Vademecum

The Vademecum was a tablet computer that was prototyped in 1994 at Apple Computer. However, the project was cancelled by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Development history
The Vadamecum project began at the Apple Advanced Technology Group in 1994. Inspired by tablet computers used in the original  television series, the development team constructed prototypes with wireless capabilities; one included a Connectix QuickCam for use as a webcam. However, management felt that there was no market for tablet computers at the time.

After Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company, Dan Russell from the development team presented one of the Vadamecum prototypes. Upon seeing it, Jobs criticized the aesthetics and told the team, "There is no place in the market for this!" Jobs then cut off funding for its future development. Russell left Apple in late 1997 to pursue tablet development at Uppercase.

Aftermath
Russell stated that the Vadamecum team later discovered that another tablet, the PenLite, had already been prototyped earlier. Its technology was licensed to Assistive Technology under the Macintosh clone licensing program and evolved into the PowerPC-based Freestyle tablet.

Articles

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