How I became the First Engineer to boot up an iPhone and print 'Hello, World...' ;)
In 1999, I helped develop what could be considered the world’s first iPhone—years before Apple's release. At that time, I had just joined Wipro after working extensively on RTOSes like VxWorks and pSOS. Cisco, which had an Offshore Development Center (ODC) at Wipro before establishing its own R&D center in India, sought expertise in RTOS for a startup they funded: InfoGear.
InfoGear, a pioneer in “Internet Appliances,” was led by Apple veteran Dave Fylstra. The company developed an innovative device—a bulky desktop phone featuring a touch screen LCD and a retractable keyboard, blending the functionality of a traditional phone with web terminal capabilities. This concept was revolutionary in 1996, when the Internet was largely the domain of tech enthusiasts, requiring users to manually install modems, software stacks, and browsers. The idea of an Internet screenphone that simplified this process was groundbreaking.
Compounding our challenges was the lack of relevant content. In the late 90s, most content was designed for PCs and not suited for our device, which predated Google, Facebook, and the cloud. We had to forge new partnerships and build infrastructure from the ground up.
The first-generation device was unveiled at CES in early 1998 and received positive reviews. Personal Computer World hailed it as “an exciting look at the future of telephony integration,” and PC World praised its design and functionality. It won the Innovations ’98 award at CES and the Best of Show award for Outstanding Desktop Hardware Product at Fall Internet World ’98.
This was running on a primitive OS the founders had brought along. It had larger footprint and sluggish with lots of room to optimize for performance.
My first task at InfoGear was to write a Board Support Package (BSP) for VxWorks and port a web browser and email client for a demo model. This was no easy feat; we used an 8-bit processor with very limited resources, requiring a sophisticated client-server architecture. Most of the heavy lifting—HTTP implementation, HTML parsing, rendering—was done server-side, while the client handled only display functions. This was before the era of open-source software, so we had to develop nearly everything from scratch.
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The second generation of the device, which I worked on with a network expert from Wipro, was faster, more compact, and provided a smoother experience. Soon after, Cisco acquired InfoGear, and I transitioned to a new project within Cisco’s ODC. Despite continuing development, the project was eventually shelved due to the market crash of 1999-2000.
In 2007, Apple launched their iPhone, leading to a trademark dispute with Cisco. Cisco claimed Apple had used a front company to secure the iPhone name. This quirky coincidence made me the first engineer to boot up an iPhone and print "Hello, World..."
Looking back, the story of the original iPhone is a testament to innovation and the importance of timing. Our team pushed boundaries in touch screen technology, client-server architecture, and content delivery. Although the project was ultimately shelved, it was a financial success for our investors and a significant milestone for us. We had all the right elements but lacked the market readiness.
To the great InfoGear team from Israel and California, it’s been an incredible journey.
[Photo credit: internethistorypodcast.com]
Senior Staff Software engineer at Pulsesecure
5 个月Wow! Never know this, Peshkar. Great write up.
Principal software engineer - Microsoft
5 个月Nice write up. Reminded me of the SOC bring up days of the past. No better feeling than being able to talk to hardware ??