Assumptions and Failures: Why did the Apple Newton Fail?
The newton is an interesting product in Apple’s history. A look at the features shows that it was clearly ahead of its time: touch screen, handwriting recognition, mobile computing, etc. The list goes on and on, yet the Newton was an historic failure in Apple’s rich history of success.
The famously Steve Job-less product was highly anticipated and set to hit the ground running on release, however it only saw 50,000 units sold in the first 6 months on the market. Why did this thing fail?
Assumptions:
While we’re used to Apple charging a premium for devices today, Apple assumed their audience was willing to pay $900 ($1,620.80 today) for a PDA; a category which they invented with this product. The device was highly capable for its time, but only as an accessory a main computer. You were less likely to go about using this thing as your only device as you would with just a smartphone today. In retrospect, the boom in the short lived PDA market served as proof that there was demand for something like a Newton but at $900, it had little chance to catch on. This was not Apple’s only mistake in designing the PDA.
For the people who did end up buying a Newton there were flaws abound in the user experience. Perhaps most notably, the Newton’s handwriting detection software failed to live up to the hype drummed up by the marketing department. Apple assumed that their software was more capable than it was and it led to mockery in media.
Even in a time without internet memes, Apple’s designers managed to catch flack for their failures. The Simpsons famously ribbed the company for their poor handwriting detection.
The last failure I want to touch on was Apple’s timeline for production. Both of the failures that I’ve discussed so far could be attributed to one thing. Apple pushed their timeline far too quickly; assuming, in their hubris, that they would be able to get this device to market much faster than was planned.
Internally, the device went through a multitude of configurations. The design team started with a vastly different device which hoverered around the $6000 market price. Apple decided to push the project forward nonetheless and announced the Newton far before it was ready. Responding to the media frenzy revolving around the new device, Apple’s competitors fired up their design teams. Before the Newton was even released, Apple had competition in the field of their own creation.
If the company had sat down and appropriately questioned their assumed timeline, they may have had a chance to adjust their strategy and make good on their promises. But as we know now, the Newton was destined to fail from the start, and the project will always remain one of Apple’s biggest failures.
