Bill Gates

Pocket-sized "wallet PCs" will be able to tell users their exact location anywhere on Earth.

“Wallet PCs with the right equipment will be able to tell you exactly where you are anyplace on the face of the earth.”

Said on

24 November 1995 · Book: The Road Ahead (1995), chapter on applications and appliances

Source

The New Swiss Army Knife: Bill Gates Predicts the iPhone in 1995 · The Marginalian (quoting The Road Ahead)

Should come true

No date given

How sure they sounded

stated as fact ("will be able to")

Categories

Technology

Importance

3 of 5 · Location-aware pocket computers (smartphones) reshaped the consumer technology industry.

Outcome

Accurate Happened 1 January 2003.

Inferred window: about 10 years from 1995 (no timing given). Pocket devices that report your location came within that window: the Garmin iQue 3600 Palm PDA with built-in GPS came out in 2003. GPS phones such as the iPhone 3G (2008) then made it mainstream.

Evidence:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin_iQue
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_3G