{"id":3920,"date":"2026-06-26T21:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:43:16","slug":"we-almost-had-a-smartphone-in-the-90s-why-did-it-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=3920","title":{"rendered":"We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>In the early 90&#8217;s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=3912\">Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, civilians don\u2019t feel safe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On today&#8217;s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=3910\">Organizers say the \u2018Great American State Fair\u2019 is for everyone. Some disagree<\/a><\/p>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<p>Planet Money<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the early 90\u2019s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on.<\/p>\n<p>On today\u2019s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?<\/p>\n<p><em>Support:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/n.pr\/3HlREPz\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Planet Money+<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Read:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\">\n<li><em>Our book: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/lnk.to\/i3AukBdD\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\">\n<li><em>Our weekly longform <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/n.pr\/3zrFvUB\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Planet Money newsletter<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>Our weekly <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/newsletter\/indicator\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Indicator round-up newsletter<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Follow:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/n.pr\/3FqLuws\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/n.pr\/3sGZdrq\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>TikTok<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lnk.to\/iCVDaW3C\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>YouTube<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/n.pr\/3h92GwS\"target=\"_blank\"   ><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Charlotte Isidore. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley with help from Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is <\/em>Planet Money<em>\u2019s executive producer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planet-money"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail? - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=3920\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail? - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the early 90\u2019s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on.On today\u2019s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?Support:Planet Money+Read:\u00a0Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life\u00a0Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletterOur weekly Indicator round-up newsletterFollow:\u00a0InstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebookThis episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and James Sneed. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Charlotte Isidore. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley with help from Cena Loffredo. 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