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John Sculley delivered the keynote at EDUCOM 1987 in Los Angeles. After an introduction he played a short video called The Knowledge Navigator, which showed a real life scenario between a University professor and a device that could access a large networked database of hypertext information. It used a software agent, depicted as a bow tie wearing assistant, to help in searching for information.

The vision brought together a wish list of computer experiences that was unbound by Moore’s Law or contemporary technology. David Bunnell called it

“…something between a product announcement and a sci-fi story.”

Sculley later told Laurie Flynn at Infoworld:

This tool is one that really has all the key technologies underway in the 1980s that we’re going to need by the end of the century.

While it impressed the audience, the reception elsewhere was measured. The product video was not widely reported until Sculley repeated the demonstration of Knowledge Navigator at MacWorld in early 1988. This time the video played to Apple devotees, developers and journalists and it seemingly set Apple apart with a clear vision for its future.

Alan Kay later told Mark Brownstein:

The Knowledge Navigator is John’s version of the Dynabook. It’s been inspirational. Everyody at Apple us thrilled that John is supporting a concept. ...it helped to focus people, it became more real. We’re getting the company to start thinking about systems. The systems will empower the individual through things that are networked.

The concept video also reminded everyone of a technology conundrum. What could be imagined was often not able to be built. Apple's Group Product manager Tyler Peppel cautioned in an interview for InfoWorld:

Knowledge Navigator is not a product plan but a vision of where we could go.

Jean-Louis Gassee was Apple’s President of Products:

Multimedia is not poised for success like desktop publishing was in 1985. Those who think otherwise will be in for a major disappointment. I have every confidence that the required hardware building blocks will eventually become available and affordable, but the transition from desire to reality will be much slower than in the case of DTP.

Pundit Jonathan Seybold cautioned in the LA Times.

People habitually overestimate the speed with which something happens in the short run and underestimate the impact in the long run.

In future, the Knowledge Navigator became an Apple product suited to many professionals including editors. A handheld device able to edit graphics, multitrack audio, broadcast quality video and real time special effects capabilities. But an iPad with Final Cut X and Siri was more than twenty years away.