Apple prepares to dust off Newton
By
Nick Farrell
25 July 2008 09:32AM
Tags:
apple | prepares | dust | newton
There is a distinct feeling of déjà vu about the latest Apple-flavoured rumour concerning the release of a new PDA.
According to the Apple fanboy magazine MacDailyNews, the new 'Newton', will have a smaller Macbook screen - in glass with Iphone-like, but fuller-featured multi-touch. It will apparently run a full Mac OS X. We talk about it in detail here
Yet while Apple has been doing well with its Iphone and Iplod gadgets, the PDA is one area it has a long and troubled history in doing extremely badly.
When people talk about Apple's failures, the Newton - the PDA which did not fit into your pocket and cost roughly the same as the GDP of a small nation - usually appears top of the list.
The software that was supposed to translate your handwriting could barely read the paper.
The six years that Apple tried flog this turkey were only bought to an end when St Steve of Cappuccino returned to the company and stuck a bullet through the project's head.
The question remains as to why Apple would like to return, like a dog to its own vomit, to something it clearly had no expertise in selling?
Two important things have chanced since the days of the falling Apple. The first is that the Cuppuccino outfit has got a little more experience in making and marketing similar sorts of gadgets. The Iphone is more or less a PDA with a phone function.
And the second is that Apple is confident that it has its Iphone, Iplod fanboys so brainwashed that they will buy anything. So it may be dusting off a project that gobbled its way to the execution bloc in time for Christmas and then allowed itself to be stuffed.
Our guess is that it will look like an Iphone but have a few more PDA features. An Iphone for those who have no friends to call. Little more than a souped up Newton.
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