Background information
50 years of Apple
by Samuel Buchmann
Apple’s brilliant mistake: why we wouldn’t have the iPhone today without the Newton
5/4/2026
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
With the MessagePad – better known as the Newton – Apple dared to take a step into the future and failed spectacularly. What was considered a technical failure in 1993 laid the groundwork for today’s iPhones and chips.
The MessagePad was released in 1993, serving as a notebook and planner with a built-in stylus. Apple’s new device was also known as the Newton – which was actually the name of the operating system. Apple touted the device for its innovative handwriting recognition – and failed miserably.
A look back at a gadget that was so far ahead of its time that it tripped over itself.
This article is part of our series celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary. You can find the list of all articles here:
I eagerly insert the batteries…
The Newton I’m trying out is a MessagePad 120 from 1994, the successor to the original MessagePad. Its primary purpose was to eliminate the software bugs found in previous versions.
The first fact I learn about the Newton sounds pretty cool. A device with a stylus and note-taking features? I’m in!
The fact you don’t have to charge the mini tablet before using it – instead just popping in four AA batteries – brings back nostalgic memories for me. And I think all the buttons and sliders are great, every single one. My favourite detail: the colourful Apple logo. Please bring it back, I love it!
First, I want to update the system information, like today’s date – and I’m practically at my wits’ end. The device is set to June 1997. Hidden somewhere in the Extras menu, I find the setting in Prefs. However, when I enter the correct date, it doesn’t save – and I’m even suddenly taken back to 1992. Since everything moves so slowly and I have to edit my information and the date every single time, I give up after the third try.
In my research, I discover that the Newton does indeed have a date bug. The software was apparently not designed to run that long. Starting in 2010, there’s a glitch that prevents the current date from being entered. Last year, users even discovered a second date bug that causes the Newton to freeze completely or reset when the date’s changed.
Well then, let’s go right back to 1993 and take a look at ads for the Newton from that time. This makes me smile: those old clothes alone evoke a sense of nostalgia – and I love that organic blend of technology and nature. That said, I can’t help but laugh when Apple talks about how natural the device feels.
My first attempts are testing my patience
Once I get a handle on all of the Newton’s features, I realise just how similar it is to an E Ink tablet: a digital notebook, a calendar, composing e-mails, managing contacts. Some handy features include creating tables, solving maths problems and playing games.
The big difference: the Newton’s response time’s even slower than those already annoying E Ink tablets. Still, at least the battery will probably last another 10 years. In any case, the battery bar didn’t drop by even a millimetre during my test.
I try out the Newton’s features, but struggle with most of them. I definitely don’t recommend writing e-mails with it. It takes me forever, the device is just so slow and unreliable. I don’t have that much patience. The contact management feature is extremely cumbersome too. Each input needs a moment to be registered by the device.
It’s even trickier when it comes to games. My trial version of Battleship has expired, and I’m asked to pay 10 dollars to continue playing. It appears little has changed since then. The dice game Yazi works, though it’s anything but intuitive. Unfortunately, there aren’t any instructions installed, so I spend a few minutes trying things out. Once I figure out you can roll the dice using the pencil icon, the game really starts to pick up. However, the animations are extremely minimalistic and the visuals are confusing. After 10 minutes, I’m more annoyed than entertained, so I give up.
Ahead of its time – and how The Simpsons got involved
Apple promoted the first MessagePad in 1992 with automatic handwriting recognition. This was a first, so people’s expectations were high. Apple wasn’t deterred, even though early prototypes were still riddled with bugs. The device went into mass production in 1993 with a retail price of 699 dollars – a hefty sum at the time. Adjusted for inflation, that amounts to about1,500 dollars or 1,190 Swiss francs today.
My test device, a MessagePad 120, features the updated 2.0 version of this handwriting recognition software. Unfortunately, it still isn’t very impressive. Even though I make sure to write extremely neatly and legibly, the software continually makes mistakes when converting it to print, and plenty of them at that. The feature just doesn’t make sense. I’m sure this is one of the reasons why the Newton flopped back in the day too.
This failed feature even made it into an episode of The Simpsons back then. In one scene, bully character Kearney tries to write a note in his Newton: «Beat up Martin.» The Newton turns it into, «Eat up Martha.» This joke was so memorable that Apple used it internally as a synonym for bad software. In any case, it clearly illustrates why the Newton’s reputation was so tarnished – even though, fortunately, you can disable the recognition feature and just use your own handwriting.
The second novelty set to play a role in Apple’s future was its Assistant. Here’s how it works: You write «Dinner with Alex on Tuesday», the system recognises the words, opens the calendar, goes to next Tuesday and creates an entry. That’s almost magical for 1994, and considered a predecessor to Apple’s current AI assistant Siri.
A third innovation that defined Apple was its hardware. For the Newton, Apple needed a processor that was powerful yet as energy-efficient as possible. At the time, there was nothing suitable on the market. So Apple invested in a small British company called Acorn Computers, later known as ARM (Advanced RISC Machines).
Apple promptly equipped the MessagePad 120 with an ARM 610 processor running at 20 MHz. This marked the first time an ARM CPU (page in German) was used in a mobile device – a significant milestone for the iPhone. These days, most smartphones are based on ARM architecture.
By today’s standards, the rest of the hardware seems almost laughable: the 8-megabyte ROM contains the operating system, and 2 MB of main memory (RAM) is sufficient. The display has a resolution of just 240 × 320 pixels – it’s also monochrome and has no backlight.
By the way, you could expand the memory using a PCMCIA card back in the day. It was basically the credit-card-sized SD card of the 90s.
The end of the Apple Newton
The Newton sure sounds like a useful and innovative idea. However, it wasn’t quite ready and didn’t go over well. Tallying all models, a total of just 200,000 units were sold. In 1998, Steve Jobs became CEO of Apple and completely overhauled the product line.
Jobs detested the idea of having to use a stylus, as one of his most famous quotes shows: «Who wants a stylus? […] you lose them. […] We’re born with ten of them.» He said this during a keynote introducing the first iPhone, where he publicly declared the stylus obsolete. It’s probably why he unveiled the first iPad in 2010 without a stylus – it only had touch functionality.
Fortunately for me, that changed in 2015 under CEO Tim Cook. That year, the first iPad Pro was released alongside the Apple Pencil.
Whatever happened to the Newton?
Although the Newton was discontinued in 1998, it continued to receive updates for several more years thanks to a loyal fan base. They continued to use the slightly more powerful later models in their daily lives. This even led to users connecting their Newton to a Mac via Wi-Fi, syncing calendar and contact information.
It’s hard to imagine anyone doing this to themselves. I desperately tried to save individual contacts in the device’s digital address book and tried hard not to throw the thing against my wall after the tenth typo.
Things weren’t necessarily always better back in the day – but the Newton was still important for the future. It’s partly why I can now grab my iPad Pro and create my next art piece, with a newfound appreciation for the stylus and the smooth user experience.
Header image: Michelle Brändle
Ever since I learned how to hold a pen, I've been doodling away in bright colours. Thanks to my iPad, digital art has also become part of my life. That's why I love testing tablets – from the graphic design range to the regular kind. When I feel the urge to express my creativity without lugging lots of equipment, I go for the latest smartphones and start snapping away.
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