General Magic tried to invent a smartphone in the 1990s

On the latest episode of Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher, Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude talk about their new documentary, “General Magic”, which tells the story of a pioneering tech startup that tried and failed to invent a smartphone in the 1990s. Kara appears in the documentary, as do some of the most important figures from the company’s history, such as Andy Hertzfeld, John Sculley and Tony Fadell. Although few people know the name General Magic anymore, Kerruish and Maude say the team’s failure paved the way for the Silicon Valley we know today.

Here’s the transcript for this interview and podcast, which is quite interesting.