
The Apple Newton (1992–1998) was a Personal Digital Assistant developed by Apple to pay tribute to Sir Issac Newton. It came with a new operating system, and Apple licensed the Newton OS to 3rd parties. The main criticism of this device was the very weak handwriting recognition capability. Steve Jobs discontinued the product line, as there was very little demand on the market.
When Sculley launched the Newton on May 29, 1993, it didn't work. Literally. The first prototype demonstrated on stage wouldn't switch on. Fortunately the second did. Even so, Sculley should not have caved in to pressure to announce it yet. Ultimately, the Newton wouldn't actually ship for another 14 months. It came out on August 2, 1993.
The Newton was nowhere near ready. Apple held another unveiling fourteen months later at Macworld Expo in Boston, when the product which it officially called the MessagePad finally went on sale on August 2, 1993.