The Birth of Portable Computing: Laptops, Palmtops, and Smartphones

When the era of personal computers began in the late 1970s, engineers faced a new challenge: making computers portable. The effort to create devices that could work anywhere, free from desks, fundamentally transformed human life. The history of portable computing, leading to the smartphones in our pockets today, is a story of continuous miniaturization and innovation.

The Birth of the Laptop: A Computer You Can Carry

Osborne 1: The First Commercial Success

In April 1981, British-born entrepreneur Adam Osborne announced a historic product in California: the Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable computer.^[1]

By today’s standards, the Osborne 1 was hardly portable. It weighed about 11kg (24.5 pounds) and was housed in a plastic case resembling a sewing machine case. However, this machine was revolutionary. It featured a 5-inch monitor, two floppy disk drives, 64KB RAM, and a complete CP/M operating system, priced at $1,795 (approximately $5,900 in 2024 dollars).^[2]

Even more remarkable was the bundled software. It included the WordStar word processor, SuperCalc spreadsheet, and MBASIC programming language—software that would cost over $1,500 if purchased separately.^[3] Osborne sold over 10,000 units per month by the end of 1981, reaching monthly sales of $10 million by September 1982.^[4]

GRiD Compass 1101: The Origin of Clamshell Design

In April 1982, GRiD Systems Corporation released the GRiD Compass 1101, the first clamshell design laptop computer. Designed by British designer Bill Moggridge, this computer folded into a completely flat rectangle and was made from a magnesium alloy case.^[5]

The GRiD Compass incorporated many innovative technologies. It used bubble memory instead of floppy disks and featured an electroluminescent display.^[6] However, it was very expensive at $8,150 (approximately $25,500 in 2024 dollars), primarily used by the U.S. government and military. NASA used the GRiD Compass on space shuttles from the early 1980s.^[7]

The Popularization of Notebooks: IBM ThinkPad and Apple PowerBook

In October 1991, Apple entered the notebook market with the PowerBook 100, 140, and 170. The PowerBook was the first to introduce the modern layout with the keyboard positioned at the back and a palm rest with trackball at the front.^[8] The PowerBook 170 was also the first notebook to feature a 9.8-inch active matrix LCD screen.^[9]

In October 1992, IBM released the ThinkPad 700C. Designed by Richard Sapper, the ThinkPad was characterized by its black rectangular case and red TrackPoint pointing stick.^[10] The ThinkPad achieved great success in the business market, with approximately 50 million units sold under the ThinkPad brand by the time IBM sold its PC division to Lenovo in 2005.^[11]

By the mid-1990s, notebooks were no longer special products. With improvements in microprocessor performance and LCD technology, notebooks became lighter, more powerful, and more affordable.

Palmtops and PDAs: Computers in Your Pocket

While laptops made desktop computers portable, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) aimed to put computers in your pocket.

Apple Newton: Pioneer of PDAs

On August 2, 1993, the Apple Newton MessagePad was launched alongside the term “PDA” coined by Apple CEO John Sculley.^[12] The Newton featured innovative functions including handwriting recognition, infrared communication, and expandable memory card slots.^[13]

However, the Newton’s handwriting recognition was highly inaccurate initially, becoming the subject of much ridicule. The comic strip “Doonesbury” ran a series satirizing Newton’s recognition errors, significantly damaging Newton’s image.^[14] The price was also steep at $699 (approximately $1,500 in 2024 dollars).^[15] In February 1998, Steve Jobs, who had returned to Apple, discontinued the Newton project.^[16]

Palm Pilot: Popularization of PDAs

Where the Newton failed, Palm Computing succeeded. In March 1996, Palm launched the Palm Pilot 1000 and 5000.^[17] The Palm Pilot was small (about 160g), affordable ($299), and easy to use.^[18]

Palm’s secret to success was simplicity. Instead of handwriting recognition, it used “Graffiti,” a simplified character input system that was easy for users to learn.^[19] It limited core functions to four: address book, calendar, notes, and to-do list, and made synchronization with PCs extremely simple.^[20]

The Palm Pilot achieved explosive success. By 1997, about 1 million units had been sold, making it the fastest PDA in history to reach 1 million units.^[21] By 2000, Palm held about 70% of the PDA market.^[22]

BlackBerry: Mobilizing Email

In January 1999, Canada’s Research In Motion (RIM) released the BlackBerry 850. The early BlackBerry focused on email and pager functions.^[23] The BlackBerry 5810, released in 2002, was the first BlackBerry to add voice calling capabilities.^[24]

BlackBerry’s distinguishing features were the physical QWERTY keyboard and push email service. When new emails arrived on the server, they were automatically transmitted to the BlackBerry device, allowing users to immediately check and reply.^[25] This function was revolutionary for business users, and BlackBerry dominated the enterprise market in the mid-2000s.

The Birth of the Smartphone: Everything in One

Attempts to combine PDAs and mobile phones began in the early 1990s. The result was the smartphone, one of the most influential inventions in human history.

IBM Simon: The First Smartphone

On August 16, 1994, the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, jointly developed by IBM and BellSouth, was released. It is recognized as the world’s first smartphone.^[26]

Simon integrated mobile phone, pager, fax, email, calendar, address book, calculator, and sketch pad functions into a single device.^[27] It featured a touchscreen and was operated with a stylus pen. Users could enter text using a virtual keyboard displayed on the screen.^[28]

Simon measured 203mm × 64mm × 38mm and weighed about 510g. Battery life was only about 1 hour during calls, and the price was $899 (with contract) or $1,099 (approximately $2,300 in 2024 dollars).^[29] Although only about 50,000 units were sold before it was discontinued in February 1995, Simon is a historic product that first implemented the concept of the smartphone.^[30]

Nokia Communicator Series

In August 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000 Communicator. It featured a clamshell design: when closed, it could be used like a regular mobile phone, and when opened, it revealed a full QWERTY keyboard and large screen.^[31] The Nokia 9000 offered email, fax, and web browsing capabilities and was popular among business users.^[32]

The Nokia Communicator series continued to evolve. The Nokia 9210, released in 2001, featured a color screen and Symbian OS, with several successor models released until 2008.^[33]

iPhone: The Beginning of the Modern Smartphone

On January 9, 2007, at the Macworld Conference & Expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. Jobs said: “Today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device… These are not three separate devices. This is one device. We are calling it iPhone.”^[34]

The iPhone eliminated the physical keyboard and featured a 3.5-inch multitouch screen. The entire screen was the interface, with keyboards, buttons, and menus appearing contextually.^[35] It provided innovative user experiences such as inertial scrolling, pinch-to-zoom, and smooth animations.^[36]

During the first weekend after its U.S. launch on June 29, 2007, about 700,000 iPhones were sold.^[37] The iPhone 3G, released in July 2008, introduced the App Store, marking the beginning of the mobile application ecosystem.^[38] By 2010, about 73 million iPhones had been sold worldwide.^[39]

Android: The Open Source Challenge

A few months after the iPhone launch, on November 5, 2007, Google announced Android along with the Open Handset Alliance.^[40] Android was an open-source mobile operating system based on the Linux kernel.^[41]

The first commercial Android device was the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1), released on October 22, 2008.^[42] Android could be freely used by multiple manufacturers, leading to rapid expansion of the smartphone market. Numerous manufacturers including Samsung, LG, Motorola, and HTC released Android devices at various price points.^[43]

By the early 2010s, smartphones were no longer optional but essential. By 2011, global smartphone sales reached about 470 million units, exceeding 1.5 billion by 2016.^[44]

Conclusion: The Democratization of Computing

From the 11kg Osborne 1 in 1981 to the 135g iPhone in 2007, the evolution of portable computing signifies more than mere miniaturization. It means that computers began to move with us, freed from special places (laboratories, offices, desks).

Laptops enabled work outside the office, PDAs allowed us to always carry schedules and contacts, and smartphones put the internet, cameras, music, games, and millions of apps in our pockets. Portable computing transformed computers from tools into part of our lives.

Today, there are about 4.9 billion smartphone users worldwide, representing about 60% of the global population. The actual number of smartphones in use is about 7.2 billion, as some users own multiple devices.^[45] Computers are no longer the exclusive domain of experts or the wealthy. Portable computing has truly democratized access to information, communication, education, and commerce.

If the microprocessor democratized computers, portable computing placed those computers in humanity’s hands. And this revolution is still ongoing.