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May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division
Posted by: pRICE cUBE
Date: May 26, 2020 07:13PM
[www.cultofmac.com]

May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division. The new company’s first job? Selling the MessagePad 2000 PDA.

Newton Inc. also has a mandate to develop new technologies and market existing ones. “We have a solid business plan and a strong management team in place to optimize the value of Newton technology for corporate users and take Newton technology into a new era,” says Sandy Benett, former vice president Apple’s Newton Systems Group and chief operating officer of the new venture.

Instead, it turns out to be the beginning of the end.

On paper, the Newton had turned a corner by 1997. The earliest devices, shipped in 1993, packed promise but failed to fully deliver. The much-anticipated handwriting-recognition system proved particularly troublesome, effectively turning the Newton into a punchline on shows like The Simpsons.

By 1995, those problems were largely solved. Around the time of the Newton MessagePad 120, Apple debuted its vastly superior NewtonOS 2.0, which fixed many of the problems with handwriting recognition that plagued earlier models.

March 1997’s MessagePad 2000 was the best Newton yet. It became a critical and commercial success, thanks to major upgrades including a faster processor and a larger, higher-resolution display. (It measured 480×320 pixels, compared to the previous model’s 320×240.)




Ways to improve web conference image and sound quality. [forums.macresource.com]


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Re: May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division
Posted by: NewtonMP2100
Date: May 26, 2020 07:16PM
.....made me dizzy.....



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I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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Re: May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division
Posted by: testcase
Date: May 26, 2020 08:25PM
The Palm Pilot absolutely SPANKED the Newton (I had both). The Palm "just worked". I can't say the same for the Newton. I suspect that the engineers working on Newton were ultimately put to work on Apple Maps. sad smiley
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Re: May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division
Posted by: RgrF
Date: May 27, 2020 12:35AM
The Newton was far to busy churning out puns.
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Re: May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division
Posted by: cbelt3
Date: May 27, 2020 06:53AM
Quote
testcase
The Palm Pilot absolutely SPANKED the Newton (I had both). The Palm "just worked". I can't say the same for the Newton. sad smiley
Agreed, as long as you could figure out how to write the Palm language. no problem for me, it was very similar to the way I wrote anyway. I did miss the Newton promise of integrated smarts. We haven't really had anything like that since. Even the iOS devices are a collection of apps that may or may not work together.
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