The problem? With several delays on the project and Sculley having first revealed it in summer 1992, may competing companies had rushed PDAs to market and stolen Apple’s thunder. Yet, with Sculley driving to reveal the device to the press by summer 1992, engineers worked round the clock at Apple to have demos ready.ĭemonstrations proved successful (even though still Newton’s software remained incredibly buggy) and Apple pushed for a summer 1993 release date. When Sculley made his CES announcement the software for Newton devices was still terribly buggy. Launching the Newton MessagePadĪt CES in early 1992, John Sculley announced Apple would soon revolutionize the world with a new category of devices called personal digital assistants (PDAs). John Sculley, who had begun taking a more active role in the development of the Newton scaled the technology back and asked for a product at a fraction the price. The portable device was packed with so much computing power and cutting-edge hardware it would have retailed for $6,000 or more. Yet, the problem was that the initial Newton prototypes (then named Figaro) were preposterously expensive. Regardless of the actual details, progress was being made on this immense challenge. He received a floppy disc with handwriting software that proved remarkably more accurate than what Apple had developed.Īnother version of the story is that Apple actually licensed handwriting software from a Russian firm. Gassee’s team was making strides on Newton and overcoming the tremendous technical hurdles to releasing a powerful digital assistant with the limitations of late 1980s technology.įor example, one of the key hold-ups that prevented bringing Newton to life was the handwriting software required to take stylus writing and accurately convert it to text onscreen.Īs one story goes, an Apple VP staying in Moscow awoke to frantic knocking at his door. Opportunity Knocks: The Bizzare Encounter that Brought the Newton to Life However, an internal team within Apple led by Jean Louis Gassee began making strides on a tablet-like computer. At the time the concepts were crude, and relied on artificial intelligence technologies that were often decades away. The earliest concepts of Knowledge Navigator date back to 1986, just the year after Jobs’ ousting. His concept - known as Knowledge Navigator - was to build a device that anticipated your needs. Looking for new growth markets, John Sculley set his sights on more poratable products. In the early 1990s, Macintosh market share peaked at just under 10% of the computing market. In addition, the company was struggling to grow market share and profits were under pressure. Yet, behind this success, Apple was extremely reliant on the Macintosh for its revenues. The next year they grew to $5 billion, and by 1991 they had eclipsed $6 billion. Thanks to the Macintosh - a product spearheaded by Steve Jobs - Apple continued to grow after his departure. Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 after engaging in a power struggle with then-CEO John Sculley. What caused the Newton to become such a high profile flop? The Beginning: The Development of the Newton After less than five years on the market, Steve Jobs would immediately shutter it after returning to the company. Yet, in 1992 the company announced a product lineup that would turn out to be anything but revolutionary, the Apple Newton.
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