A video from 1996 at Newton just resurfaced after years of obscurity. Basically, the erstwhile Apple division had 4,000 spare modems for the PDA that they just had to get rid of. Soon, a spectacular display was planned. Over at MacLife, Maurice Sharp, a former Newton Engineer, explained what happened…
I remember making this video… the simple beginning of an email letting people know there were some modems if you wanted one, the discovery that a few was 4,000 or so, then the start. Luckily I lived very close by so I rushed home to get my video camera.
During this time, the Newton group was still in it’s heyday. We were pushing the envelope. We had fun disagreements on what the optimal design was for our customers. There should still be a Newton prototype around somewhere that was built into an empty Palm Pilot shell (now that would have been interesting, though the cost of the Newton would have been much higher.) And the return of Jobs and demise of Newton was not even a bad dream.
I really admire the faith of the Newton true believers. Right up there with the Amiga faith.
Via MacLife
2 responses to “4,000 Newton Modems Fall Like Dominoes”
Gosh – I wish I had just a handful of those modems right now. I’ve been surfing eBay for one without much luck. But then what I really need is the swanky wi-fi hookup some Newton folks have on their MessagePads. And Bluetooth. And…