The notion of smartphones has been around for a long time, even before Apple introduced the iPhone and made the concept widely available. If you recall, there were people who were already using PDA devices that you might almost consider to be the precursors to smartphones back in the day. But it appears that Nintendo have gotten there first smartphone, before firms such as Apple.
Video game historian, researcher, and journalist Liam Robertson claims to have unearthed a Nintendo advertisement from the 1990s that stated that the firm was developing an addon attachment for the Game Boy Color. The PageBoy was an accessory that, when used with the Game Boy Color, would have provided it with smartphone-like capabilities. It is similar to those of the iPhone.
Here, we’re talking about an Internet connection that allows users to read the news, periodicals, get weather updates, watch live television. And even communicate with other PageBoy owners via text messages and email messages. The technology that would have powered it would have been the same as that used by pager systems. Due to this the business chose the name “PageBoy.”
However, Nintendo decided against releasing it to the public because, according to Robertson, the communications technology behind the PageBoy has only used in specific parts of the world, and Nintendo wanted a device that would work anywhere in the world, not just in specific markets, which is why it has shelved.
Nintendo could have easily been one of the first, if not the first, companies to introduce a smartphone if the device had made available for purchase.
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