The Newton: A Look Back at Apple's First PDA

When the Newton was first released in 1993, it was a revolutionary device that combined the functionality of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with the portability of a handheld computer. The Newton came with a range of innovative features, including a stylus for handwriting input, a calendar, and a address book. The device also had a calculator, clock, and a simple interface for accessing other apps.

However, despite its promising start, the Newton ultimately failed to live up to expectations. One of the main reasons for this was the lack of clear guidance on how to use the device. The getting started guide was not particularly helpful, and users were left to figure things out on their own. For example, there was no indication on how to delete something - instead, users had to scribble it out with a pen. This lack of clear instructions made it difficult for users to get the most out of the Newton.

The Newton also suffered from technical issues, such as handwriting bugs and limited battery life. The device's screen was prone to scratches and wear, making it difficult to read. Additionally, the Newton's storage capacity was limited, which made it slow to perform complex tasks. These problems ultimately led to a lack of confidence in the device among users.

The Newton also had some limitations that made it hard to compete with other devices on the market. For example, there was no Internet app, and the device could not send or receive faxes. The Newton's price point was also too high, making it inaccessible to many consumers. Despite these limitations, the Newton remains an important milestone in the development of personal digital assistants.

Apple eventually realized that the Newton was not meeting its sales expectations and decided to discontinue the product in 1998. This move was a significant blow to Jobs, who had invested heavily in the project. However, it also marked a turning point for Apple, as the company began to focus on more successful products, such as the iMac.

The Newton may have failed as a consumer device, but its influence can still be seen today. For example, the stylus used on the Newton was an early precursor to modern touchscreen technology. Additionally, the Newton's concept of handwriting recognition laid the groundwork for later devices, such as the iPhone and iPad.

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the Newton, with some enthusiasts looking back fondly on its unique features and user interface. However, it remains to be seen whether Apple will be able to replicate this success with its rumored mixed reality headset, which is reportedly still in development.

The History of PDAs

PDA stands for personal digital assistant, a category of devices that combines the functionality of a computer with the portability of a handheld device. The first PDAs were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, but it wasn't until the 1990s that they became widely available to consumers.

One of the pioneers of the PDA was the Apple Newton, which was released in 1993. The Newton was designed to be a personal digital assistant, with features such as handwriting recognition, a calendar, and an address book. However, despite its innovative design, the Newton ultimately failed to gain widespread acceptance among consumers.

The Newton's failure was largely due to its limited user interface and technical issues, such as handwriting bugs and limited battery life. However, it also highlighted some of the challenges that PDAs faced in the 1990s, including their cost and complexity.

In the years following the Newton's release, other companies developed their own versions of PDAs, such as the PalmPilot. These devices were more successful than the Newton and went on to become popular among consumers.

However, with the rise of smartphones in the 2000s, PDAs began to lose popularity. Today, many of the features that were once unique to PDAs are now available on smartphones, which have become ubiquitous in modern life.

The Impact of the Newton on Modern Computing

Despite its failure as a consumer device, the Newton had a significant impact on the development of modern computing. One of its most influential innovations was the concept of handwriting recognition, which laid the groundwork for later technologies such as gesture-based interfaces and virtual keyboards.

The Newton's stylus also played a role in the development of touchscreen technology, which has become ubiquitous in modern devices. The stylus used on the Newton was an early precursor to modern touchscreens, and its design influenced the creation of later touch-sensitive interfaces.

In addition, the Newton's focus on personal productivity and organization helped to establish the concept of digital assistants as a key component of modern computing. Today, digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa are ubiquitous in modern devices, and their development was influenced by the early work on PDAs like the Newton.

The Newton's impact can also be seen in the development of later Apple products, such as the iPhone and iPad. These devices built upon many of the technologies developed for the Newton, including handwriting recognition and gesture-based interfaces.

Conclusion

The Newton may have failed as a consumer device, but its influence on modern computing is undeniable. From its innovative features to its technical issues, the Newton played an important role in shaping the development of personal digital assistants and touch-sensitive interfaces. Today, many of its concepts continue to shape modern devices, from smartphones to tablets to smartwatches.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall this time it's just four Double A's Double A's here 25 years ago this week Apple put an end to the Newton this is the first Gadget to be referred to as a personal digital assistant it was an early portable work device portable being an interesting word it's kind of big it's an ancestor to the iPhone some say it was ahead of its time some just call it a failure this week Mac Rumors wrote about how it has been 25 years since Apple canceled the Newton and when I found out we had one in the CNet office I had to have a little fun looking back on its role in computer history and I wanted to do a video on it seeing what I could learn from this Relic in the office and see if you can still do anything when the Newton launched in 1993 this was a whole new product category for Apple it was a totally Innovative achievement a handheld computer and yet it flopped it's an interesting time to look back on the Newton because Apple this year is expected to once again launch into a whole new product category with a mixed reality headset as we go down memory lane the there's one more thing we should be thinking about has Apple learned its lessons from what went wrong with launching something brand new or will history repeat itself I'm Bridget Carey and this is one more thing the Newton is about the size of an iPad Mini it was designed as something you can carry in your pocket to get work done it's got to be a very big pocket though it's a handheld computer with a stylus it's just hanging out over here pops right out it was designed for notes and contacts and calendars and messaging and you could even send a fax yo you got a fax machine the Newton had a killer feature handwriting recognition scribble a word and see converted into text but that killer feature may have been what actually killed it because the Newton was lampooned for being bad at translating handwriting the dunesbury comic strip made fun of it and it was even a joke on The Simpsons paid off take a memo in your Newton beat up Martin the handwriting feature was said to be improved in later versions but it seems the Newton could not shake the reputation of having rough edges and was it even worth the price it went on sale for 900 in 1993 can you imagine dropping that kind of cash to do digital notes and messaging if you adjust to inflation that's more than one thousand eight hundred dollars today for some perspective the Newton came out during a different era remember that Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985. there was a power struggle with the board of directors and clashes with the CEO John Scully the Newton began development two years after jobs was gone and the first units shipped in 1993. now there was not a term for what kind of product this was Apple coined the term personal digital assistant or PDA it's a term that we throw around now to describe things like the Palm Pilot the message pad went through a few iterations over the years in fact improving the look of the message pad was Johnny Ives first design project Newton was also the name of the operating system you could find the Newton OS on a few different models of Hardware some were not made by Apple and apple had a Newton educational spin-off product called the emate this model I have here is the message pad 2100 and we even have the original box it came in it's a review unit dated November 1997. now 1997 meaning this was the last version of the message pad therefore the best version of the message pad and I'd like to see how far I can go with it let's see if we can make it work and turn on it is battery powered but I just think it's so old it needs to be plugged in let's see what happens oh wow it's horizontal okay all right I have never used something like this before PDS just weren't a thing for me Stylus is pretty good I like the feel of it there is a program on here called handwriting instructor the screen is a little harder to read than I expected feeling kind of old all right let's see a tutorial uh how to write on your Newton advice tap anywhere on the screen share let's try this handwriting was a big deal um back when this came out now we just use voice dictation it's Siri okay so practice let's see ah strike one hello world okay so if you don't have um the patience to fix it there's also an ink version okay oh okay I just kind of made it nice same as my hierarchy how do you delete something you just scribble it out to delete it there's a little bit of a learning curve here let's see what other apps we can find here we got a calculator clock it's Monaco tapping this does nothing actually says why does that mean oh this was another world oh net Hopper it has a cute frog are we going on the internet net Hopper 3.2 oh I better call the support phone number which is really big and bold the easiest thing to see battery is down here this little this little guy pops out and let me turn this off first so oh all this time it's just four Double A's are you serious who's got some Double A's here all right we found some new batteries here we go four double A crazy so what's funny is I have gone through the getting started guide and nowhere in here does it say about any other app or how to use an app like Maps I saw nothing um so there's a learning curve here turn the back Lighting on and off when it's on slide down and hold the power switch for two seconds it oh I just learned how to turn it on I could see better oh it's like a little bit of a green Hue of backlighting if you want to send a message to someone else who also has a Newton there's a little way to beam it to someone else you know now we just use FaceTime texting this is the early stuff this is history just coming with it just like showing like what it has it's not that this is mostly math calculating help No Easy App Store here all right back to business so the year that this final model came out it was an interesting year for the company jobs was back at Apple right at the start of 1997 and it didn't take long for him to get rid of this thing upon his return in May Apple spun off Newton into its own wholly owned subsidiary company toward the end of 97 things were not looking good for Newtons CNET came out with a story in December about how the development team was in turmoil and just two months later February of 98 Apple announces it is scrapping the Newton and discontinues development instead that year the company puts his focus on the colorful iMac it's been documented that jobs was not a fan of Newton it was a project of the CEO he did it like it had a stylus which he was against and maybe it was just something that had a lot of baggage with high prices limited features and a bad reputation with handwriting bugs perhaps too ambitious for its time making it an easy thing to cut we may have to be thinking the Newton for what we like today about the iPhone it took a lot of innovation and experimentation to get Computing down to this size but I do worry that Apple may be facing some similar challenges with the rumored mixed reality headset that we could be seeing later this year nothing is official but Apple's headset is reported to cost three grand that's double the cost of what meta sells its Quest Pro headset for and if there's any hiccups like the Newton had with handwriting will this headset get lamponed and dismissed for not being useful for the high cost VR and AR have a struggle right now with consumer demand essentially people are asking what is the point if not for gaming the latest reports suggest that Apple May unveil its headset at the WWDC developers conference which would imply that this product is a work in progress that needs good developers to create good programs for it but will it have a killer feature to Stand Out Among the crowd of other VR headsets sets I don't really see people being wowed by pixel display quality even if it is Top Notch a killer feature would have to be apple showing that it could do something no one else can do maybe Apple will once again try to stand out and how a device is controlled in a new way much like how the Newton you know had its little stylus with handwriting that was a novel thing back then but will people give Apple time to perfect the headset with a version 2 or will it be dismissed as something too expensive and not useful enough just at the start thanks for coming on this little history Journey with me I never used pdas and clearly we have come a long way in 25 years if you did use the Newton or other pdas please do jump into the comments I want to hear about your memories with it and if you are looking ahead to fresh new stuff from Apple do you think we're ever going to see apple take such a big innovation leap like this again thanks for watchingall this time it's just four Double A's Double A's here 25 years ago this week Apple put an end to the Newton this is the first Gadget to be referred to as a personal digital assistant it was an early portable work device portable being an interesting word it's kind of big it's an ancestor to the iPhone some say it was ahead of its time some just call it a failure this week Mac Rumors wrote about how it has been 25 years since Apple canceled the Newton and when I found out we had one in the CNet office I had to have a little fun looking back on its role in computer history and I wanted to do a video on it seeing what I could learn from this Relic in the office and see if you can still do anything when the Newton launched in 1993 this was a whole new product category for Apple it was a totally Innovative achievement a handheld computer and yet it flopped it's an interesting time to look back on the Newton because Apple this year is expected to once again launch into a whole new product category with a mixed reality headset as we go down memory lane the there's one more thing we should be thinking about has Apple learned its lessons from what went wrong with launching something brand new or will history repeat itself I'm Bridget Carey and this is one more thing the Newton is about the size of an iPad Mini it was designed as something you can carry in your pocket to get work done it's got to be a very big pocket though it's a handheld computer with a stylus it's just hanging out over here pops right out it was designed for notes and contacts and calendars and messaging and you could even send a fax yo you got a fax machine the Newton had a killer feature handwriting recognition scribble a word and see converted into text but that killer feature may have been what actually killed it because the Newton was lampooned for being bad at translating handwriting the dunesbury comic strip made fun of it and it was even a joke on The Simpsons paid off take a memo in your Newton beat up Martin the handwriting feature was said to be improved in later versions but it seems the Newton could not shake the reputation of having rough edges and was it even worth the price it went on sale for 900 in 1993 can you imagine dropping that kind of cash to do digital notes and messaging if you adjust to inflation that's more than one thousand eight hundred dollars today for some perspective the Newton came out during a different era remember that Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985. there was a power struggle with the board of directors and clashes with the CEO John Scully the Newton began development two years after jobs was gone and the first units shipped in 1993. now there was not a term for what kind of product this was Apple coined the term personal digital assistant or PDA it's a term that we throw around now to describe things like the Palm Pilot the message pad went through a few iterations over the years in fact improving the look of the message pad was Johnny Ives first design project Newton was also the name of the operating system you could find the Newton OS on a few different models of Hardware some were not made by Apple and apple had a Newton educational spin-off product called the emate this model I have here is the message pad 2100 and we even have the original box it came in it's a review unit dated November 1997. now 1997 meaning this was the last version of the message pad therefore the best version of the message pad and I'd like to see how far I can go with it let's see if we can make it work and turn on it is battery powered but I just think it's so old it needs to be plugged in let's see what happens oh wow it's horizontal okay all right I have never used something like this before PDS just weren't a thing for me Stylus is pretty good I like the feel of it there is a program on here called handwriting instructor the screen is a little harder to read than I expected feeling kind of old all right let's see a tutorial uh how to write on your Newton advice tap anywhere on the screen share let's try this handwriting was a big deal um back when this came out now we just use voice dictation it's Siri okay so practice let's see ah strike one hello world okay so if you don't have um the patience to fix it there's also an ink version okay oh okay I just kind of made it nice same as my hierarchy how do you delete something you just scribble it out to delete it there's a little bit of a learning curve here let's see what other apps we can find here we got a calculator clock it's Monaco tapping this does nothing actually says why does that mean oh this was another world oh net Hopper it has a cute frog are we going on the internet net Hopper 3.2 oh I better call the support phone number which is really big and bold the easiest thing to see battery is down here this little this little guy pops out and let me turn this off first so oh all this time it's just four Double A's are you serious who's got some Double A's here all right we found some new batteries here we go four double A crazy so what's funny is I have gone through the getting started guide and nowhere in here does it say about any other app or how to use an app like Maps I saw nothing um so there's a learning curve here turn the back Lighting on and off when it's on slide down and hold the power switch for two seconds it oh I just learned how to turn it on I could see better oh it's like a little bit of a green Hue of backlighting if you want to send a message to someone else who also has a Newton there's a little way to beam it to someone else you know now we just use FaceTime texting this is the early stuff this is history just coming with it just like showing like what it has it's not that this is mostly math calculating help No Easy App Store here all right back to business so the year that this final model came out it was an interesting year for the company jobs was back at Apple right at the start of 1997 and it didn't take long for him to get rid of this thing upon his return in May Apple spun off Newton into its own wholly owned subsidiary company toward the end of 97 things were not looking good for Newtons CNET came out with a story in December about how the development team was in turmoil and just two months later February of 98 Apple announces it is scrapping the Newton and discontinues development instead that year the company puts his focus on the colorful iMac it's been documented that jobs was not a fan of Newton it was a project of the CEO he did it like it had a stylus which he was against and maybe it was just something that had a lot of baggage with high prices limited features and a bad reputation with handwriting bugs perhaps too ambitious for its time making it an easy thing to cut we may have to be thinking the Newton for what we like today about the iPhone it took a lot of innovation and experimentation to get Computing down to this size but I do worry that Apple may be facing some similar challenges with the rumored mixed reality headset that we could be seeing later this year nothing is official but Apple's headset is reported to cost three grand that's double the cost of what meta sells its Quest Pro headset for and if there's any hiccups like the Newton had with handwriting will this headset get lamponed and dismissed for not being useful for the high cost VR and AR have a struggle right now with consumer demand essentially people are asking what is the point if not for gaming the latest reports suggest that Apple May unveil its headset at the WWDC developers conference which would imply that this product is a work in progress that needs good developers to create good programs for it but will it have a killer feature to Stand Out Among the crowd of other VR headsets sets I don't really see people being wowed by pixel display quality even if it is Top Notch a killer feature would have to be apple showing that it could do something no one else can do maybe Apple will once again try to stand out and how a device is controlled in a new way much like how the Newton you know had its little stylus with handwriting that was a novel thing back then but will people give Apple time to perfect the headset with a version 2 or will it be dismissed as something too expensive and not useful enough just at the start thanks for coming on this little history Journey with me I never used pdas and clearly we have come a long way in 25 years if you did use the Newton or other pdas please do jump into the comments I want to hear about your memories with it and if you are looking ahead to fresh new stuff from Apple do you think we're ever going to see apple take such a big innovation leap like this again thanks for watching\n"