What’s the Future of Newton?

“Unfortunate Remarks” Serve to Cloud the Issue

January used to be a happy time for Apple. In fact, during the early days of the Macintosh, the best news always seemed to come during the first month of the year including announcements of AppleTalk, the LaserWriter, and of course, Macintosh itself. More recently, however, January has been anything but good. Notwithstanding the problems within the company’s flagship Macintosh effort, a January curse now appears to be afflicting the Newton group as well.

The most recent hubbub began shortly after Dr. Gilbert Amelio, chairman and CEO of Apple, was quoted in the newspaper USA Today. In reference to the Newton, he backhandedly commented: “Maybe we missed the boat.” Surrounding the quote was the latest speculation concerning possible staff cuts at Apple.

In large part, the juxtaposition was mostly likely unintended, however, the damage was done. Rumors began to circulate that Apple may be dropping the Newton or, at the very least, looking to spin-off the group. Interestingly, later comments attributed to Amelio stated that he remains committed to eMate, the new $800 clamshell-styled Newton aimed at the K-12 education market.

A Quick Clarification

Caught off-guard by the unexpected alarm among customers and developers alike, Sandy Benett, vice president of the Newton Systems Group, issued an open letter confirming Apple’s present-day commitment to shipping both announced products and actively pursuing new development.

In opening the letter, Benett stated directly: “An uninformed outsider’s view of the situation coupled with relentless doom-n-gloom reports in the popular media could lead one to believe Apple was in the process of ‘shutting-down’ the Newton division. This is not the case.”

He continued: “We are committed to complete marketing and sales efforts to launch our two exciting products this quarter. Both of these products are in manufacturing ramp and are on target to ship later this quarter. And we continue to develop future products.”

The Newton community welcomed Benett’s directness and, to some degree, the fire has been extinguished. However, to some, Apple’s overall commitment still remains unclear. For example, during the lead presentation at Apple’s annual shareholders meeting held in Cupertino on February 5th, Amelio made only a single reference to the Newton platform, and then only again to the eMate 300.

Amelio stated: “We’ve used redirected Newton technologies and Apple Industrial Design to provide our education customers with one of the stand-out products of the year, the eMate 300. It provides the basic productivity suite that a student needs, plus Internet access. It’s rugged, portable, low-cost, easy-to-use and fun.”

All true, but what about the potentially more explosive MessagePad 2000 featuring a lightning-fast 160MHz StrongARM processor? Even cursory examination indicates a strong interest in the MP2000 among both existing and would-be Newton owners. Why no mention?

Where Do We Stand Now?

Apple is clearly a company in flux. Interestingly, problems encountered developing and evangelizing this new generation of handheld technology may not even have been noticed had serious problems not developed with the Macintosh, most notably in the development of a modern version of the MacOS.

But focus clearly is on Newton and something is likely to happen. The question is what and how soon. Let’s address the second question first. Whatever Apple decides, it must do so quickly. On the eve of the launch of its most impressive new product, the MP2000, Apple must make its commitment to support and development clear to customers. Anything less would doom an otherwise fine product.

Likewise, with respect to the developer community, Apple must be unequivocal. Third party developer support is critical to the success of any computing platform (look no further than the Macintosh for lessons on this). And while there is no indication that developers are set to abandon the platform, each week of uncertainty is likely to cause plans to change. New products in development may be scaled back, while plans on the drawing board may find life on another platform.

Understanding that fast action is needed, what should Apple do? Many suggest that Apple consider spinning-off the Newton group, a la Claris, the company’s semi-independent software subsidiary. A Newton spin-off could recruit additional licensees and solicit equity investment from these new partners, along with other outside investors.

While this sounds like a novel approach to the problem, in reality, Apple has been considering an arrangement of this type of some time. In fact, exactly one year ago, Pen-Based Computing featured an in-depth interview with Sandy Benett, where the idea was presented outright.

“While [a spin-off] sounds like a novel approach, in reality, Apple has been considering an arrangement of this type of some time.”

At that time, Benett noted: “[Executive management] has made it clear that Apple has been looking for investment partners to share in the Newton success and to help fund us going forward. There are a lot of scenarios of how that could work. I don’t think anybody knows what that means right now, but it could mean that we have someone come in and invest in it.”

“It could also mean that they spin it out as a separate company with Apple and some other parties investing in it. The commitment to Newton is very high on Apple’s side. But Apple is going through some reductions in their margins and they’re looking for ways to continue to move the technology forward without it hitting the balance sheet as hard as it has in other times.”

A spin-off may be just what’s needed to save the platform. However, whatever the decision, let’s hope it comes quickly and clearly. Customers and developers should expect no less.