[NTLK] Another Apple Newton Research Survey

[Bob Carls Dudney]

Wow! That’s the best, most profound, thorough explanation what happened I’ve ever seen.

Thanks mucho!

Great to know my disgust with Jobs was/is well justified.

BCD

Mike <mdsf001 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you for the link to the survey.
> 
> Here's some of what I had to say in my responses.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Firstly, several of the features have found themselves into the iPad not just iPod.
> 
> I still own (and occasionally operate) several Newton MessagePads. I found the device to be far ahead of its time and went on to become an Apple Solution Professional (that was a external consultant program Apple had set up) as a Newton consultant and in order to evangelize about the Newton.
> 
> At the time, Apple was in a very difficult financial situation and when Steve Jobs returned to the company he had to make several difficult decisions (some based on sound business reasons and some based on personal reasons). The reason to cancel the Newton was one based on the latter. He never liked the Newton (it being a pet project of John Sculley, who ousted Jobs several years earlier).
> 
> There was no good reason to cancel the Newton since Gil Amelio, Apple's CEO before the returning Steve Jobs, had already started the process to spin off the Newton in to a separate, independent company. Starting capital had been lined up and a team was being put in place. It looked like a 'fait accompli'. Then Jobs stopped everything, reversed what had been done and cancelled the Newton.
> 
> It was expensive but the things it was able to do still aren't done by my latest iPad (for example speaking alarms where my Newton not only alerted me with a sound that I had a meeting but it spoke the details of the reminder (name, date, time, place, etc...).
> 
> Also, the handwriting recognition of the last model of the MessagePad was practically flawless (98% recognition rate).
> 
> Unfortunately, the Newton was the right device at the wrong time in Apple's history.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Spinning or not, I have to set the record straight for our beloved Newt.
> 
> Mike
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> http://newtontalk.net/
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