May 22, 1997: Apple Spins Off the Newton Division
At one time the Newton, a largish Apple PDA, had Apple's hopes for the future pinned to the take anywhere device. Sales, as most remember, were very slow. Still the Newton, in the years since its introduction, had gained some traction in the market. Apple hoped to capitalize on the now barely profitable Newton by spinning the device off as its own company.
Calling the Newton profitable was only possible if one discounted the massive amount of money spent on development of the device. Still, Apple was able to produce a Newton and sell it for more than the cost of production so the term "profitable" was marginally true.
To capitalize on the situation Apple decided to spin the Newton. The Cupertino company hoped to attract outside investors or one day have a public offering of the newly birthed company while Apple refocused on its core business of computers. The Newton spinoff was first revealed on May 22, 1997.
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“A largish Apple PDA”???
I never considered any of the Newtons “large”. They were all built to be worked with. They have ideal proportions. Even the “leviathanish” MP2x00 series is full of well considered ergonomic detail that you simply do not find on what is today sold as PDAs.
I had one of the first Newtons and doggedly used it for years, shunning the eventual Palm Pilots for being awkward and underdesigned.
Now, holding a Newton in my hand and comparing it to my Tungsten 3 is similar to consdiering my first Motorola Flip cellphone to my Razr 3 today. Things do get smaller.
Remember the Mac Portable? Make that ‘portable’.
Good idea that they made real despite the engineering difficulties.