The first smart phone, a distinctly special product compared to the rest, was called a personal digital assistant.

The first device that can be considered to be a smart phone was released in 1994. The device, called Simon, was marketed by IBM, and it did not bring much success. Nevertheless, it can be regarded as a landmark as it already had functions that characterise the models we know today.

Simon had a 16-MHz clock signal System-on-Chip, and ran a special version of MS-DOS. The product combined the functions of mobile phones and PDAs, and also featured a touch-screen. It was mostly referred to as a PDA in the printed press at the time. Unlike today’s smart phones, Simon had no wireless connection to the internet, while it could send and receive not only text messages but faxes as well. In addition, it could also send and receive electronic messages. To be able to do so, it had to be connected to a server using Lotus CC:Mail with the help of a built-in modem and a telephone cable.

Simon’s user interface had icons and windows, and its touch-screen could be used with a finger or alternately with a stylus that was included in the package. However, the touch-screen was resistive and not capacitive. The device could be upgraded with various applications designed for PCMCIA cards, but there were not too many apps, since Simon sold merely 50 000 units, and this market did not look too significant for developers.

The device weighed more than 500 grammes, measured 23 centimetres in length, and ran on a nickel-cadmium battery with an operating time of one hour. Its system chip was based on the NEC Vadem series, which was complemented with a graphic unit and a number of connectors. However, its most distinctive feature was x86 compatibility, which allowed for the use of Embedded-DOS. Simon cost 600 US dollars if purchasers contracted for a two-year service, while it cost 1100 US dollars without a service contract.