Will the Newton Ever Come Back?

Why don’t we take a trip back down memory lane for a moment shall we? Many of us will remember back to our first kiss and how sweet a kiss it was! Some of us might go back to when big hair was still in style or when Michael Jackson wasn’t crazy. Or maybe you are remembering when man first walked on the moon. Ok, stop, we have gone too far back. Fast forward a little till you get to, say, the mid 90’s. Are we all there? Great! And what do we remember about the 90’s? Power Rangers, Bill Clinton, Garth Brooks and of course the Apple Newton.

The link above will take you to a page that gives a nice history of Apple’s attempt a PDA/mini-computer. Over all it was a very cool, if under appreciated, device. Unfortunately it was before its time. But look how things have changed! PDAs did catch on, and they did incorporate many of the features found in the original Newton. However PDA sales have begun to decline in the last few years as laptops become lighter and cheaper. Some pundits have suggested that PDAs, like Tablet PCs, will ultimately only serve a niche market and never really make it to the mainstream. And they may be right, after a fashion. But I prefer to think more optimistically, especially given the recent news from Phillips.

Apparently Phillips has created a very cool technology called Polymer Vision. You can check out the website and read up on the details for yourself but it basically boils down to this: Phillips has created a flexible screen that can roll up when not in use. Doesn’t that just blow your mind? It’s kind of like modern day parchment or your very own electronic scroll.

So, what if Apple were to take this technology and incorporate it into its own version of the PDA, an updated Newton if you will. Only this time around this new device will have a slew of cutting edge features. The current crop of iPods functions quite well with either small screens or no screens at all in the case of the shuffle. Either way the devices have proven quite capable with the current limitations of technology. Now expanding that concept to include playing movies and . . . well we have a slight problem.

To make a screen large enough to play movies adequately you need a fairly large device (large when compared to an iPod I mean). There really hasn’t been a way to get around this up until now. Suddenly the game has changed because the rules have changed, and that is very exciting. Imagine then if Apple were to use this new roll up screen technology to create a general purpose, handheld computer that plays songs, plays movies, displays digital books and runs a scaled down version of OS X. A super Newton with iPod-like capabilities. Would you pay for something like that? Throw in wireless networking to connect to your personal computer,a wireless modem to connect to the net and GPS tracking tied in with, say, Google Maps and you have a very powerful, hand held media device that could be the next “big thing”.

Of course I haven’t mentioned handwriting technology at all yet, and with good reason. I have used several different types of PDAs and never really liked the whole idea of translating my pen marks into text or reading my hand writing. I didn’t think it was that impressive then and I have no reason to think it will wow me in the future. So, I want Apple to forego that technology entirely. I want them to come up with some other way for me to interact with their new device. Just like they used the click wheel to raise the bar for MP3 player control I want something equally creative to arrive for this new toy.

In short, I want Apple to take this industry and completely remake it by introducing a powerful, easy to use, must-have device that everyone will want. Hey, they did it with the Mac, they did it with the iPod, why not go for the hat trick?