Newton Tablet Developer Rehired at Apple: Can a Tablet Be Far Behind?
6:08 am, September 29th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Don't call it a comeback. The Newton and iPhone @http://www.mediabistro.com/mobilecontenttoday
After a 15-year hiatus, Apple has taken Newton Tablet developer Michael Tchao back into the fold.
Tchao, once part of the original Newton team, will now be a vice president of product marketing.
Steve Dowling, the Apple spokesman who confirmed the hire did not say exactly what the man who helped create the grandfather of PDAs will be doing in Cupertino.
The NYT speculates that he’ll be helping define the market for an Apple tablet; though they can’t resist calling the Newton a “groundbreaking but failed personal digital assistant. ” (Most other takes, including ours, say the product was axed when Steve Jobs returned.)
It’s not such a big jump from the Apple tablet to Tchao’s most recent gig, serving as general manager of Nike Techlab, which designed armbands and running shoes to integrate with iPods.
It’s just as easy, for now at least, to speculate he’ll be doing more in-house integration with these devices.
Via Mediabistro
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Apple Tablet, News, Rumors, Tablet | Comment on this article
I still have a Newton up in the spare room, no books, software, cables, just the unit and it still works! About 450 quid I think it cost when I bought it, absolutely bloody useless it was too, bet I might get 50p on eBay as an IT antique! LOL!
Fuzzypig, on September 29th, 2009 at 7:01 am
I still have my Newton 2000. I bring it out every now and again, open it up and look lovingly at that screen and system. It was great (at the time) no matter what the nay-sayersb said!
MSB, on September 29th, 2009 at 7:31 am
The Newton’s a fine, fine machine that — because of what’s out NOW — is kinda bulky.
But STILL carryable & everyday usable.
CaryMG, on September 29th, 2009 at 3:09 pm