Was the Newton a PDA? I think it was more than that, and in some ways, less than that.
It was ahead of its time, but the times are now way ahead of it.
This device will not be a re-invented Newton, nor will it be a PDA, nor will it be a UMPC.
It will fit exactly where millions of people want it to fit, or it won't be manufactured.
My bet is that it WILL be manufactured, and it will again change the way we work.
It will not be a small laptop. It will not be a PDA. It will not be a re-incarnation of the Newton.
It will be an "Apple-way-of-doing-things" device.
The iPhone is revolutionary as a phone. The Mac OS is clearly the best interface for a keyboard-based PC/laptop right now.
Again, think outside the box!
Put elements of the Newton, the iPod, the iPhone, the Mac, and add Apples flare for wonderful usability, size it right with the proper connections to the outside world, and you have the new device that is being talked about.
Think outside the box! Do we not know Apple well enough that they can come out with game-changing devices? If not, we should by now.
Don't think Personal Digital Assistant, think Personal Digital Life Manager... Imagine it cohesively linking your Mac, your AppleTV, your Home Theater, your Home Automation, etc. etc.
I'm putting a 50/50 guess that we will see this device by mid-year next year.
IMHO.
This is a bunch of doublespeak.
Heh... looks like Audio picked up on the same thing.
Be an interesting feature in every new car starting with all top of line cars, large iphone capability , but wi fi , PDA , classroom , .... sell a few million . Not suit every one nor replace laptops or iphone. But sell a boat load and get more people over to apple ... the Next wave is comin. This three legged chair is gonna get a lot more legs. Getting to be a great toy company for adults. I just need a little more gamer friendly devices and i'll purchase my 3 new iphones i'm gonna get soon. And when i buy the game i want to run it on my laptop and new devices for the one time purchase price of what was advertised. Make them interchangeable and that you can continue the game when u get home or office or wherever .. poker on line and other games are a must . Outside apps are a must . How about pick your own carrier like you do with your laptop cause it isn't a phone till i put my USB jack in lol .
This is why the iPhone and iPod touch is limited and Apple doesn't want you to put your own 3rd party apps on it. They have a PDA they want to push, and if some developer is writing apps that will do everything that this PDA offers it will equal low PDA sells. Just my .02.
Okay .... but they can still make people lust for this new product by providing it with things like a bigger device (as per the article) and a higher resolution (also per the article). These two features will certainly make more than a few people step up with their amex cards...
I do believe that it's this device that is in-fact holding up Apple releasing a full fledged SDK as well as opening the gates to 3rd party development.
It could be that the SDK / API isn't quite up to snuff yet.... Sure (it would seem) Apple has just about every base covered when it comes to API functions **but** they might not be fully developed for everything they want not to mention packaging all the API goodness into developer ready packages WITH DOCUMENTATION .... then again, has new API documentation ever been Apples strong point?!?!
A few weeks ago, I was contemplating why Apple was pushing the resolution independence feature so heavily to developers. This is a new feature to developers in Leopard, yet it's not a major concern today. Sure, the MacBooks have resolutions up to 100dpi, but that's not a huge difference from the standard 72dpi. But, if you look at the iPhone and the new iPod nano, those handheld devices have extremely high resolutions (around 300dpi).
iPod nano uses a screen that's just above 200ppi, I think 204. I think that's still about the best that can be made at an affordable price.
I think most modern PDAs do that kind of stuff so it would be silly for anything new not to. As far as I am concerned the iPod Touch is just a PDA with an iPod name.
It has the hardware and OS components of a PDA, but the included iTouch software doesn't do a few things that's critical to a PDA, such as take, store, sync and show notes, have a todo list, and there's this inability to enter contacts (or is it calendar entries?, it does one but not the other). It is very nice and it has incredible potential, but it's not quite there yet either.
And the biggest folly of the Foleo is that it required a Treo to use, which just made no sense.
The biggest problem with the Foleo was that it used a totally different OS than anything else Palm made or even had plans to make. Apple already has this one figured out, and they already have the iPhone/iPod touch to work with for this.
It seems a little too soon and quite a lot to add to a product line so recently. That said, this think might have enough room to offers storage from a 1.8" hard drive, it could be more compact than any portable DVD player, offer room for maybe 100 movies, in a screen size that's competitive to a portable DVD player. It kind of sounds like another "hobby" device, but it is an interesting one. Isn't it a little large though? Newton was just huge and thankfully Palms were of a more reasonable size.
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading. 2) Palms and other PDAs are not "hobby device", so why would the new Newton be so? Newtons were the original PDA, and were widely adopted across several industries, including medicine. 3) Newton's were big due to the technology at the time, and because they were more powerful. Palm's have only recent approached the power of the Newton. And obviously you can have a better display on a larger device, especially for professional applications (ever try reading much off of a Palm? it sucks.).
some more interesting things to ponder... why is Apple creating diverging devices when all this stuff could be on one device (e.g. phone, pda, music player)? Maybe they're doing it for profit, or maybe different people want different functionality. Maybe they will re-integrate these functions on a single device, e.g. if they ever open the iPhone up to development. just some random thoughts... discuss!
The evidence: a) A year or so ago, it was reported that Apple were buying the rights to re-sell a huge number of books. b) The iPhone screen is too small for lengthy reading sessions. c) No company (not even Sony) has yet produced a useable 'eBook' that matches the form factor and intuitive convenience of a typical paperback. d) Apple's multi-touch interface is perfect for navigating 'pages'. Drag across the screen to the right or left to 'turn' the page in the appropriate direction. Want to zoom into a word or illustration? Just spread your fingers apart. Want to look up a word? Hold your finger down on the word and select 'Dictionary' or 'Thesaurus' from the menu. Oh, and where do you get your book from? Well, iTunes of course! £4.99 a pop single user, or £7.99 to share with all those people who you loaned your real paper books to years ago in the tactile age. (I actually designed at conceptual level a device like this years ago for Bitstream Corp, before the Newton was even conceived. But Apple will deliver it. Because they can.) Want to see a Hypercard simulation of my idea? Drop me a line to 'alex.blok AT owonder.com'. (Sadly, my simulation only runs on OS9 unless someone has a Hypercard simulator for OSX!)
I suspect this will be a scaled up iPhone/iPod touch. After doing some reading from people who have hacked the iPhone, I get the impression that the the underlying software is rather immature. That *may* be the reason we haven't see 3rd party app support yet (and/or Apple's just greedy). Apple can plod along with its lack of third party software support on a phone or iPod for a few months, but a tablet/UMPC type device is going to need it. One can only hope Apple will try to keep the software between these devices fairly much in sync (though so far they don't seem to be doing it).
A 6"-8" screen will also make a nice mobile video player.
The biggest problem with the Foleo was that it used a totally different OS than anything else Palm made or even had plans to make. Apple already has this one figured out, and they already have the iPhone/iPod touch to work with for this.
Sure, that was a problem too. But the fact that Apple has its mobile platform figured out (as much as a work-in-progress is figured out - ) isn't a reason for them not to use it more widely -- just the opposite. Now is the time to put it everywhere in as many (viable!) forms as possible, while there's nothing else like it on the market.
Pocket-sized devices are great, but they're also bound by the limitations of their size. They excel at some functions, and are limited at others. Just because the iPhone offers what's probably the best mobile browsing experience to date doesn't mean it can't be even better.
There may be room in the market for a small tablet form, and the growth of the internet tablet as potentially emerging product category -- see the Nokia 800 for evidence.
With the initial iPhone now out the door and two successive models well underway in Apple's labs, it's believed to be full steam ahead for the modern day Newton project.
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading.
For exactly the reason why they other poster mentioned. If Apple viewed this as a potential video player, flash memory is currently way too expensive for storing movies. That doesn't mean that the OS and other content stored on the device wouldn't be stored on flash.
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading. 2) Palms and other PDAs are not "hobby device", so why would the new Newton be so? Newtons were the original PDA, and were widely adopted across several industries, including medicine. 3) Newton's were big due to the technology at the time, and because they were more powerful. Palm's have only recent approached the power of the Newton. And obviously you can have a better display on a larger device, especially for professional applications (ever try reading much off of a Palm? it sucks.).
Come on now.
Flash is where things are going, but given its cost, and the fact that this thing is freaking huge, there's plenty of space to put a 1.8" hard drive like what is in the Classic. That would give us 160GB instead of 16GB, plenty of room for movies, music, PDFs and so on.
I did not mean to suggest that PDAs were hobby devices, but rather, like Steve said of the AppleTV, this UMPC/PDA might be another "hobby" of his, assuming it's real.
Comments
Think outside the "box" ladies and gents.
Who says this is the next Newton?
Who says this is the next PDA?
Was the Newton a PDA? I think it was more than that, and in some ways, less than that.
It was ahead of its time, but the times are now way ahead of it.
This device will not be a re-invented Newton, nor will it be a PDA, nor will it be a UMPC.
It will fit exactly where millions of people want it to fit, or it won't be manufactured.
My bet is that it WILL be manufactured, and it will again change the way we work.
It will not be a small laptop. It will not be a PDA. It will not be a re-incarnation of the Newton.
It will be an "Apple-way-of-doing-things" device.
The iPhone is revolutionary as a phone. The Mac OS is clearly the best interface for a keyboard-based PC/laptop right now.
Again, think outside the box!
Put elements of the Newton, the iPod, the iPhone, the Mac, and add Apples flare for wonderful usability, size it right with the proper connections to the outside world, and you have the new device that is being talked about.
Think outside the box! Do we not know Apple well enough that they can come out with game-changing devices? If not, we should by now.
Don't think Personal Digital Assistant, think Personal Digital Life Manager... Imagine it cohesively linking your Mac, your AppleTV, your Home Theater, your Home Automation, etc. etc.
I'm putting a 50/50 guess that we will see this device by mid-year next year.
IMHO.
This is a bunch of doublespeak.
Heh... looks like Audio picked up on the same thing.
(let's call it what it is, people) Touch Tablets.
As the running joke in 'Shakespeare in Love' went, 'Good name!'.
I'm pretty sure I said that...?
...In fact, I see this being the next major platform for Apple. Desktops, Laptops, and (let's call it what it is, people) Touch Tablets.
Yup! I did! Where did "MrJoec123" come from?
-Clive
This is why the iPhone and iPod touch is limited and Apple doesn't want you to put your own 3rd party apps on it. They have a PDA they want to push, and if some developer is writing apps that will do everything that this PDA offers it will equal low PDA sells. Just my .02.
Okay .... but they can still make people lust for this new product by providing it with things like a bigger device (as per the article) and a higher resolution (also per the article). These two features will certainly make more than a few people step up with their amex cards...
I do believe that it's this device that is in-fact holding up Apple releasing a full fledged SDK as well as opening the gates to 3rd party development.
It could be that the SDK / API isn't quite up to snuff yet.... Sure (it would seem) Apple has just about every base covered when it comes to API functions **but** they might not be fully developed for everything they want not to mention packaging all the API goodness into developer ready packages WITH DOCUMENTATION .... then again, has new API documentation ever been Apples strong point?!?!
Dave
A few weeks ago, I was contemplating why Apple was pushing the resolution independence feature so heavily to developers. This is a new feature to developers in Leopard, yet it's not a major concern today. Sure, the MacBooks have resolutions up to 100dpi, but that's not a huge difference from the standard 72dpi. But, if you look at the iPhone and the new iPod nano, those handheld devices have extremely high resolutions (around 300dpi).
iPod nano uses a screen that's just above 200ppi, I think 204. I think that's still about the best that can be made at an affordable price.
The iPhone and iPod touch have 163 PPI screens.
In order to come up with the size, for the mockup, I assumed the following:
1) This new handheld would leverage the same multi-touch interface as the iPhone/iPod touch.
2) In order to keep continuity of the interface, the screen would likely be the same PPI.
As such, the new 'Newton' would have a 5.5" screen to achieve a 720x480 resolution.
I think most modern PDAs do that kind of stuff so it would be silly for anything new not to. As far as I am concerned the iPod Touch is just a PDA with an iPod name.
It has the hardware and OS components of a PDA, but the included iTouch software doesn't do a few things that's critical to a PDA, such as take, store, sync and show notes, have a todo list, and there's this inability to enter contacts (or is it calendar entries?, it does one but not the other). It is very nice and it has incredible potential, but it's not quite there yet either.
And the biggest folly of the Foleo is that it required a Treo to use, which just made no sense.
The biggest problem with the Foleo was that it used a totally different OS than anything else Palm made or even had plans to make. Apple already has this one figured out, and they already have the iPhone/iPod touch to work with for this.
It seems a little too soon and quite a lot to add to a product line so recently. That said, this think might have enough room to offers storage from a 1.8" hard drive, it could be more compact than any portable DVD player, offer room for maybe 100 movies, in a screen size that's competitive to a portable DVD player. It kind of sounds like another "hobby" device, but it is an interesting one. Isn't it a little large though? Newton was just huge and thankfully Palms were of a more reasonable size.
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading. 2) Palms and other PDAs are not "hobby device", so why would the new Newton be so? Newtons were the original PDA, and were widely adopted across several industries, including medicine. 3) Newton's were big due to the technology at the time, and because they were more powerful. Palm's have only recent approached the power of the Newton. And obviously you can have a better display on a larger device, especially for professional applications (ever try reading much off of a Palm? it sucks.).
some more interesting things to ponder... why is Apple creating diverging devices when all this stuff could be on one device (e.g. phone, pda, music player)? Maybe they're doing it for profit, or maybe different people want different functionality. Maybe they will re-integrate these functions on a single device, e.g. if they ever open the iPhone up to development. just some random thoughts... discuss!
A 6"-8" screen will also make a nice mobile video player.
The biggest problem with the Foleo was that it used a totally different OS than anything else Palm made or even had plans to make. Apple already has this one figured out, and they already have the iPhone/iPod touch to work with for this.
Sure, that was a problem too. But the fact that Apple has its mobile platform figured out (as much as a work-in-progress is figured out -
Pocket-sized devices are great, but they're also bound by the limitations of their size. They excel at some functions, and are limited at others. Just because the iPhone offers what's probably the best mobile browsing experience to date doesn't mean it can't be even better.
There may be room in the market for a small tablet form, and the growth of the internet tablet as potentially emerging product category -- see the Nokia 800 for evidence.
With the initial iPhone now out the door and two successive models well underway in Apple's labs, it's believed to be full steam ahead for the modern day Newton project.
TWO successive models well underway?
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading.
For exactly the reason why they other poster mentioned. If Apple viewed this as a potential video player, flash memory is currently way too expensive for storing movies. That doesn't mean that the OS and other content stored on the device wouldn't be stored on flash.
Makes no sense whatsoever as a PDA, ergo it's not a PDA. it's a full blown mac.
Anyone remember KORMAC?
Kormac, YAY!! Maaan, that brings back memories. Good times ...
TWO successive models well underway?
I'd noticed that, too ... Kasper filled me in:
Jobs said two are underway in the video of him launching iPhone in UK..
He said "were working on the next iPhone, the one after that, and we're thinking about the one after that"
Kormac, YAY!! Maaan, that brings back memories. Good times ...
You've been here since 2003 and have 1 post?
A little shy, are we?
Your ignorance is displeasing. 1) why the h*ll would you put a harddrive in an ultra-portable device. Flash memory is where even notebooks are heading. 2) Palms and other PDAs are not "hobby device", so why would the new Newton be so? Newtons were the original PDA, and were widely adopted across several industries, including medicine. 3) Newton's were big due to the technology at the time, and because they were more powerful. Palm's have only recent approached the power of the Newton. And obviously you can have a better display on a larger device, especially for professional applications (ever try reading much off of a Palm? it sucks.).
Come on now.
Flash is where things are going, but given its cost, and the fact that this thing is freaking huge, there's plenty of space to put a 1.8" hard drive like what is in the Classic. That would give us 160GB instead of 16GB, plenty of room for movies, music, PDFs and so on.
I did not mean to suggest that PDAs were hobby devices, but rather, like Steve said of the AppleTV, this UMPC/PDA might be another "hobby" of his, assuming it's real.