10 Awesome Vintage Apple Prototypes Designed by Hartmut Esslinger

It's tough for many to imagine, but 20 years ago Apple was going through an identity crisis deep rooted in design. Without a unified design language, all of the products coming out of the Cupertino, Calif. headquarters were disparate and, well, ugly. To fix that, Steve Jobs called on Hartmut Esslinger and his famed Frog Designs—the firm that Sony tapped to design its then best-selling and market-leading Trinitron TVs. Esslinger and Frog wound up designing the Apple IIc, but it also designed a bunch of concept products including an early tablet and even an Apple phone. Thanks to Esslinger's new book Design Forward, we're able to see some these early designs. As we enter the 2013, let's take a look back at what could have been for the world's most valuable tech company.