CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗
Apple Newton MessagePad
- Year
- 1993
- Creator
- Apple Newton group
- Company
- Apple Computer
- Location
- Cupertino, California
- Room
- The Gold Rush ↗
Description
The Newton MessagePad is a handheld computer that Apple shipped in 1993. Apple President John Sculley called it a personal digital assistant, and its software read what the user wrote on the screen with a pen.
Importance
The Newton and the EO Personal Communicator were early pen computers, but they were large, expensive, and slow, and they read handwriting poorly. The Computer History Museum estimates that the failed pen computers cost investors approximately $1 billion. The PalmPilot later succeeded because Palm made a small handheld that worked with the personal computer, not as a substitute for it.
Interesting fact
Apple spent approximately six years and $100 million on the Newton before its release in 1993.
Sources
- 1993 | Timeline of Computer History ↗Computer History Museum
- The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard? (Revolution exhibit, Mobile Computing) ↗Computer History Museum
- The Bumpy Road to Success (Revolution exhibit, Mobile Computing) ↗Computer History Museum
- Apple Computer annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal 1998 ↗U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 1998-12-23