Newton was years ahead of it's time.
Upon introduction, everyone knew instantly what it should have been - and it made a laudable attempt to fulfill that expectation. Everyone looked at it and expected the iPad with breathless enthusiasm (hey, I bought two Newtons). Alas, the coarse B&W LCD was an inadequate display, the computing power while awesome for the time wasn't enough for the obvious usage demands, it lacked wireless connectivity to a then-inadequate Internet, the user input suffered too great a delay and error rate, and the total mass was just too big/heavy. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts - and the parts insufficiently served that whole. Like a child aching to run races but unable to coordinate his feet, the concept was captured but a decade of growth was required.
Egg freckles!