Apple's Jobs probed over Newton reincarnation

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was reportedly none too thrilled earlier this year when he sat down for an interview with a reporter who posed a question about the company's skunkworks operation to produce a modern day Newton tablet rather than chat about the MacBook Air.



"At Macworld, when I asked Mr. Jobs about the idea of an iPod Touch in a larger 'Safari Pad' format, he snapped at me, 'I can?t talk about unannounced products,'" writes the New York Times' John Markoff. "Intriguing."



In fact, Markoff claims that Apple's multi-touch technology was conceived as part of a "note-pad" sized project run by the company's then head of Macintosh hardware Tim Bucher, and that it was internally referred to as "Safari Pad." Implementing multi-touch as part of revolutionary cell phone came later, he suggests.



The report by Markoff and reaction by Jobs serve only to bolster claims laid out by AppleInsider last September in its report regarding a modern day reincarnation of the Newton MessagePad, reminiscent of a larger iPod touch, yet far more capable.



In his column in the Times this week, Markoff speculates that the long rumored device may be Apple's answer to Amazon's Kindle eBook reader given Jobs' blatant criticism of the product and its ability to succeed.



"A familiar Jobsian strategy is to denigrate an entire category -- he did this with cellphones, for example -- before reinventing it with Apple panache," he wrote.



For its part, AppleInsider believes that Apple's ambitions for the project go far and beyond a digital book reader.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 58
    I for one always assumed that the Newton pad we were hearing rumors about was in fact merely the macBook Air. Unless I am mistaken, the 13" screens seemed to be the only concrete piece of evidence we had about these rumored machines. Hopefully, Job's angry reaction was a telltale sign of something ca-ca-ca-cRAzy in the somewhat distant future, however I bet he would likely react in the same way if asked about holographic displays or Apple robots that nourish themselves entirely with banannas. (BTW, I have a rumor from a reliable source on that last one guys)
  • Reply 2 of 58
    crebcreb Posts: 276member
    A new Newton is an instant purchase for me as I still have three of them laying around.
  • Reply 3 of 58
    mrjoec123mrjoec123 Posts: 223member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sausage&Onion View Post


    I for one always assumed that the Newton pad we were hearing rumors about was in fact merely the macBook Air. Unless I am mistaken, the 13" screens seemed to be the only concrete piece of evidence we had about these rumored machines. Hopefully, Job's angry reaction was a telltale sign of something ca-ca-ca-cRAzy in the somewhat distant future, however I bet he would likely react in the same way if asked about holographic displays or Apple robots that nourish themselves entirely with banannas. (BTW, I have a rumor from a reliable source on that last one guys)



    Exactly. Jobs wanted to talk about the Air. Macworld is a big free press extravaganza for Apple and whatever products it decides to announce there. Why would Jobs want to talk about an unsubstantiated rumor product that would only take the focus off his newest baby?



    This is no evidence of anything at all. It's the same reaction the reporter would have gotten had he wanted to talk about ANYTHING other than the Air, the new iPhone release, Apple TV 2.0, or Time Capsule. Those were the only subjects on the table that day.
  • Reply 4 of 58
    mr omr o Posts: 1,046member
    … indeed, people might not be reading novels, but they are reading alotof books about cooking and food. Not to mention life style magazines (Dazed & Confused, I.D., Vogue) and newspapers!



    I do think Amazon's Kindle concept has a future (if only they would hire Jonathan Ive).
  • Reply 5 of 58
    blue2kdaveblue2kdave Posts: 652member
    You know, maybe Kormac wasn't as off as some people thought he was back in the day. Apple obviously had some sort of major tablet project going, maybe he was getting snippets of that.
  • Reply 6 of 58
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mrjoec123 View Post


    Exactly. Jobs wanted to talk about the Air. Macworld is a big free press extravaganza for Apple and whatever products it decides to announce there. Why would Jobs want to talk about an unsubstantiated rumor product that would only take the focus off his newest baby?



    This is no evidence of anything at all. It's the same reaction the reporter would have gotten had he wanted to talk about ANYTHING other than the Air, the new iPhone release, Apple TV 2.0, or Time Capsule. Those were the only subjects on the table that day.



    I read that Times article, and I did find it to be a strange response. He can't talk about "unannounced products"? That does sound as though this is an "unannounced product".



    He could have just denied the product possibility altogether.



    He also could have said that he wanted to talk about products that Apple just came out with, rather than others' speculation about products.



    Either would have been better than what he did say.
  • Reply 7 of 58
    buckbuck Posts: 293member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    I read that Times article, and I did find it to be a strange response. He can't talk about "unannounced products"? That does sound as though this is an "unannounced product".



    He could have just denied the product possibility altogether.



    He also could have said that he wanted to talk about products that Apple just came out with, rather than others' speculation about products.



    Either would have been better than what he did say.



    Oh he ALWAYS responds like that.

    Remember a live interview when a reporter asked him about the iPhone, and he said "you know, we don't talk about unannounced products. If we ever do announce such a thing, I'd be happy to tell you all about it." He can't deny rumors, anaylsts would go crazy!
  • Reply 8 of 58
    pokepoke Posts: 506member
    Apple has stated that the technology for iPhone was originally intended for a tablet (it was in the original Time article); it's not a secret or a rumor. Jobs has also indicated (at "All Things D") that one of his best decisions was killing a PDA / new Newton project at Apple; it's not clear if the PDA and the multitouch tablet are the same thing though.
  • Reply 9 of 58
    whoamiwhoami Posts: 301member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by blue2kdave View Post


    You know, maybe Kormac wasn't as off as some people thought he was back in the day. Apple obviously had some sort of major tablet project going, maybe he was getting snippets of that.



    and everyone gave him so much shit for most likely accurate info...

    i always thought he was just a little psychic or psychotic.. i forget which one!
  • Reply 10 of 58
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    MACTouch here we come!!!! Boooyaaaaaa!! hhahahahyeeeee yawwwwww *very happy*
  • Reply 11 of 58
    jpellinojpellino Posts: 697member
    and I for one hope it's the lid of my iBook g4 12" reincarnated as a tablet. Given the iPod Touch and the Air, it's not too far off.
  • Reply 12 of 58
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    And its not going to be just one product either but a whole slew of mobile internet devices of all shapes, sizes, capacities, colors and flavors! I'll take mine in vanilla please!
  • Reply 13 of 58
    With 18.5B in cash, why Apple doesn't test market products like this (read Newton form factor) is a bit of a mystery to me.



    I want a Mac I can put in my pocket. The iPhone is close. Eee PC's 9-inch (even a 7-inch) is a size I would snap up if Apple would build one; very close to the size of the eMate, which I actually liked and used for a bit.
  • Reply 14 of 58
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,007member
    More broadly - do you think if concerns about the US economy persist, companies like Apple will begin to shelve new product launches until such time that they can gain maximum leverage over their launch excitement?
  • Reply 15 of 58
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Buck View Post


    Oh he ALWAYS responds like that.

    Remember a live interview when a reporter asked him about the iPhone, and he said "you know, we don't talk about unannounced products. If we ever do announce such a thing, I'd be happy to tell you all about it." He can't deny rumors, anaylsts would go crazy!



    Ah, but you see, the iPhone did turn out to be a product!



    If he is going to respond to unannounced products as unannounced products, he is giving it away.



    He should respond that he doesn't address speculation about Apple products.
  • Reply 16 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Olternaut View Post


    And its not going to be just one product either but a whole slew of mobile internet devices of all shapes, sizes, capacities, colors and flavors! I'll take mine in vanilla please!



    Uhh No.

    Apple doesn't make a slew of anything

    3 desktop computers

    3 notebook computers

    4 iPods

    1 iPhone



    and someday



    1 tablet computer
  • Reply 17 of 58
    mclokimcloki Posts: 86member
    Think about it.

    The next evolution of the iMac would be a computer without the computer and Keyboard.



    Eventually tehe iMac would keep losing parts until it was just a monitor with multitouch.

    Expensive. Check. Sexy, Check.



    But just imagine a 17" Itouch. With a bluetooth keyboard. A Nice docking stand that has connections to ethernet, and a blueray player and external storage tucked away into the docking stand. Very portable. Big battery,

    And drop dead sexy.

    That would be a beautiful machine.
  • Reply 18 of 58
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was reportedly none too thrilled earlier this year when he sat down for an interview with a reporter who posed a question about the company's skunkworks operation to produce a modern day Newton tablet rather than chat about the MacBook Air.



    "At Macworld, when I asked Mr. Jobs about the idea of an iPod Touch in a larger 'Safari Pad' format, he snapped at me, 'I can?t talk about unannounced products,'" writes the New York Times' John Markoff. "Intriguing."



    In fact, Markoff claims that Apple's multi-touch technology was conceived as part of a "note-pad" sized project run by the company's then head of Macintosh hardware Tim Bucher, and that it was internally referred to as "Safari Pad." Implementing multi-touch as part of revolutionary cell phone came later, he suggests.



    The report by Markoff and reaction by Jobs serve only to bolster claims laid out by AppleInsider last September in its report regarding a modern day reincarnation of the Newton MessagePad, reminiscent of a larger iPod touch, yet far more capable.



    In his column in the Times this week, Markoff speculates that the long rumored device may be Apple's answer to Amazon's Kindle eBook reader given Jobs' blatant criticism of the product and its ability to succeed.



    "A familiar Jobsian strategy is to denigrate an entire category -- he did this with cellphones, for example -- before reinventing it with Apple panache," he wrote.



    For its part, AppleInsider believes that Apple's ambitions for the project go far and beyond a digital book reader.



    What a nut job. Look at the grand scale of speculation in that statement. This guy is a total wacko.

    These people need to get a grip on reality. I have long believed that many of these guys pull this stuff right out of their ass, but this really is Ryan Meader style fanaticism.
  • Reply 19 of 58
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cherrypop View Post


    With 18.5B in cash, why Apple doesn't test market products like this (read Newton form factor) is a bit of a mystery to me.



    I want a Mac I can put in my pocket. The iPhone is close. Eee PC's 9-inch (even a 7-inch) is a size I would snap up if Apple would build one; very close to the size of the eMate, which I actually liked and used for a bit.



    Oh he does test to be sure. But just not tests you would be privy too......ever.
  • Reply 20 of 58
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    This article has gone from the realm of speculation to pure fiction. Asinine.
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