14 DAY TRIAL // Many have said the iPhone looks like what the Newton would have become if Apple hadn't killed it off. And perhaps now, nine years after Apple officially announced they would no longer work on the Newton project, it is time to remember the first PDA attempt.
David Haskin at ComputerWorld wrote a very interesting essay advising Apple not to make the same mistakes they did with Newton and its launch. He thinks the iPhone might share the same fate as Newton, if Apple does not learn from its past experience.
As a little history lesson, let's look into the Newton for a second: the device is a PDA-wannabe from Apple that can recognize handwriting. The device was not as small as it should have been, it could not fit in any normal pocket, and its price was quite high, ranging from $700 to $1,000.
The Newton was a revolutionary device for its time but became a commercial failure for various reasons: it was too expensive, the handwriting recognition did not work well and it was too large. It died off in 1998, the same year the Palm Pilot was released.
David Haskin thinks iPhone could become the next Newton. He says the iPhone, much like the elderly Newton, is a great device, with cutting-edge technology, and very expensive. He thinks the iPhone also has the huge disadvantage of strong competition, that didn't exist for the back-then PDA. Similar products from Samsung and LG are much cheaper, though perhaps not as good.
The editor also thinks Apple is being arrogant in its relationship with AT&T and perhaps should reconsider the contract terms that were so strong that Verizon turned them down.
The major step to take, according to Haskin, is lowering the price. This would prevent the iPhone from becoming a failure, like Newton.
I'm not convinced this is true, as much as I am convinced Apple will not cut the price down. Apple sells expensive products, and people know this (the iPod is much more expensive than regular mp3 players, and its commercial success is undoubtable).
The market now is not the same as it was then. People's love for gadgets has grown to unreasonable proportions and I'm sure iPhone will sell because it feeds customers' need for new, cutting-edge, overpriced technology.