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There are a number of inventions that could have turned up completely differently. Did you know for instance that iPhones were not supposed to have third-party apps? Or that Android was originally a technology for digital cameras?
There have been many accidental inventions throughout history, but these were actually built with a purpose in mind. They did go in a different direction in the end, but things could have been different if they didn't.
Intrigued? Click on to find out more about the technologies that almost turned out differently.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever tried to insert a USB into the port upside down. Well, USB creator Ajay Bhatt actually thought about this.
The original plan was to make a reversible USB, just like the USB-Type C, which features a symmetrical connection that can be used in any position.
To make his prototype flippable, Bhatt would have had to create a much more complex and expensive product. This was an unproven technology and the financial risk was too high.
When Apple’s innovative product was launched in 2007 there was no such thing as an App Store. Back then, Apple developers would only create web apps and not mobile apps.
These apps would open on Apple’s Safari browser, but the introduction of the iPhone changed the rules of the game. The new iOS needed more functionalities.
Users wanted more features on their phones so Steve Jobs eventually gave in and the App Store was introduced in 2008. Finally, iPhone users had access to third-party apps instead of remaining in an Apple-only bubble.
Android was originally intended to be an operating system for digital cameras rather than Apple’s competitor.
Founded in 2003, the Android operating system would have allowed users to connect their cameras to their PCs without using any cables.
When the company started to seek funding from investors, the digital camera market was declining and the smartphone market was booming, so they changed direction. Android was later acquired by Google and the rest is tech history.
Blockchain is one of the greatest technological advancements of recent history. Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta’s 1991 paper indicated that it would be used to “back-date or to forward-date [a] document, even with the collusion of a time-stamping service.”
The paper also said that blockchain would “maintain complete privacy of the documents themselves, and require no record-keeping by the time-stamping service.”
In the late 2000s, Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin using this new technology. The world of cryptocurrency was born, where timestamped, incorruptible transactions became a reality.
Emile Berliner (pictured) invented the microphone in 1877. But it turns out, he wasn’t the only one working on a microphone.
Alexander Graham Bell (who invented the telephone) was also working on one, and he even managed to make a working prototype before Berliner.
While Berliner saw the microphone simply as a way to amplify the sound, Bell was more interested in its application as a hearing aid.
Bell’s mother was partially deaf, so a solution for hearing-impaired people was a matter close to his heart. The microphone eventually became part of the first Bell telephones.
Sirens are now used in a variety of ways, but this loud warning system was invented with a different purpose. Originally created by John Robison in 1799, the siren was considered a musical instrument.
Cagniard de la Tour then created a siren in 1819 to use in scientific experiments and realized its potential as a warning sign on ships.
The siren didn’t become a warning sign until World War II, when the British used them to alert people of air raids. The US later adopted it as a tornado warning in 1948.
The concept of the refrigerator was invented by William Cullen in the 1720s, and the ice machine is essentially a spin-off of that technology.
In 1842, American doctor John Gorrie created an ice machine, which he then used to lower the body temperatures of yellow fever patients at the hospital where worked at. Gorrie secured a patent for his invention in 1851.
The first programmable robot dates back to 1954. George Devol's invention was a one-handed industrial robot called Unimate.
Unimate’s job was simple, yet dangerous. This robot was programmed for die-casting (pouring hot metal into a mold).
Unimate made General Motors' die-casting plant in New Jersey its home. Soon after, the robot was working with other automakers and businesses. Other one-arm robots were then developed to perform a wide array of tasks, many of which were pretty sophisticated.
The invention of the steam engine was a game changer. There have been many prototypes throughout history, ever since Hero's aeolipile.
The original objective of the new machine was to pump water out of coal mines. In 1698, Thomas Savery built up other machines and created what is considered the first proper steam engine.
Thomas Newcomen then made an updated version of it in 1711. Later, in 1765, James Watt made yet another improvement to the steam engine and it became good enough not only to pump water out of coal mines but power factories and vehicles.
The first air conditioner was created by Willis Carrier in 1902. Similar to the ice machine, the AC was also a spin-off of the refrigerator.
Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company needed a cooling system for their factory and they tasked Carrier with building one. The result was the air conditioner, which is now used worldwide.
Sources: (Listverse)
See also: Unusual inventions throughout history
Technologies that almost turned out differently
Some inventions could have been used in completely different ways
LIFESTYLE Inventions
There are a number of inventions that could have turned up completely differently. Did you know for instance that iPhones were not supposed to have third-party apps? Or that Android was originally a technology for digital cameras?
There have been many accidental inventions throughout history, but these were actually built with a purpose in mind. They did go in a different direction in the end, but things could have been different if they didn't.
Intrigued? Click on to find out more about the technologies that almost turned out differently.