![]() This was one of his motivations for Apple to later create similar devices, but different in a whole new level: the iPhone and iPad. Apples Newton should have given enough time for researchers to work on Apple III, and not pressured them to release it half-baked, even though Apple II was making huge profits. Did you own the original Newton aka MessagePad or one of the later models. While Newton failed, Jobs saw a potential in the technology and the concept. ARTICLE Twenty-five years ago today on, Steve Jobs ended the production of the Apple Newton. Jobs was critical of the device's performance, the management of the development team, the stylus which he hated as it prevented users from using their fingers, and also because it was a project of his old adversary John Sculley. When John Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler, and later by Gil Amelio, the product line was still developing.īut it was then in 1998 that Newton was discontinued, at the direction of Steve Jobs, after he was made the CEO in his return to Apple, replacing Amelio. The PDA was his first attempt to launch a game-changing new product line. "We barely got it functioning by ’93 when we started shipping it." The Newton was often regarded, both inside and outside Apple, as CEO John Sculley‘s answer to the Mac. "We were just way ahead of the technology," said Capps. The cause was a combination of factors, which included: the debut of the competing Palm Pilot which substantially reduced its market share, a high price and early problems with its handwriting recognition feature. However, while the device incorporated innovative technology at the time, such as a 2MB of expandable memory, the first that featured handwriting recognition, a pen-based touch screen and the ability to sync with software on a PC, Apple only sold around 50,000 units of the product in its first four months on the market. After all, its original intention was to be a complete reinvention of personal computing. Running Newton OS, the device was an entirely new architecture in a form factor that represented a completely new and bold design language. Newton was known as a completely new category of device. Continuing with the Newton would further build substitutional competition for Apples laptop product line and reduce PowerBook sales and divert Apples already scarce resources. He was critical of the devices weak performance, the management of the development team, and the stylus, which he disliked as it prevented the use of the fingers. "The goals were to design a new category of handheld device and to build a platform to support it," explained Steve Capps, Newton’s head of user interface and software development. Apple struggled to find a new direction for the Newton, and when Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, he killed the product line. Newton's marketing materials promised a device that could take notes as well as any pad of paper, all by providing a simple, portable, use-everywhere experience.Īt that time, handheld computers were still the things from science fiction, and Apple had an ambitious goal with this PDA product line. Apple Newton MessagePad next to the original iPhone
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