The Apple Newton was a family of pocket computers built around Newton OS, starting with the MessagePad, which shipped on August 2, 1993 for $699. It had a 20 MHz ARM 610 processor and a 336 x 240 black-and-white screen, and you wrote on it with a stylus and let the software read your handwriting. The recognizer was good enough to sell over 50,000 units by late November 1993 and bad enough to become a running gag: a Doonesbury strip had it read “Catching on?” as “Egg Freckles.” Apple kept the platform going through the MessagePad 100, 120, 130, 2000 and 2100 and the clamshell eMate 300, and spun it off as Newton, Inc. in the final stretch. The Palm Pilot, smaller and cheaper and built around a simpler stroke alphabet, took the market the Newton had opened.
On February 27, 1998, with Steve Jobs back at Apple, the company announced that it was discontinuing Newton OS development and the MessagePad 2100 and eMate 300, selling the remaining stock, supporting current users, and putting all software effort into the Macintosh operating system. Nothing carries the platform forward. The iPhone and iPad are spiritual successors in form only and share no code or product line with Newton. What survives is Einstein, an open-source emulator that runs Newton OS on modern machines, if you can supply a ROM from a real device.
Apple named the category the Newton opened, and the same company ended it, then built the product that made the idea stick a decade later.
Worth remembering
- It took handwriting as input. The recognizer's misreads became a national joke, including a Doonesbury strip in which 'Catching on?' came out as 'Egg Freckles'; the phrase was later hidden in the device as an Easter egg.
- The MessagePad launched at $699, and over 50,000 units were sold by late November 1993.
- Apple spun the project off as a wholly owned subsidiary, Newton, Inc., before the line was cancelled.
The people
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John Sculley — Apple CEO and driving force behind the project
Pushed the Newton as Apple's next product category and coined the phrase 'personal digital assistant'.
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Steve Jobs — Apple CEO who ended the line, 1955–2011
Returned to Apple in 1997 and discontinued Newton OS development on February 27, 1998 to concentrate on the Macintosh operating system.
Gallery
Sources
- The Newton MessagePad shipped August 2, 1993 (announced May 29, 1992); Newton OS and the line were discontinued February 27, 1998; the project was spun off as Newton, Inc. before cancellation; Einstein is an emulator Wikipedia
- The original MessagePad launched at $699 with an ARM 610 processor at 20 MHz and a 336 x 240 black-and-white display; over 50,000 units were sold by late November 1993 Wikipedia
- On February 27, 1998 Apple discontinued Newton OS development, the MessagePad 2100 and the eMate 300, would sell remaining inventory and support current users, and Steve Jobs said the company would focus all software development on extending the Macintosh operating system TidBITS
- Einstein is a GPL-2.0 NewtonOS emulator for macOS, iOS and Ubuntu that requires an original Newton ROM; it does not claim to continue the platform GitHub (pguyot/Einstein)
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