Leaked iPhone prototype reveals how dreadful Apple's first mobile device COULD have been

Apple's iPhone has been one of the defining technology innovations of the last decade - thanks in part to its intuitive user interface.
But back in 2006, when Apple was first thinking about entering the mobile market, it experimented with a number of operating system designs before settling on the touch-driven interface we now know as iOS.



One of those was based heavily on the iPod interface, according to Sonny Dickson, an Apple insider who has posted several accurate iPhone-related leaks in the past.
Dickson has managed to get his hands on an early iPhone prototype running the iPod-like operating system, which he claims was known internally as Acorn OS.

"Much like the first production iPhone, the prototype features many of the same features including an aluminium chassis, multi-touch compatible screen, 2G connectivity and WiFi radios," Dickson writes .
"However, despite carrying a similar design, the phone itself is extremely different from the iPhone we know today."

The video shows that the bottom half of the screen was taken up by an on-screen click wheel, which could be used to scroll through options in the top half of the screen.

These options included "Dial", "SMS", "Music", "Contacts" and "Recents", but no web browser, according to Dickson.



While it would be easy to dismiss the device as a fake, the design appears to be based on an Apple patent, filed in 2006, which describes a "multi touch device" with a click wheel.
It would therefore have made sense for Apple to make a prototype of the device, to test out its effectiveness.

 
What it more surprising is that the device has survived all these years. Apple is usually meticulous about destroying its prototypes.
"While Apple clearly made the right choice by choosing to base the iPhone strictly on touch... it's nevertheless fascinating to see the many ideas that were considered leading up to the iPhone that we all know today," said Dickson.



"One could hope that a unit ends up in the hands of a museum one day, as smartphones today and going forward would most likely look very different than such a device."