Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Discontinued the Newton 25 Years Ago Today
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I freakin' loved my Newton, foibles and all!
When people told me it was too big, I always responded, "Nope, it's too SMALL!" I wanted one that was the same rough volume, but thinner and stretched out like a clipboard. That, I figured, would be the perfect form factor to carry around, write on, etc.
Years later, when Apple introduced the iPad, I was VERY happy!
When people told me it was too big, I always responded, "Nope, it's too SMALL!" I wanted one that was the same rough volume, but thinner and stretched out like a clipboard. That, I figured, would be the perfect form factor to carry around, write on, etc.
Years later, when Apple introduced the iPad, I was VERY happy!
When I see old tech like this, I marvel at just how far we've come.
Back then PDA's were all the rage (for some reason). They were basically the equivalent of an electronic address book/calendar/notebook with the ability to also play some simple games. Add to that the fact that most needed to be synced to a computer and it's easy to see why these fell out of fashion.
Good memories, though.
Back then PDA's were all the rage (for some reason). They were basically the equivalent of an electronic address book/calendar/notebook with the ability to also play some simple games. Add to that the fact that most needed to be synced to a computer and it's easy to see why these fell out of fashion.
Good memories, though.
I think I tried almost everything there was as time progressed. Sharp PDA's, Newton, Palm, Psion (Loved the keyboard at the time, but the shape was a bit awkward overall), handspring running Palm OS. The iPhone was a complete game-changer. I remember when my PDA's had memory allocations in the Kb's! The only thing the newton was missing at the time was the "Hey, Isaac" feature!
Was just going to comment the same. One of the best clips in Simpsons history
Loved my Newtons back then. Yes, the handwriting recognition was bad in the initial OS releases, but it did improve as it got to recognise your writing style, and as updates to the OS were released (downloaded to the device using the Newton Connection Kit on Windows or Mac).
By the time the MessagePad 2000/2100 were released in '97 HWR was very good, and Newton devices were very capable. But yeah - Steve Jobs wasn't a fan and so he killed it. Initially they tried to spin it all off into a separate company, but that didn't work out. Oh well... c'est la vie!
By the time the MessagePad 2000/2100 were released in '97 HWR was very good, and Newton devices were very capable. But yeah - Steve Jobs wasn't a fan and so he killed it. Initially they tried to spin it all off into a separate company, but that didn't work out. Oh well... c'est la vie!
Hahaha! Me too! I had most - while the Newtons were my favourite, the Psion devices came a close second. The Sharp PDAs were good too, and they also did re-badged version of the Newton MessagePad (called ExperPad if I recall correctly).
I also picked up an old Amstrad PDA (Pen Pad) in the 90's but have no idea what i did with that lol. It was actually not bad for a budget device! Can't believe that was all 25-30 years ago now...
I never had a chance to use the Newton but I loved my Palm devices back in the day.
I remember a friend had that device back in the day. It was way way ahead of its time.
Apple discontinued the Newton personal digital assistant (PDA) 25 years ago today via press release, marking the start of the company's renewed focus on the Mac.
The Newton came with a stylus, ran Newton OS, and was the first PDA to offer handwriting recognition. The device could be used to take notes, store contacts, manage calendars, send faxes, and more. In some ways, it was a precursor to other handheld Apple products like the iPhone and iPad, with its second-generation model even being the first major device from the company designed by Sir Jony Ive.
Apple started developing the Newton in 1987 and shipped the first devices in August 1993, spending $100 million on its development. Production officially came to an end on February 27, 1998. Steve Jobs decided to discontinue the Newton less than a year after he returned to the company in 1997. The original press release announcing the device's discontinuation reads:The Newton had problems translating handwritten notes into text upon launch, leading to a wave of negative reviews and ridicule by the media. While the release of Newton OS 2.0 in March 1996 substantially improved the handwriting recognition feature, the Newton continued to be overshadowed by its initial poor reception, leading to the inevitable discontinuation of the device. Only an estimated 200,000 were ever sold.
Article Link: Apple Discontinued the Newton 25 Years Ago Today
If by "rapid" you mean about 10 years. The Palm family dominated the PDA market until the iPhone came out and even then it took a couple of years for the iPhone's own productivity to develop enough to overtake Palm. The Newton was never a serious competitor to the Palm.
that's what we all tell ourselves when we want to buy some fancy gadget.
Then you realize you still need to keep yourself organized to get organized lol.
Speaking of Newton, the rubber on my Newton 2000 is starting to fall apart...... gross.
I think around that time I had a bunch of final's papers due and I thought it would help me organize my time better. I also thought it was cool. I just remember it being awkward to use and I had wished I spent the money on more surfboards instead. 🏄♂️
🌊
Exactly I could have stayed organized with pencil and paper if I really wanted to. I think I knew deep down I would use it as more of a distraction than anything else.
Basically a predecessor to how I would use my iPhone for years. 😂
Did own an eMate as a collectors item, very quirky and fun device.
Remember when I mailed in my MP2000 to be upgraded to MP2100. Still in the basement somewhere, IIRC the clock on the MP2100 is not working post-2016.
Palm introduced special characters, which made handwriting recognition easy. That was the reason, why the Palm pilot was a success. I loved mine.
Microsoft was years ahead of Apple concerning handwriting recognition. I tried their Surface, when it came out and was surprised that it understood my handwriting (I myself have a hard time doing so). Even the latest Apple software is not able to achieve this level of accuracy.
MessagePad 2000 and 2100 had a recognition trainer feature. I often used on the subway to the university in those days when Internet access was not available on cell phones. Recognition of Swedish characters åäö was working back in the days, something we still haven't got back in iPadOS.
I bought my first Palm Pilot in '98. It wasn't until '09 I bought my first iPhone. Eleven years (from original Palm to iPhone release) is not "rapid" in the tech world.
Exactly right! 👍
🤨 US Robotics Palm Pilot 1997, Microsoft Surface 2012. Of course they were years ahead, they showed up years later. Fifteen to be exact. 😄
Yeah - there were a couple of date and time related bugs in NewtonOS - I think the major one occurred after 2010 was reached. Anyone who's powered up a Newton since then will have seen it - especially if you've tried to set it up and use it for any length of time. There were patches made available at some point, but not sure if you can still get them now...
Ha! I would take that in a heartbeat! Don't think my Catholic guilt could let me do it for free, though -- you could get a pretty penny on eBay, I bet.I have two. If anyone wants one for free.
The Apple II was pretty much phased out when the Newton was released.
Compared to a Day-Timer, leather bound address book and calendar, even the Newton was compact. If you were the type that was never without one, a PDA was a godsend.
I was not such a person. I was, however, a gadget person and every PDA that I owned during this era had expansion slots.
The Handspring Visor was my first. It took the PalmOS and through springboards could be a phone, a GPS device, connect to online services, play MP3s, tune in radio, carry a library worth of information, connect to Bluetooth devices, be a credit card processing point-of-sale device, it could even be a digital camera. The potential was essentially limitless and when combined with a collapsible keyboard you could even do fairly complex word processing, spreadsheets, databases etc... As for games, Not only were there some fairly advanced, for the time, games available, it was more than powerful enough to fully emulate the, then current, GameBoy. Putting it on par with the most popular handheld gaming system of the time.
When I went to Windows CE/ PocketPC / Windows Mobile I went with the Dell Axim which had SD and Compact Flash slots which allowed for all the above plus massive (for the time) storage potential. Some models even had WiFi integrated.
One of my coworkers had seen my PDAs and came to me for advice and we set her up with an iPaq with a phone module that made it the first device I would classify as a fully functional Smart Phone I even experienced that delivered most of the capabilities of a modern smartphone. WiFi, Bluetooth, Camera, Web Browsing, Internet Connection Sharing/Tethering, MS Office, MP3s, etc... Unlike the Handspring which could do one or two of these things at a time, the iPaq could do them all simultaneously, which is why I consider it a smart phone when the Handspring never qualified in my opinion.
So yes, a lot of PDAs back then were little more than an electronic version of a paper organizer, but if you had the know-how, deep enough pockets and picked the right device you got to live in the Smart Phone future years before virtually anyone else thanks to PDAs.
The most bizarre thing about this. Is the iPhone was released only 9 years later.