[NTLK] Visiting the Apple Store with my Newts

[Doug Ramsay]

Ironically, I just finished listening to the November 30th CNN Tech Check Podcast, where they cited the Newton Messagepad as one of Apple's Top Ten Turkeys (starting at 1:52 into the podcast). Though the comments were snide and snarky, I somehow think the panel has no idea how strong the community is for the Newton.
 
I was just in Borders the other day, jotting down some information regarding a social networking strategy for a music project I'm working on, and the interested looks ALWAYS come sooner or later.
 
Long Live The Newton.
 
Doug
 
> Message: 11
> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:26:41 -0700
> From: Forrest <newtonphoenix at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Visiting the Apple Store with my Newts
> To: "newtontalk at newtontalk.net" <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Message-ID: <F2B1AD97-13A5-4DE1-9132-F21C3DF02889 at mindspring.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> On Feb 14, 2011, at 7:03 PM, Stephan Weber <ashkelon at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I've several times visited the Apple store when buying accessories for my
> > kids' ipods, etc. And like many of you I keep track of my notes and my life
> > on the 2100 or the emate, whichever is along for the ride that day. I get
> > the same reaction from the employees, and often from other shoppers. The
> > last time I was in Best Buy, I had a younger guy ask if he could look at it
> > and his hands literally shook when he was holding it.
> > 
> > I guess he had the same response to the Newt that I had to my first GRiD --
> > I just couldn't believe I actually was holding it. If I wasn't down to two
> > emates (both converted to rechargeables and hinge-fixed and two upgrated
> > 2100's, I would have offered him one.
> > 
> > I'm always a bit surprised at the number of people who know exactly what
> > they are and are very excited to see them. I can't think of any other
> > technology I own that elicits the recognition the Newts do.
> > 
> > And for the guys who mock the brick, about a minute of exploring how good
> > the handwriting recognition is with no training, and another couple to find
> > out how intuitive it is, and they don't really want to give it back.
> > 
> > 
> Stephan:
> 
> Couldn't agree more...I particularly like how Apple store employees cannot believe that I still use it daily...and many times a day at that. My last visit, several of them went online to eBay on a nearby MacBook Pro on display and were looking at the current Newton auctions.
> 
> Don't think I didn't savor quietly the delicious irony in their use of Apple's $2400 top of the line laptop computer to look up a Newton on auction....
> 
> --Forrest
> 
> Sent from my AT&T iPhone 4
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 12
> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:06:24 +0100
> From: Riccardo Mori <rick at newted.org>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Visiting the Apple Store with my Newts
> To: newtontalk at newtontalk.net
> Message-ID: <4D63CD18-5065-4EB1-8C94-5FD36AC44B63 at newted.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> quoth Stephan Weber:
> 
> > I've several times visited the Apple store when buying accessories for my
> > kids' ipods, etc. And like many of you I keep track of my notes and my life
> > on the 2100 or the emate, whichever is along for the ride that day. I get
> > the same reaction from the employees, and often from other shoppers. The
> > last time I was in Best Buy, I had a younger guy ask if he could look at it
> > and his hands literally shook when he was holding it.
> 
> Yeah, same here. When I still lived in Italy, in 2004, a clerk in an electronics store in Milan even asked me if it was a "new Apple gadget" and he was just astonished when I informed him that, actually, it'd been discontinued for 6 years then. "I thought this thing [referring to the HWR] was a thing of the future, not of the past", he remarked.
> 
> Since I relocated here in Spain, I get even weirder looks when I use my MP2100 (or my OMP now) in stores; I gather these devices are even less known here, for a shopper in an Apple reseller store pointed at my MP2100 and said "Apple never stops making great stuff, eh?" and when I replied "Well, Apple has stopped indeed making THIS kind of great stuff" the guy could not believe it.
> 
> Another funny anectode: in another computer store, a customer thought I was part of the staff because he saw me writing down the prices of some items on my MP2100 and started asking me things. When I pointed out that I was actually another customer, he said "Oh, I thought... you know... that Apple issued these [looking at the Newton] to their store staff", meaning he thought that the Newton was too sophisticated a device for the 'regular user'. That made me chuckle.
> 
> > And for the guys who mock the brick, about a minute of exploring how good
> > the handwriting recognition is with no training, and another couple to find
> > out how intuitive it is, and they don't really want to give it back.
> 
> Which is why I don't even try looking for other devices to replace certain functionalities that are uniquely Newton-esque. I mean, I hugely appreciate all the efforts to keep the Newton OS alive, and it's something that must be done, but for me it's also about the hardware. As limited as it may be for today's standards, I don't even look for surrogates. I own an iPhone; I will buy the (hopefully forthcoming) second iPad iteration; but I use those devices for what they're meant to do and I get the best out of them.
> 
> I've tried some other Newton-like devices over the years, but I've soon realised that there isn't any such thing as 'a Newton-like device' :)
> 
> Cheers,
> Rick
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...................................
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