[NTLK] iPhone is not the new Newton (& announcing a Newtsell-off shortly)

[Steven Scotten]

On Jan 5, 2010, at 9:57 PM, mdsf wrote:

>> This "Jobs killed the Newton because Scully liked it" is an urban legend. 
>> When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he was faced with a company in a very 
>> bad >financial shape, bleeding money in too many projects that were not 
>> focussed on the main Apple product: the Macintosh line of computers. So he 
>> started >cutting off everything that at the time was not centered on the 
>> Mac and everything that wasn't helping Apple make money. It pains me to 
>> even write this, >but the Newton, at the time, was a financial dead 
>> weight.
> 
> Excuse me but the Newton was days away from being spun off into a separate 
> company.  It was going to be independent of Apple (do or die).  Jobs' ego 
> definitely had something to do with the demise of the Newton. 

My recollection is that it already had been a separate company for months. That's why all the 2100s have the Newton Inc logo rather than the Apple.

Nevertheless, even as a separately incorporated entity, it was still wholly owned by Apple. By closing it down, Jobs reabsorbed all of Newton Inc's assets for Apple's use. So it's not like Newton Inc was ever truly independent.


Steve