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

[Jon Glass]

On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, Michael J. Hußmann
<michael at michael-hussmann.de> wrote:
> Steven Scotten (splicer at paroxysm.com) wrote:
>
Apple could have had Newton, Inc. run its course to sink or swim. That
Jobs wanted to see the Newton dead, for more than entirely rational
reasons, is still the only explanation I see for why they didn't.

We need to be careful when we make our own perspective the basis for
rather broadly drawn conclusions.

The Newton technologies included much intellictual property that a
company can not just let slip away. Allowing the Newton group to sink
or swim (with sinking being the most likely scenario--we tend to
forget about the Palm Pilot's popularity. ) would have risked valuable
property that Apple just could not afford to let go. We also tend to
forget that the Newton group had already bled a lot personnel-wise. It
was a hollow shell with about the only thing remaining of value being
the IP. And the brain drain began before the blatant threats of
disbandonment. Lastly, a little-known fact is that the OS itself was
living on borrowed time. It had already been stretched way beyond what
it original developers had envisioned, and was built upon hack upon
hack. It required a near-complete re-write to move forward. NIE ought
to be sufficient evidence for us on this front. Looked at on a purely
business-related perspective, the Newton could hardly help being at
the front of the line for the ax man.


-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass at usa.net>

"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus