Few among us remember Apple's first ultramobile mini-computer, the Newton-powered MessagePad; to geeks, however, it's like a totem for wonderful things that never quite worked out right.
James Sherwood of The Inquirer remembers its August 1993 release date, and the $700 price tag, for the Father of PDAs.
It didn't quite work out that way. Though powerful for its time, ultimately available in a 162MHz processor with 8MB of memory and a 320x480 screen, it never caught on. But the soul still burns, as quietly indicated by areview of the iPhone PR machine by Communities Dominate Brands, where the iPhone is said to have a loyal built-in fanbase of passionate Apple "Mac/iPod/Newton" users, even though sales of the first two far outstrip those of the long-cancelled latter.
The Register puts it succinctly — "It's easy to dismiss the Newton as the iPhone's retarded uncle" — but Techres details the device's flaws, such as inoperable handwriting recognition features, sluggish performance and the fact it was a completely new idea. It concludes the iPhone is different, as instead of creating a market, it's taking the more tried-and-tested Apple approach of improving the work of others rather than innovating.
It's Network World which remembers something about the Newton most of us have long-forgotten, however: like the iPhone, it was subject to relentless hype:
Alas, no. All that remains of this great grand-godfather of mobile computing, for iPhone users, is some retro wallpaper.
The most-hyped tech products of all time [networkworld]
Apple's first handheld: the Newton MessagePad [Inq]
Crunching numbers for iPhone [Communities Dominate Brands]
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