The Apple Newton was a pioneering personal digital assistant (PDA) developed by Apple and first released in 1993. Officially branded as the “Newton MessagePad,” it was one of the earliest attempts to create a handheld computer that could fit in a bag or pocket, offering features like note-taking, contact management, scheduling, and wireless messaging. The Newton’s most famous — and infamous — feature was its handwriting recognition, which promised to let users jot notes directly on the screen with a stylus and have them converted into digital text. While groundbreaking in concept, the early handwriting recognition software struggled with accuracy, leading to both user frustration and pop culture jokes (most notably in The Simpsons). Despite its flaws, the Newton introduced several innovations, such as object-oriented data storage, a large grayscale LCD touchscreen for its time, and a modular OS that allowed third-party app development.
Apple continued refining the Newton line throughout the 1990s, releasing improved models with better handwriting recognition, faster processors, and expanded connectivity options. Later devices, such as the MessagePad 2000 and eMate 300, showcased how far the platform had come, with far more reliable performance and advanced networking features. However, the Newton never achieved mass-market success, partly due to its high price and competition from cheaper, simpler PDAs like the Palm Pilot. In 1998, shortly after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the Newton line was discontinued as part of a broader strategy to streamline the company’s product lineup. Today, the Newton is remembered as both a bold experiment ahead of its time and a cautionary tale about the risks of launching a product before the technology is ready — though many of its ideas, from touch-based input to portable digital organization, live on in modern smartphones and tablets.
November 7, 1997: Apple releases the Newton MessagePad 2100, the last and best iteration of the company’s early line of handheld devices.
Among its improvements over previous generations, the MessagePad 2100 packs expanded memory, enhanced speed and upgraded communications software. Nevertheless, the Newton’s fate is sealed. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, freshly returned to the company, will scrap the product line within months.
August 2, 1993: Apple launches the Newton MessagePad, the first product in its line of handheld personal digital assistants. While it will become the most unfairly maligned product in Apple history, the Newton is a revolutionary device.
It predates Apple’s push toward app-based mobile devices 14 years later. And, while often dismissed as a failure, the Newton ranks near the top of the list of Apple’s most influential creations.
March 24, 1997: The Newton MessagePad 2000 brings major upgrades to Apple’s PDA line, including a far better display and a much faster processor.
The best MessagePad yet by a wide margin, it quickly becomes a critical and commercial success. But it won’t be enough to save the doomed product line.
They say the early bird gets the worm. But the bird that’s too early spends an hour looking for worms in the middle of the night and has to give up after a while. That’s an apt summary of the Newton Messagepad, Apple’s handheld computer that launched on this day in 1993.
The Newton launched at a high price and with a somewhat limited feature set. As a result, it never found a strong enough customer base or a “killer app” to make it a must-have device.
But all these years later, I still found two good uses for my Newton MessagePad 2000.
An incredibly rare Apple VideoPad 2 prototype is headed to auction after it was purchased from an Apple engineer back in 1999. It comes with a black leather carrying case that features the Newton logo, and is expected to fetch $12,000.
The VideoPad, which was scrapped by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in 1997, was a personal digital assistant (PDA) similar to the Newton that would have allowed users to carry out video calls. But it never made it to market.
A recent online conference dedicated to Apple’s much-maligned Newton drew dozens of fans from around the world — including Steve Wozniak and other Apple alumni.
After the 2020 Worldwide Online Newton Conference — the first gathering dedicated to the groundbreaking PDA in a decade — event organizer and Newton superfan Paweł Piotrowski marveled at the lasting impact of the handheld, which Apple discontinued almost 25 years ago.
“It is unbelievable that this old technology still connects people who make friendships because of their shared love of a small green device,” Piotrowski, who works as a college lecturer and live-stream technician in Edinburgh, Scotland, told Cult of Mac. “I’m glad this conference was able to build on that.”
Apple had plans to deliver a phone long before Steve Jobs took to the stage of Macworld 2007 to show off the iPhone.
Around 14 years earlier, the company previewed a prototype device called the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone, or the WALT, which combined a telephone and fax machine into one.
Here’s a rare look at the prototype that shows just what WALT can do.
It’s nearly the end of the road for Google Inbox.
A new popup that has started appearing inside the Inbox app confirms it will be closed down on April 2. Fans of the email client have just two weeks to find an alternative, but Google recommends another of its own.
Popular email client Newton Mail has made a surprise return to the App Store — alongside Newton Calendar.
Users can log in using the same Newton account they used before. If you haven’t already tried Newton Mail, you can enjoy a 14-day free trial before subscribing.
The Newton MessagePad is simultaneously one of Apple’s biggest flops and one of the company’s most underrated products.
A series of PDA devices available during the 1990s, today Newtons are much-sought-after relics among a group of enthusiastic Apple fans. These collectors recognize the devices for the forward-looking gadgets they truly were. The Newton product line is now the subject of a new feature-length documentary, titled Love Notes to Newton. Can it do justice to its beloved subject matter?
This week we look at the amazing new Bias Amp 2 for guitarists, which looks just awful on the big-screen iPad Pro, we see how the Newton email app has banished the “sent” mail folder, we check out the new privacy features in the Overcast podcast app, and find out how to duplicate our entire Instagram history on our own microblog.
Awesome email app Newton has killed off the “Sent” folder to make email as easy as instant messaging.
When using Newton, your sent messages now appear right inside your inbox alongside everything else, making it easier than ever to keep track of your conversations. Here’s how you can start enjoying this new feature today.
Newton, creator of what is arguably the best mail app on iOS, now has a beautiful new calendar app. Newton Calendar was designed to be lightweight and gorgeous. It re-imagines what a mobile calendar should look like, and it makes managing your day a piece of cake.
Apple is known for its multibillion-dollar hits, but not everything Cupertino touches turns to gold. These six Apple products flopped in the marketplace, despite being pretty darn great.
The iPhone celebrated its tenth anniversary this week, and it’s hard to imagine where Apple would be today without it. It is by far the company’s most successful product, but is it also its most significant to date?
Apple revolutionized a number of product industries with the Mac, iPod, iTunes, and iPad — all of which have been incredibly successful at some point. It also pioneered new concepts with products like the Newton. Were any of these things more important to Apple than iPhone?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we relive our first experiences with iPhone and discuss Apple’s most significant product releases.
Not every Apple product has been a runaway success, but that doesn’t mean those that weren’t were complete failures. Products like the Newton MessagePad, the G4 Cube, the Macintosh TV and even the iPhone 5c — which were all considered flops — brought great features and innovations that weren’t appreciated.
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we butt heads over Apple’s most underrated product to date.
Almost two decades after Apple shuttered its Newton MessagePad platform, a new video compares the device’s handwriting recognition to today’s touchscreen-based typing on the iPhone.
The fact that you had to plug your Newton into your Mac to manually transfer information makes it seem incredibly outdated. But the handwriting recognition, which was way ahead of its time in 1993, still impresses in terms of speed, as shown in the video below
From sledgehammer-tossing freedom fighters to misunderstood teenagers at Christmas, Apple’s TV commercials have hit us with some truly iconic imagery over the years. But when a company has been around since the 1970s, it’s no great surprise that a select few ads would slip our collective memory.
After scouring through hundreds of big-time commercials and tiny TV spots that promoted Cupertino’s products over the years, here are our picks for the Apple advertisements that time forgot. All of them are worthy of a second look — and almost all of them for the right reasons.
Everyone knows Apple didn’t come up with the name iPhone. Cisco owned the trademark on what they called I-phone long before Steve Jobs unveiled the smartphone that would change the world back in 2007. But did you know that Apple didn’t come up with the name iPad? In fact, Intel was hawking a device they called the I-pad — or “information pad” — way back in 1994.
When rumors of the iWatch first surfaced, most insiders pegged its launch date for somewhere around the end of 2013 and everyone got super excited that our wrists are going to get blinged out by Apple really soon. However, lately we’ve been hearing that that might not be the case, and we won’t be able to slap Apple’s magical wrist watch on until 2014.
The unreleased iWatch isn’t the only timepiece Apple’s ever made though, so if you’re really desperate to get a watch made by Apple you totally can, but it might cost you more than your iPhone.
Here are 11 of the coolest retro Apple iWatches you can buy right now. We’ll start with the cheap stuff and work our way down:
I still have a Message Pad 110 at my house. It’s the greenish-grey of the standard retail version of the Apple proto-PDA, and it still rocks. However, were I to have a spare $1350 to purchase this clear, limited production prototype Newton that was originally given out to some folks at Apple’s 1994 developer conference, I would jump at the chance. Seriously, they only made about 400 of these bad boys.
The auction on eBay ends on January 26, so if you’re hankering for this sweet bit of Apple history, now might be the time to jump in.
Apple’s made some excellent television ads over the last few decades. They’ve also made some dumb ones, like the Mac Genius ads that got axed this year. If for some reason you wanted to study each and everyone of the 485ish ads that Apple’s produced, some thoughtful YouTube user, who loves you very much, has created a huge video playlists of every Apple TV ad ever aired.
There are 485 ads in the playlist and it would only take you around 4 hours or so to watch them all, so have at. Watch as Apple’s ad strategy morphs before your eyes as it goes from Macintosh, to Newton, to iMac, to iPod, to the Get a Mac ads to iPhone and beyond. And if you want to combine all of those 485 ads into one long video to make it even easier for us all, that’d be pretty cool too.
Source: YouTube
Via: Gizmodo
Steve Jobs has changed the world four times, by my reckoning. One year after his death, is the world different? What is his legacy? Is it the company that he started, journeyed outward from in disgrace, and ultimately returned to in triumph? How about the devices he had an enthusiastic hand in bringing to market? The business of music and film? What is the world now that it would not have been without Steve Jobs?
It’s all of those things, of course. Jobs’ legacy is not something we can distill into a simple slogan or tagline. Steve Jobs worked for a world in which the design, manufacture, and marketing of consumer electronics enhances our lives in a very human way.
Let me explain.
Remember how cool Palm Pilots were back in the day, and that weird Apple Tablet thing called the Newton? Well what would the iPhone’s operating system look like if it was designed back in 1986? We were getting in touch with our feminine side on Pinterest today and found the answer. Behold, iOS 0.0.1 straight from 1986. Looks great, doesn’t it? Check out some more images below.
John Sculley, a former Apple CEO who was at the helm of the Cupertino company between 1983 and 1993, has no doubts that it can revolutionize the television set. If anyone’s going to change the experience and the “first principles” of TV, Sculley told the BBC in a recent interview, it’s going to be Apple.