world's most widely used smartphone operating system until the last quarter of
2010.[citation needed]