It was the maketing wot killed Newton

The major reason why the Newton failed was down to the marketing.

Apple hired Steven Speilberg’s company to produce a short film that was shown to journalists. We didn’t get to see the device itself, instead ‘Newton’ was a slightly more masculine version of Pee-Wee Herman assisting a college professor; over the course of the film when the prof. moaned that he had forgotten to send flowers or book a restaurant table, Newton smugly replied he had already spoken to the relevant companies and it was taken care of.

So when the Newton was finally unveiled, the journos were rather unimpressed. Many had been expecting a revolutionary communication device and were distinctly lukewarm what most judged to be an extortionately priced ‘electronic diary’. That the handwriting recognition was buggy, didn’t exactly help matters.

And who was the Newton marketed at? Corporate businessmen – not exactly the type of person to be using Macs. One television advert shows two overweight and balding businessmen in a meeting; one isn’t paying attention, gets asked a question by the boss…. but luckily his mate beams the answer from Newton to Newton!!! Did Apple really expect people to think ‘ That could have been me! I must get a Newton.’

Considering that the Newton was meant to be the legacy of John Sculley, you would have thought the man who brought us the ‘Pepsi Challenge’ (the reason why Steve Jobs wanted him as Apple CEO) could have at least got the marketing right.