Before the iMacs and the iPods, there were tons of Apple prototypes that never got to see the light of day. Websites such as The Apple Museum and The Apple Collection have posted some of the concept designs and prototypes for Apple faithfuls to visit. It's a massive line-up. Since our work eats up most of our time, we're quite thankful that Michael of Apple Gazette has compiled five of the god-knows-how-many Apple devices that never made it to the production line.

It's an interesting list, to say the least. It somehow shows how most of Apple's designs are ahead of their time. All of the prototypes were introduced in the 90s, so it's really interesting to know that even though some of them are more than 10 years old, the features they have are the very same ones we see  today in other products. Why they got shelved, only Apple knows.

Take for instance the Apple PowerBop; it was said to be the first Powerbook with wireless Internet access. Were we even thinking of wireless Internet back in 1993?

It seems back in the 90s, Apple was quite obsessed with multi-function devices. It's as if they were out to create the Swiss Army knife of the digital scene. One that's most likely to be close to that idea is the Apple Paladin, which is actually a computer, a fax machine, a scanner, and a phone rolled into one. We understand why Apple would abandon this idea, because there are not many all-in-one devices that really sell.

The Apple PenLite is a combination of a PowerBook Duo and a Tablet PC. It could've have worked, but Apple thought at that time that the onslaught of PC Tablets in the market would hurt the PenLite's chances. But what really showed promise then was the Apple Videophone PDA - a mobile Videophone with PDA functionality. We can't say the same thing about the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone (W.A.L.T.) though. The device was actually a portable phone with touch-screen functions (ala Nintendo DS) and PDA features. Apple never explained why they abandoned the idea. It must be the name.