Frog Design outs the Apple tablet that could have been... in 1983

We don't know about you, but back in 1983 we were still playing in the mud with sticks and learning how to read. Frog Design, on the other hand, well, they were busy creating zany gadget prototypes. The company -- which helped create such august products as the Apple IIc (which was unleashed in 1984) -- also worked on a tablet pc for Apple around that same time, and its recently let slip some photos of what might have been. The tablet you see in the photos (there's another after the break) was called Bashful, and it's a pretty slim character considering its birth date, boasting a full physical keyboard and stylus to boot. Several prototypes of this little lover were made, including one with a disk drive and even one with a phone. So that means, by our count, Apple's been mulling this whole tablet deal for... twenty-six years. Hit the source link for even more photos.

[grandmainger Posted Jan 24th 2010 8:57AM]

If only they had brought it out then... It would have saved us all the fuss and rumors about the one they might bring out now...

[Steve Anthony Ballmer Posted Jan 24th 2010 8:58AM]

@Steve P Jobs
Well I hate Apple Tablets. >:@

[Steveorevo Posted Jan 24th 2010 8:59AM]

Yup, its all about design. Jobs was a difficult person to work for. Everything had to be perfect. Shave 3 seconds off of boot time, etc. etc.

This is too cool. Think about it, even to this day we suffer from horrible design cues in Windows thanks to designs in MS-DOS.

Kinda makes me ill when I see those Windows7 commercials "I though of that", featuring some teenager spouting off about Windows 7 shutting down faster.

Really? Did you think of that? 'Cause we've been asking for it for over a frickin decade, b*tch.

[Saad Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:02AM]

@Steveorevo

Wow! Just Wow...

[nabberuk Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:16AM]

@Steveorevo

Erm, i think the adverts are trying to say that microsoft is giving the public what they asked for. Hence them saying "windows 7 was my idea"

But great way to a rant about windows on a post that has nothing to do with it!

[Information Central Posted Jan 26th 2010 1:47AM]

The guy's post was totally reasonable.

However, Apple doesn't exactly listen either. Otherwise they would've had two-button mice, windows you can resize from any edge, real Delete keys on their laptops, and other important UI revisions years ago.

[KrisRoberts Posted Jan 26th 2010 2:47PM]

@Information Central
I've been able to right and left click for years. With Apple mice.
Why use a delete key?
I honestly don't understand that?
Not being a fan boy, but if I make a mistake when typing, I rectify it by going backwards and pressing backspace. Not clicking before the character and pressing delete.
Plus, back space deletes something if you click it.
Really, saving space on a keyboard by removing one key which doesn't have to be used is a pretty decent idea.

[Saad Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:00AM]

Now watch Apple fanboys going ape shit about how Apple was first to bring out a tablet.

[onlymyrailgun Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:13AM]

@Saad
Apple was first to bring out a tablet!!

[PATRICKmcnicholl Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:24AM]

@onlymyrailgun. I agree. it's Official

[Plexus Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:44AM]

@Saad

WRONG !!!
The freakin' sumerians brought out tablets before Cupertino had even been built.

[MarkAnderson Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:15AM]

@Saad

I thought it was Psion who bought the first tablets out although Apple did invent the acronym PDA.

[axemachine Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:32AM]

Alan Kay of Xerox proposed a notebook computer, optionally using pen input, called the Dynabook in the late ’60s. Yet another idea Jobs “borrowed” from Xerox.

[Average White Boy Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:32AM]

@Saad

Maybe not the first, but probably the best. All the Microsofties are going to be squirting tears when Apple sells a few million of their tablets in six months and Microsoft couldn't sell a million tablets in a six years.

M$ should just duct tape two Zune HDs together and call it a Courier Book for the M$fanboys. That way they could sell twice as many Zune HDs to clear stagnating inventory.

[bullshitexpresscom Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:36AM]

@Atkins Moses, he had two of them.

[TheNetAvenger Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:52AM]

@Average White Boy

Million in six months?

The TabletPC sold over a million units back in 2004, are you new or just silly?

There are more TabletPCs in use in the world than the total of Mac computers combined. How do you like them Apples?

[fighterfelix Posted Jan 24th 2010 12:38PM]

@TheNetAvenger

this reply thread is now closed because Apple fanboys just got TOLD

[kopmis Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:01AM]

"Story of my life" - Apple fanboys born in 83

[ASKY Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:06AM]

Apple was first !
I'm so fan.

On a serious note :
C'mon morrons, say it : Apple is 20years ahead.
Anyways, if it's been created just so we can look at it... That's stupid.
Let's see if this so-called iSlate/iPad show off soon... :)

[vaggelisz Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:00AM]

@ASKY
When thinking about what you said i believe they are designing products way ahead of their time but they are producing them a few years after they have been introduced. I can say a lot of things about apple, their cool, smart, innovative e.t.c. But one thing is sure, they are not pioneering anymore because they seem stuck to revamping previously presented technologies, at least from my point of view.

[Liquidmark Posted Jan 24th 2010 8:04PM]

@vaggelisz

what it says to me is that they release products at the RIGHT time, not just right now.

[GRock Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:16AM]

I find it stunning how much the latest Apple wireless keyboard looks like that tablet accessory keyboard!

[Aziz S Posted Jan 24th 2010 11:03AM]

@GRock, You have a good eye for details my friend.

[vlad the inhaler Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:19AM]

@Steve P Jobs
well i hate capitalism. >:@

[PATRICKmcnicholl Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:21AM]

Very nice Engadget, that i didn't know

[Jigielnik Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:22AM]

iphone, ipod and now the tablet? what goes on in steve jobs mind? "lets make something years ahead of its time then wait 5-30 years and finally do it right! thats a good strategy... i earned my penny"

[pukerocket Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:30AM]

@Jigielnik

People like you want 2030s technology today, but at 1980s prices

[New Reformation Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:37AM]

@pukerocket

1980 computer prices were nothing to desire.

[NoelLeeCEO Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:30AM]

@vlad the inhaler

I am with you, except for the part where I don't make loads of cash....

[Dr Watz0n Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:33AM]

pple! Cavemen drew on tablets long before you
did..hell...the Sumerian bible was w

[MikeyMike01 Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:58AM]

@Dr Watz0n The Sumerian bible was. in fact, w.

[thinkindependent Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:37AM]

I have only one question, does this play Oregon Trail?

[ragtag Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:39AM]

It's a pity they didn't bring it out in 83. If it had caught on, tablets and touch screens, might have been the standard from the get go....and our computers today would look quite different.

[AnAnt Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:38AM]

@skaterdude

lol ! +1 for sheer cheek !

[joelaf Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:39AM]

Why does that EtchASketch have a keyboard, but no left/right knobs?

[joelaf Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:12AM]

@Atkins

Nope, it just reminds me of an '80s etch a sketch. Don't be so defensive.

[noodles2k Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:45AM]

@Laura June
Looks like Apple used somone elses idea... what a suprise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynabook

[PATRICKmcnicholl Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:59AM]

@noodles2k. You are the trash that is a biased closed minded hater. Go away. The human race is too advanced for you

[Ed T Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:19AM]

@noodles2k
Ever heard of Alan Kay? He's one of the real geniuses, not a poser like Gates. Hew worked for Apple. The Dynabook was his idea.

[Andurilan Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:32AM]

@Ed T
Why are you trying to bullshit about this?
Alan created the Dynabook concept in 1968. Added an OS in 1972 after joining Xerox in 1970. It was in 1982 when he joined Apple. He created the concept at Xerox, not Apple. Douche.

[thinkindependent Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:48AM]

@PATRICKmcnicholl Why is it okay for apple fan bois to say that MS or some other company copied ideas from apple but when someone else points out the fact that their beloved apple has done, and continues to do the same, those people are just haters and idiots? Are you really so naive to believe that apple hasn't copied other's ideas in the past and moreover this is just what all competitive companies do.

Anyway I have to admit that this thing looks pretty cool considering it it was built almost 30yrs ago. I would have loved to have been playing with this in grade school instead of those old Apple IIGS.

[jon Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:56AM]

@thinkindependent

The exact same reason that Evangelicals throw rocks at women outside Planned Parenthood.

[Ed T Posted Jan 24th 2010 11:07AM]

@Andurilan
Oh fuck off, or at least learn to read. I never said Dynabook was created by Apple, I said it was Alan Kay's idea. Yeah Kay worked at PARC, but Xerox wouldn't let them explore products like the Dynabook, and that is one of the reasons why he left. Apple has been working on the Dynabook since '83, and you will see Jobs hold rev1.0 in his hand next week.

[fourthletter Posted Jan 24th 2010 12:10PM]

@Ed T

"Hew worked for Apple. The Dynabook was his idea."

I'd say that is a pretty leading comment so fuck off yourself LOL

[CJ Posted Jan 25th 2010 2:18AM]

And other companies that "copy" Apple arent?

Oh right, I forgot, only Apple can "innovate", and everything everyone else makes inferior in every way, and if it isn't somehow worse than Apple, it's not "innovation", it's just "stolen from Apple".

[mark29 Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:48AM]

Would love to see this in action, for the eighties it looks very slick

[HectorUmbra Posted Jan 24th 2010 9:52AM]

I like the keyboard i hope this will be an option for the upcomming devices.

[dark star Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:44AM]

@HectorUmbra
keyboards have always been an option for devices with bluetooth. Apple just wanted to be a douche and crippled bluetooth on the iphone and ipod touch.
I can easily pair my bluetooth kb to my fujitsu tablet when I need to type a lot of stuffs

[Dahis Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:05AM]

I don't believe this!

[rederikus Posted Jan 24th 2010 10:05AM]

@Steve P Jobs
Well, I just plain hate Apple.