Apple's Knowledge Navigator, Siri and the iPhone 4S

Back in 1987, Apple produced a concept video describing a product known as Knowledge Navigator. Knowledge Navigator is a computer app with bow-tied personal assistant that would let you interact with your device using your voice and natural language. You can check messages, find appointments, share documents and more.

Sound familiar? It should as it's surprisingly similar to Siri, the natural language personal assistant Apple introduced at its iPhone 4S event yesterday. Not only is Knowledge Navigator like Siri, the scenario in the concept video also takes place in September 2011.

As Kickstarter's Andy Baio pointed out on Waxy.org, there's a remarkable alignment of the dates here. Look at the date on the professor's calendar; it says September 16 and he's looking for a five-year-old article that was published in 2006. This September 16 date, which was chosen 24 years ago, is eerily close to Apple's October 4, 2011 announcement. Check out the video below, I think you'll enjoy it.

Corrected to acknowledge source of the timing comparison.