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Apple Newton

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The Newton Logo.
The Apple Newton MessagePad
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The Apple Newton MessagePad

The Apple Newton, or simply Newton, was an early line of personal digital assistants developed, manufactured and marketed by Apple Computer from 1993 to 1998. The original Newtons were based on the ARM 610 RISC processor, and featured handwriting recognition. Apple's official name for the device was MessagePad; the term Newton was Apple's name for the operating system it used, but popular usage of the word Newton has grown to include the device and its software together.

Contents

The Newton in development

The Newton project was not originally intended to produce a PDA. The PDA category did not exist for most of Newton's genesis, and the "personal digital assistant" term itself was coined relatively late in the development cycle by Apple's then-CEO John Sculley, the driving force behind the project. Newton was, in fact, intended to be a complete reinvention of personal computing. For most of its design lifecycle Newton had a large-format screen, more internal memory, and a rich object-oriented graphics kernel. One of the original motivating scenarios for the design was known as the "Architect Scenario," in which Newton's designers imagined a residential architect working quickly with a client to sketch, clean up, and interactively modify a simple two-dimensional home plan.

For a portion of the Newton's development cycle (roughly the middle third), the project's primary programming language was Dylan, a small, efficient object-oriented Lisp variant that still retains some interest. Although it was efficient (for its day, and considering its substantial run-time dynamism), Dylan was a tough sell for the large-format Newton (and for a development team unused to Lisp programming). With the move to the smaller form factor, Dylan was relegated to experimental status in the "Bauhaus Project" and eventually cancelled outright. Had it been retained, Dylan, with garbage collection and close OS integration, would have preceded Microsoft's managed code revolution by over a decade.

The project missed by far its original goals to reinvent personal computing, and then to rewrite contemporary application programming. The Newton project's broad vision fell victim to project slippage, feature creep, and a growing fear that it would interfere with Macintosh sales. It was reinvented as a PDA which would be a complementary Macintosh peripheral instead of a stand-alone computer which might compete with the Macintosh.

Technical details

The Newton OS
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The Newton OS

Newton used an advanced object-oriented programming system called NewtonScript, developed by Apple employee Walter Smith [Walter Smith’s home page]. One of the major complaints programmers had was that the Toolbox programming environment was overpriced at $1000 (later in the life of the Newton, the programming environment was made available free of charge). Additionally, it required learning a new way of programming. Despite this, many third party and shareware applications were (and continue to be) available for Newton. It has been suggested that the NewtonScript programming system should be made available open-source, as abandonware. #redirect [[Template:fact]]

Data in Newton was stored in object-oriented databases known as soups. One of the revolutionary aspects of Newton was that soups were available to all programs; and programs could operate cross-soup; meaning that the calendar could refer to names in the address book; a note in the notepad could be converted to an appointment, and so forth; and the soups could be programmer-extended - a new address book enhancement could be built on the data from the existing address book.

While the soup concept worked remarkably well within the Newton system itself, it caused several usability issues. First, it made it extremely difficult to synchronize data with other systems, like a desktop Macintosh or PC, making the Newton a data island. Apple's utility to perform this task, the Newton Connection Utility, was exceedingly complex and was never completed to perform to the satisfaction of most users. The realization that a handheld computer needed to work within the existing data environment of its users was key to the success of the later Palm Pilot platform, even though the Palm was technically inferior.

The second consequence of the data-object soup was that objects could extend built-in applications such as the address book so seamlessly that Newton users could not distinguish which program or add-on object was responsible for the various features on their own system. A user rebuilding their system after extended usage might find themselves unable to manually restore their system to the same functionality because some long-forgotten downloaded extension was missing. Data owned and used by applications and extensions themselves were tossed in the "Storage" area of the "Extras" drawer. There was no built-in distinction between types of data in that area. For example, an installed application's icon could be sitting right next to a database of addresses used by another installed extension further down the list. There was no easy way to get a listing of all user-installed objects on a system.

Finally, the data soup concept worked well for data like addresses, which benefit from being shared cross-functionally, but it worked poorly for discrete data sets like files and documents. This difficulty in working and sharing data with other systems, stemming from the too revolutionary data-object soup system, was a key contributor to Newton's demise.

Earlier MessagePads used Macintosh-standard serial ports - round Mini-DIN 8 connectors instead of the more common trapezoidal DE-9, commonly called DB-9. The 2000/2100 models had a proprietary small flat connector, called an InterConnect port, used with an adapter. In addition, all models had infrared connectivity. Unlike the Palm, all MessagePad models were equipped with a standard PCMCIA expansion slot (two on the 2000/2100). This allowed native modem and even Ethernet connectivity; Newton users have also written drivers for 802.11b wireless networking cards and ATA-type flash memory cards, a category that includes the popular CompactFlash format, as well as for Bluetooth cards. With the 1xx series, an optional keyboard became available, which could also be used via the dongle on a 2x00. Newton could also dial a phone number through the MessagePad speaker, simply holding a telephone handset up to the speaker, and fax / email support was built in at the operating system level, although it required external cards.

The MessagePad 2000 and 2100, with a vastly improved handwriting recognition system, 162MHz StrongARMSA-110 RISC processor, Newton 2.1 OS, and a better, clearer, backlit screen, attracted critical plaudits. Although their size and expense were factors which kept them from being as popular as later Palm OS devices, the Newton still has a small but passionate user base. The final evolution of the Newton's handwriting recognition system is still considered by many to be very impressive, only matched by the more modern Tablet PC handwriting recognition system.

The MessagePad could be used with the screen turned horizontally ("landscape") as well as vertically ("portrait"). A change of a setting would instantly rotate the contents of the display by ninety degrees. Handwriting recognition would still work properly with the display rotated.

The use of 4x AA NiCd (MessagePad 110, 120 and 130) and 4x AA NiMH cells (2x00 series, eMate 300) gave a runtime of up to 30 hours (MP 2100 w/ 2x 20 MB linear Flash memory PC Cards, no backlight usage) and up to 24 hours with backlight on. While adding more weight to the Newtons than AAA batteries (as used in the MessagePad and MessagePad 100) or custom battery packs, the choice of an easily replaceable/rechargeable cell format gave the user a still unsurpassed runtime and flexibility of power supply. This, together with the Flash memory used as internal storage (if all cells lost their power, no data was lost due to the static character of this storage), gave birth to the slogan "Newton never dies, it only gets new batteries".

Apple and third parties marketed several "wallets" (cases) for the MessagePads, which would hold them securely along with the owner's credit cards, driver's license, business cards, and cash. These wallets were even larger than the MessagePads and even less able to fit in a pocket, so they were most often used as a protective case for the unit to shield it from bumps and scratches.

Outcome

Although the Apple Newton was produced for six years, it was never as successful in the marketplace as Apple had hoped. This has been attributed to two primary reasons: the Newton's high price (which went up to $1000 when models 2000 and 2100 were introduced), and its large size (it failed the "pocket test" by not fitting in an average coat, shirt, or trouser pocket). Critics also panned its handwriting recognition, and it was this problem that was famously skewered in the Doonesbury comic strips.[Egg freckles comic strip] Although the handwriting recognition was greatly improved in later models, these initial problems marred Newton's reputation in the eyes of the public, and PDAs would remain a niche product until Palm, Inc.'s Palm Pilot, which emerged shortly before the Newton was discontinued. The Palm Pilot, with its smaller, thinner shape, cheaper cost, and more robust Graffiti handwriting recognition system - which had been available first as a software package for the Newton - managed to restore the viability of the PDA market after Newton's commercial failure. Ironically, Palm Computing was founded by ex-Apple employee Donna Dubinsky.

The Newton marketing campaign trumpeted the product's handwriting recognition, though in initial versions it was fairly inaccurate. The original handwriting recognition engine was called Calligrapher, and was licensed from a Russian company called Paragraph International. It was actually quite sophisticated; unlike the later Palm Pilot's Graffiti - which made the user learn a new handwriting system and write each letter in an input area - Newton learned the user's natural handwriting, using a database of known words to make guesses as to what the user was writing, and could interpret writing anywhere on the screen. Newton could also recognize and clean up simple drawn shapes such as triangles, circles, and squares, and had an intuitive system for handwritten editing, such as scratching out words to be deleted, circling text to be selected, or using written carets to mark inserts.

Later releases of the Newton operating system retained the original recognizer for compatibility, but added a printed-text recognizer, code-named "Rosetta," which was developed by Apple, included in version 2.0 of the Newton operating system, and refined in Newton 2.1. Rosetta was generally considered a significant improvement and many users consider the Newton 2.1 handwriting recognition software better than any of the alternatives since. Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as "1 + 2 =" was also under development but never released.

The most critical feature of the Newton handwriting recognition system was the modeless error correction. That is, correction done in situation without using a separate window or widget, using a minimum of gestures. If a word was recognized improperly, the user would simply double-tap the word and a list of alternatives would pop up in a menu under the stylus. Most of the time, the correct word would be in the list. If not, a button at the bottom of the list allowed the user to edit individual characters in that word. Error correction in many current handwriting systems provides such functionality but adds more steps to the process, greatly increasing the interruption to a user's workflow that a given correction requires. Excellent handwriting recognition (in OS 2.1 and higher) with smooth, modeless access to robust error correction is quite possibly a leading reason for the continued popularity of the device among Newton users.

Even given the age of the hardware and software, Newtons still demand a sale price on the used market far greater than that of PDAs produced by other companies. As of 2004 the Newton 2000 and 2100 can still fetch a price, without accessories, of over $100.

Later efforts

The eMate 300 was derived from the MessagePad and had the form-factor of a laptop.
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The eMate 300 was derived from the MessagePad and had the form-factor of a laptop.

Many prototypes of additional Newton models were spotted. Most notable was a Newton tablet or "slate," a large, flat screen that could be written on. Others included a "Kids Newton" with side handgrips and buttons, "VideoPads" which would have incorporated a video camera and screen on their flip-top covers for two-way communications, the "Mini 2000" which would have been very similar to Palm Pilot, and the "NewtonPhone" (developed by Siemens AG) which incorporated a handset and a keyboard.

At least one product, the eMate 300 was derived from the Apple Newton, and was offered to schools in 1997 as an inexpensive ($799 US, originally sold to education markets only) and durable computer for classroom use. However, in order to achieve its low price, the eMate 300 did not have all the features of the contemporary Newton equivalent, the MessagePad 2000, and was cancelled along with the rest of the Newton line.

Before the Newton project was cancelled, it was "spun off" into its own company, Newton Inc., but was reabsorbed several months later when Steve Jobs ousted Apple CEO Gil Amelio and resumed control of Apple. There has since been continual speculation that Apple might release a new PDA with some Newton technology or collaborate with Palm. Apple continues to deny that such a project will ever happen.

The Apple iPod is somewhat of a descendant of the Newton in that it is a pocket-sized programmable device based on the ARM processor. Two ex-Apple Newton developers founded Pixo, the company that created the iPod's OS.

Feeding a bit of speculation, Apple put the "Print Recognizer" part of the Newton 2.1 handwriting recognition system into Mac OS X version 10.2 (known as "Jaguar"). It can be used with graphics tablets to seamlessly input handwritten printed text anywhere there was an insertion point on the screen. This technology, known as "Inkwell", appears in the System Preferences whenever a tablet input device is plugged in. Whether Apple will ever utilize such technology again in a handheld device remains to be seen.

In June 2004, Apple CEO Steve Jobs indicated that he was proud that Apple resisted pressure to market a new handheld computer. While a small group of Mac faithful consumers have lobbied Apple to sell such a device, the worldwide market for PDAs was in a decline at the time, and Apple chose not to develop the device because demand would have been inadequate. #redirect [[Template:fact]]

Newton models

The NewtonOS was also licensed to a number of third party developers including Sharp and Motorola who developed additional PDA devices that used the operating system. Motorola added wireless connectivity to the unit, and renamed it the Marco. [Motorola's 'Marco' Wireless Communicator]

A possible Newton revival has been a common source of speculation among the Macintosh user base; when patents for a tablet based Macintosh were applied for [Appleinsider, Euro filing reveals Apple handheld design images, August 13, 2004], rumor sites jumped at the possibility of a new Tablet PC style Macintosh.

Other uses

Petrosains use Newton technology.
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Petrosains use Newton technology.

There were a number of projects that used the Newton as a portable information device in cultural settings such as museums. For example, Visible Interactive created a walking tour in San Francisco's Chinatown but the most significant effort took place in Malaysia at the Petronas Discovery Center, known as Petrosains. [Petrosains]

In 1995, an exhibit design firm, DMCD [DMCD]was awarded the contract to design a new 100,000 square foot science museum in the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. A major factor in the award was the concept that visitors would use a Newton to access additional information, find out where they were in the museum, listen to audio, see animations, control robots and other media, and to bookmark information for printout at the end of the exhibit.

The device became known as the ARIF, a Malay word for "wise man" or "seer" and it was also an acronym for A Resourceful Informative Friend. Some 400 ARIFS were installed and over 250 are still in use today.

The development of the ARIF system was extremely complex and required a team of hardware and software engineers, designers, and writers. The exhibition design and ARIF coordination team was led by Scott Guerin, the hardware/software team by Ted Paschkis, and the writers and interface designers included Paul Trapido and Michael Callan. Mssrs. Guerin and Paschkis went on to found nContext Mobile Media which specializes in developing multimedia tour guides for museums, including the SIguide at the Smithsonian. [nContext Mobile Media]

ARIF is an ancestor of the PDA systems used in museums today and it boasted features that have not been attempted since. For example it was used as an exploration tool in a large exhibit about exploring for oil. A visitor's success completing one task influenced the success or failure of a subsequent task. At the conclusion of the exhibit, the ARIF was docked at an IR port where it was used to control a robotic arm that placed equipment at locations influenced by the users previous lessons. In another exhibit, up to eight devices could be used at to activate a 60 foot diameter model of prehistoric Malaysia; volcano eruptions, animal sounds, lighting effects, and wind are among the many effects. This task was accomplished by docking the ARIF at a computer terminal and using it as the input device. There are no touch screens in Petrosains, all interactive systems were controlled by the ARIF.

The Newton was "married" to a primitive packet switching radio system in order to determine its location as the visitor passed through electronic "gateways." When the visitor entered a new room, the radio triggered an automatic area introduction. The radio also delivered time-synch'd audio in two languages to a group of users when they watched a video.

In addition to being dual language in all audio and text, the ARIF stored bookmarked information such that at the end of the exhibit, users could choose several items of most interest to be printed out, including a souvenir photograph of themselves superimposed on one of several stage sets.

A possible Newton revival has been a common source of speculation among the Macintosh user base; when patents for a tablet based Macintosh were applied for [Appleinsider, Euro filing reveals Apple handheld design images, August 13, 2004], rumor sites jumped at the possibility of a new Tablet PC style Macintosh.

Appearances in popular culture

The handwriting recognition software was ridiculed on several occasions:

References

External links

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