Ad Archeology: Apple’s First Tablet, The Newton

It’s retro-future time again at Cult of Mac. These ads, circa 1993, for the ill-starred PDA the Newton sound a lot like the all-singing, all dancing expectations of portable computing expected at tomorrow’s tablet announcement.

Some of the salient claims from the  “Who is Newton?” ad:

“Newton talks to fax machines, laser printers to telephones  (NB – a landline) and computers!”

And remember, the Newton is for “All you mobile professionals who like cool stuff.”

While the “Where is Newton?” spot promised portability and connectivity on the go:

“Newton can get you from the urban jungle to the nearest hamlet…You can send a letter or a memo and faxes from places where there are no fax machine. Newton is everywhere and that’s not a bad place to be.”

And when the Newton did not live up to expectations — handwriting recognition being one of the big flaws in attempting to send faxes from outpost gas stations as per the ad — here’s what one crystal-ball gazing analyst told the New York Times in 1995:

“In the long run there is no doubt people will carry around small computers much like pagers today,” said Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates, a Narberth, Pa., consulting group. “But it’s still not clear that Apple will be one of the major providers of these systems.”

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