Re: [NTLK] Safari Pad - Apple's Tablet Computer

I also think that these are really two separate issues. An investment in ARM did not make the Newton profitable. ARM is an investment, not a product, it just so happens that Newton's have ARM chips. And if the Hobbitt was a better chip (chips used in first Newton prototypes), Apple would have gladly stuck with it - and likely never owned the rights to the Hobbitt chip, since that one belonged to AT&T.

The only reason Apple sought out another chip was that the Hobbitt was not powerful enough, and sucked too much battery life for the Newton OS. So they stumbled across the British company ARM and... well, you know the story.

The fact is the Newton as a product did not generate enough revenues to offset R&D costs, and operating costs. The same could be said if the iPhone failed: Apple may make lots of money licensing its multi-touch OS, for instance, but if the iPhone failed to penetrate the market, it, as a product, would not have been sustainable.

----- Original Message ----
From: John Broughton <jdbroughton@yahoo.com>
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 11:04:03 PM
Subject: Re: [NTLK] Safari Pad - Apple's Tablet Computer

Apple Computer has sold 2 million shares
in ARM Holdings, a U.K. designer of
microprocessors and related software, for 36 million pounds ($59 million),
cutting its stake to 7.2 million shares. The shares represent 4.11 percent
of ARM. Apple still holds 14.8 percent of ARM, worth 131 million pounds
($215 million) at market close. ARM began operations in November 1990 as a
venture between Apple and the U.K.'s Acorn Computers.
The above from CNET dated Feb 3, 1999, or almost a year after the closure of the Newton project was announced by then CFO Fred Anderson. That means that Apple did not realize any profit from it's investment in ARM until a year after the Newton project/product line was closed. (See www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/1998/02/10596 for conformation.)

The truth of the matter is that the Newton operation was bleeding red ink and due to dire financial problems, Apple could not afford to keep on funding a loosing product line. If the Newton had been a hit and a big profit center, Mr. Jobs would have loved it.

R
J

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Received on Thu Apr 23 03:15:53 2009