[NTLK] How many Newtons were sold?

[David Neale]

This reminds me of Apple's attitude when I wanted to introduce Macs to  
one of the institutions of the European Union, at about the end of the  
1980s. They refused to offer any assistance, not even a couple of  
demonstration models, telling me to go instead to dealers. Other  
companies, such as HP and Olivetti were only too pleased to provide  
all the assistance and demonstration models required. In the end (and  
in spite of my conviction that the Macs were the best solution for  
what we needed to do), the contract went to Olivetti and they supplied  
over 400 PCs. As we were the first institution to set up a local area  
network based on personal computers on such a large scale, we were  
used as an example for other institutions of the EU. Heaven only knows  
how many units Apple lost because of this attitude.

A few years later I proposed another project, this time based on  
Newtons, which would have involved the immediate purchase of some 200  
units, with further purchases as the expansion of the EU led to  
increased membership of our consulting body. Again, Apple would offer  
no assistance and dealers in Belgium were simply not up to providing  
the necessary numbers, let alone the required technical information.

David
On 28 Apr 2010, at 14:10, Goodwin, Greg P. wrote:

> From: Ed Kummel
>
> It would have never happened....getting Newtons in the quantities  
> listed was just impossible. I have several stories I've documented  
> on this site where I attempted to get thousands of Newtons from  
> Apple to supply to various large organizations and government  
> agencies. Attempts to get them out of Apple directly just resulted  
> in my being told that I would have to go through the Newton stores  
> to get the Newtons I needed. Most Newton stores received a dozen or  
> so Newtons per shipment and my calls to several stores I was told I  
> could only purchase 2 Newtons at a time....go figure...I could have  
> made *SOOO* much money but Apple refused to sell them...
> ====================================================================