Rare Apple VideoPad 2 model sold at auction
A rare Apple VideoPad 2 prototype is expected to fetch between $8,000 and $12,000 at an auction in Los Angeles early next month.
The plastic PDA model – the only one of its kind known to have survived – shows how the company once envisioned to corner the video calling market.
Three VideoPad concepts were developed by the California-based company between 1993 and 1995 based on diagrams drawn up by former Apple CEO, John Scully.
However, the design was never implemented in a commercial product, and the project was canceled in 1997 when Apple founder Steve Jobs returned to the company.
And unlike the VideoPad 1 and VideoPad 3, the VideoPad 2 – which has a foldable screen and a camera for video conferencing – has never been officially shown to the public.
According to Bonham’s auction house. The prototype was originally purchased from a company engineer in Palo Alto, California, in 1995.
The VideoPad concept was the company’s attempt to follow through on its former personal digital assistant, Newton MessagePad.
This device went on sale in November of 1993 – and sold 50,000 units in the first three months.
However, it did not represent a commercial success for the company. MessagePad and Newton OS were also suspended by Jobs after his return to the company.
The VideoPad could have enhanced the MessagePad with the addition of a camera and video screen built into the top.
Read also: Apple’s talks with CATL and BYD have stopped
Apple developed three VideoPad concepts between 1993 and 1995
The prototype being auctioned contained a fake memory card slot, a power jack, a phone line input jack, and two built-in speakerphones.
It comes with the original black leather carrying case, which is engraved with the Newton light bulb logo.
As reported. Jobs canceled VideoPad after concluding that the technology needed to ensure a positive user experience was not yet available.
It was another 10 years before the company properly hit the phone market and another five years before the iPad was launched. Which is arguably the spiritual successor to the discontinued VideoPad.
It is reported that the VideoPad 2 is not the only part of the company’s history to be auctioned.
AndOn the tech side, the original Apple II personal computer is also up for auction, along with prototypes of the Macintosh, the Apple EMate 300 digital assistant, and the first generation iPad.
A letter from Steve Jobs to his childhood friend Tim Brown is also expected to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000. and sold Elements in a auction Bonham’s History of Science and Technology November 3, 2021.
Read also: Apple MacBook Pro Comes With High Power Mode
