General Magic – The movie
General Magic and Tony Fadell
Tony Fadell, a father of the iPod, iPhone, and Nest thermostat, suggested a movie about General Magic in his recent book, Build.
The documentary looks at a 1990s company in Silicon Valley that was stacked full of talent, saw the future, and then failed. Never hearing of General Magic, this was an intriguing movie because this company laid so much of the groundwork for the technology we all use today.
What General Magic was attempting to do
The story follows Marc Porat as he assembles the world's most talented team to build a device that people could carry around and communicate with anyone else, all with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that would make it friendly and intuitive.
They were making a smartphone.
Tony Fadell was hired as a young entrepreneur to help bring this vision to life. He worked alongside legends like Andy Hertzfeld, Joanna Hoffman, Kevin Lynch, and Pierre Omyidar. This dream team worked non-stop to bring this vision to life. This vision was before the World Wide Web was a household name, before cell phones were incredibly popular, and most importantly, before the market was ready for a smartphone.
Fascinating story in its own right
Whether you love technology or love a good story, General Magic the Movie is a compelling tale of what 1990's Silicon Valley startups looked like — filled with found footage of the company's experience that leaves the viewer 90's nostalgia, the acts as a cautionary tale to anyone with a good idea.
The world doesn't accept all great ideas (at least at first)
Having a good idea is never enough. Resources, talent, and timing must be correct for the project to make it over the finish line. In the case of General Magic, they had tons of resources, some of the most talented techies in the world, and a vision of the future – it was just too soon.
There were 2 significant ramifications for the timing being off:
- The technology they aspired toward wasn't quite ready
- Customers weren't ready
The team was hoping to deploy technology that was sophisticated, fast, and connected. At a time when the Internet was just gaining ground, General Magic was attempting to make their connected device work on what was available. So they were building a network with AT&T. Their touch technology was okay but slow and not incredibly accurate. And the idea of a really slim device you can carry around with you all the time was difficult with the size of components and battery technology.
Further, when the device finally launched, people didn't know what to do with it. At a launch at Fry's, the staff had put the device in the back of the store near refrigerators. The Fry's staff didn't know how to sell it or even why someone would want it. In a man-on-the-street style interview, most people said they didn't know what they would use it for.
Timing really matters
Even if all the technology was there, people might not have been ready for that step. Consumers need baby steps toward innovative technology – otherwise, it can feel like too large of a leap. In the end, General Magic puttered out, shut down, and all of those people moved on to other companies.
Enter Steve Jobs, 10 years later
Tony Fadell moved on and was very interested in making a music device. Eventually, Apple got word and hired Fadell to make the iPod. This device eventually morphed into the iPhone, launched in January 2007. As the team at General Magic looked back on their time and the iPhone launch, there seemed to be bittersweet feelings all around it. They had been vindicated – all that they had worked for, believed in, and knew to be right was finally proven right. People did want this device.
But there was also a bitter sentiment because they were not the ones to bring it to pass. Apple's talent, resources, and, most importantly, the timing was correct this time – making one of the most successful products in the world.
The roots of Silicon Valley tech
In some ways, the group that dispersed from General Magic did such impressive things and spread those ideas throughout so many other companies that this movie is about the origin of much of the tech we use and love today.
- Tony Fadell – iPod; iPhone; Nest Thermostat
- Megan Smith – Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer; former VP at Google; co-founder of The Malala Fund
- Andy Hertzfeld – Part of the original Macintosh Team; co-creator of Google Circles
- Kevin Lynch – Former CTO of Adobe; Creator of Dreamweaver, lead engineer on Apple Watch, and current VP of Technology at Apple
- Pierre Omyidar – Founder of eBay
- Phil Goldman – Co-founder of WebTV
- Zarko Draganic – Founder of AltoCom (first modem company)
- Andy Rubin – Founded Android
- John Giannandrea – Former SVP Engineering; SVP Machine Learning and AI Strategy at Apple
- Darin Adler – Former Head of Safari Browser
- Many more across the top technology companies in Silicon Valley
Filled with nuggets of warnings and triumphs, the story of the most successful, unsuccessful tech startup in Silicon Valley was a pleasure to watch. If you enjoy tech documentaries, this is a much watch.
