Mac Folklore Radio

Mac Folklore Radio


Why Did Apple Kill Newton? (1998)

October 03, 2020

The Newton MessagePad soap opera from product launch to cancellation, and all that could have been.

Check out “Love Notes to Newton” for even more history, interviews, and a great soundtrack. The director, Noah Leon, was interviewed on embedded.fm #262 and the RetroMacCast #440.

Steve Jobs quotes: WWDC 1997, EDUCAUSE 1998, Borg-like compliance and audience hissing at Internet Explorer at MWNY 1998

Hermann Hauser on Intel inadvertently inspiring the ARM: video, transcript

Avie Tevanian on the business decision we didn’t want to hear: direct quote, video (1, 2), transcript (1, 2)

Bob Supnik on Dan Dobberpuhl’s brilliant StrongARM: video (1, 2), transcript (1, 2)

On the memory leak that caused higher than normal recognition failure rates in early OS releases: “I can’t even get my unit to recognize the word ‘Newton’”