Apple Newton | 1993
Newton was a personal digital assistant (PDA) series developed and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1993 to 1998, and is classified as an early device in the PDA category. The term "PDA" originated from the Newton and featured handwriting recognition for the first time. Newton devices ran on the proprietary Newton OS, and unlike Apple’s Macintosh computers, Apple licensed this software to third parties, allowing other companies to release their own Newton devices alongside Apple's MessagePad line.
Apple began developing this platform in 1987, with Steve Sakoman envisioning it as a tablet-shaped device with handwriting features. He collaborated with AT&T Corporation to develop a low-power processor called Hobbit, but due to slow progress and other issues, Sakoman left Apple in 1990 to found Be Computer, Inc. The Newton project was revitalized by Michael Tchao and Steve Capps, who presented their ideas directly to CEO John Sculley. Apple invested in the project and worked with Acorn Computers to develop an ARM6-based RISC processor for Newton devices. Newton was first unveiled on May 29, 1992, and shipments began on August 2, 1993.
The Newton faced several issues before its launch, including bugs and software instability, which delayed the shipping date. After its release, the handwriting recognition feature faced significant problems, leading to negative reactions and mockery. Newton's sales did not meet Apple's expectations, and despite many improvements in the hardware and Newton OS 2.0, the platform was discontinued in 1998 by Steve Jobs’ direction. Despite its commercial failure, the Newton was considered technically innovative for its time and had a lasting impact on Apple's later popular products, such as the iPhone and iPad.
Newton devices came pre-installed with a variety of software to help users organize and manage personal data. These included applications like Notes, Names, Dates, and various productivity tools such as a calculator, currency converter, and time zone map. In Newton OS 2.x, these applications were improved, and new applications like Works word processor and Newton Internet Enabler were added. Third-party applications, such as QuickFigure Works spreadsheet, Pocket Quicken, NetHopper web browser, and Netstrategy EnRoute email client, were also included. Several Newton applications supported importing/exporting between popular desktop office software and personal information manager (PIM) file formats using Apple's Newton Connection Utilities and Newton Connection Kit.
The Notes application allowed users to create small documents that could include typed text, handwriting-recognized text, freeform sketches, shapes, and 'Ink text.' In Newton OS 2.0, Notes and Names could be extended with third-party plugin modules called 'Stationery.' One of the new types of Notes Stationery added in Newton OS 2.0 was a hierarchical, bullet-point style, foldable 'Checklist,' which was useful for organizing tasks or managing to-do lists. Each bullet point could hold as much text as needed, and users could drag bullet points under one another to create hierarchical outlines. If a bullet point had sub-items, tapping the parent item would collapse all child items, and tapping it again would reveal them. Similar software was created by third-party developers in Newton OS 1.x, with one of the most famous being Dyno Notepad, released in 1993.
The Names application was used for storing contact information. Contacts created on a Newton device could be synchronized with Windows or Macintosh desktop PIMs. If a contact had a birthday or anniversary, Dates would automatically generate the corresponding recurring event. Each contact could include a free-form memo field, where users could input a mix of text, handwriting, shapes, or sketches. Like Notes, Names was extensible, allowing developers to define new categories of contacts and add specialized predefined fields, such as "Customer" or "Patient." Stand Alone Software, Inc. developed the Newton software package called Stationery Construction Kit, which allowed users to create their own Stationery without special tools.
The Dates application provided calendar, event, meeting, and alarm functions, along with an integrated task list. It offered various views and navigation styles, including list views, graphical timeline views, and grid views by day, week, month, or year. Like Notes and Names, Dates items could be synchronized between a Newton device and Windows or Macintosh desktop PIMs.
The Newton project was a PDA platform that didn’t exist as a category when it was developed, and the term 'personal digital assistant' was created by Apple’s CEO John Sculley during the project. Larry Tesler believed that a high-performance low-power processor was necessary for advanced graphical manipulation and sought out Hermann Hauser, co-founder of Acorn Computers, to form Advanced RISC Machines (now known as Arm Ltd.), based on the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM architecture).
Later, Jonathan Ive designed a smaller device. PDAs had been developed since the 1984 Psion Organizer, but Newton is remembered as the device that popularized the term "personal digital assistant." According to Apple’s former CEO John Sculley, around $100 million was invested in the development of Newton.
Despite being hailed as an innovative product upon its release, Newton did not achieve widespread popularity due to its high price and problems with the much-anticipated handwriting recognition feature. The handwriting software wasn’t ready until 1993 and was prone to errors, leading to significant media criticism. In "The Simpsons" episode "Lisa on Ice," Newton’s handwriting recognition problems were parodied, with the phrase "Beat up Martin" being misinterpreted as "Eat up Martha." Garry Trudeau also criticized Newton in his comic strip "Doonesbury," humorously highlighting the device’s recognition issues, with the phrase "Catching on?" being misread as "Egg Freckles." This phrase became widely recognized as a symbol of Newton’s problems and later appeared as an Easter egg in the MessagePad. Apple even commemorated this by gifting Trudeau a MessagePad.
Although software improvements in Newton OS 2.0 were significant, the product’s sales performance remained poor.
Newton found some popularity in certain industries, especially in healthcare, but its market share sharply declined after the release of the Palm Pilot. Apple sought new directions for the Newton but, in 1997, when Steve Jobs returned to the company, the product line was terminated. Jobs criticized the Newton for its performance shortcomings, management issues within the development team, and how the handwriting recognition feature interfered with finger usage. Furthermore, Apple was already experiencing significant financial losses, making the discontinuation of the Newton inevitable. Jobs believed the Newton’s technology and concepts had potential, but its execution was flawed, and Apple eventually developed multitouch devices influenced by Newton's ideas. The iPhone and iPad were prime examples.
Before the Newton project ended, Apple established a subsidiary, Newton, Inc., to manage the Newton. There were speculations for years that Apple would release a new PDA using Newton technology. As part of this, Apple included the "Print Recognizer" feature from Newton 2.1’s handwriting recognition system in Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. This feature allowed handwritten text to be entered anywhere on the screen with a graphic tablet. This technology, known as 'Inkwell,' was accessible in the system preferences when a tablet input device was connected. Larry Yaeger, who developed the original Rosetta recognizer for Newton, was tasked with porting it to Mac OS X. Later, Apple filed patents for a tablet-based Macintosh, and in 2004, at the 'All Things Digital' conference, Steve Jobs stated that a new PDA developed by Apple was never released.
In September 2009, Michael Tchao, who initially proposed the Newton concept, returned to Apple and is currently the Vice President of iPad Product Marketing.
After its discontinuation, Newton emulators were developed, allowing users to run Newton on various platforms. Since 2004, the Einstein project has been working on emulating Newton on different platforms, and it is now available on devices like Sharp Zaurus, Mac OS X, Nokia Maemo, Microsoft Windows, and Pepper Pad 3. By 2010, Einstein was running on iPhone and iPad, and in 2011, it was also made available on Android devices.
Newton's handwriting recognition issues were also mocked in popular culture. In the 1994 "The Simpsons" episode "Lisa on Ice," the issue was ridiculed. In the 1995 anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion," handheld devices modeled after the Newton appeared, performing various internal functions for NERV. In the 1995 movie "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," the protagonist uses a Newton to connect to a phone network and send a fax. In the 1998 interactive video game "The X-Files Game," the protagonist writes notes and reads emails using a Newton.
On March 21, 2016, Apple’s commemorative video '40 Years in 40 Seconds' featured Newton, but the name was struck through on-screen, symbolizing the discontinuation of the product line in the same way text is erased on the device. The TV series 'For All Mankind' also featured an alternate history version of the Newton MessagePad with a backlit (possibly color) display in Season 3, Episode 1.
