📺Must Watch Documentary: General Magic

General Magic is “the most important company to come out of Silicon Valley that no one has ever heard of.” — Former Apple CEO John Sculley

General Magic invented the smartphone about 17 years too early.

General Magic was the brainchild of Marc Porat who — in 1990! — envisioned a day when we would all be carrying around a personal communication device and using it continuously for our work, chores, and entertainment. Spun out of Apple, General Magic assembled the brightest minds in technology to build this magical device. You don’t have to watch the movie to know how it worked out: we don’t wait to hear when the new General Magic phones will ship.

General Magic was very much ahead of its time but was also taken off-guard by the rapid spread of the web (as were a lot of companies) and suffered from “analysis paralysis.” But they understood, and could clearly explain, most of the concepts and features we see in our devices today. After bankruptcy, the General Magic employees applied what they learned to develop new companies and products: inventing the iPod at…