Apple Newton

1993-1998

Apple’s personal digital assistant was marketed as the future of computing. The sleek design and touchscreen with handwriting recognition made the Newton an exciting innovation. But the hyped handwriting recognition was frustratingly slow and inaccurate. This was mocked in popular culture; The Simpsons made fun of it. The Newton was an innovative idea with immature technology – an incomplete product launched far too early. While the catastrophic character recognition software was improved in later updates, the Newton’s reputation was already doomed.

Steve Jobs killed the Newton when he returned to Apple in 1997. He said, »My gut was that there was some really good technology, but it was fucked up by mis- management. By shutting it down, I freed up some good engineers who could work on new mobile devices. And eventually we got it right when we moved on to iPhones and the iPad.«

Additional info:
Wikipedia
Wired.com – Remembering the Apple Newton’s Prophetic Failure and Lasting Impact
Fool.com – Why the First Tablet Failed
Mashable – Happy 25th birthday, Apple Newton, you beautiful failure.