More thoughts on Newton
>I don't think aapl will ever really make big sales with the Newton. It is like the Dodge Viper. It's pretty cool to look at, Dodge isn't really making money off of it ... <
Unfortunately, that may be true ... but the model here may be "razors and blades" with the real money coming from periperals and software.
> ... and you don't really want to buy one. PDA's certainly do have a market, but I don't think that the Newton( given its current size and limited real-world, non-telephone-organizer applications) will ever make it, regardless of how fast of a CPU they give it.<
IMHO, you're major-wrongo on this point. I squinted at these things for years, but I finally got a 120 to play with, and I was blown away! The Newton 2.0 is a *diabolically* clever application driven OS. It's stylus-screen interface is a quantum-leap over point-and-click.
Short of full fledged multi-media presentations (which I see people using 5300s for) I can't think of a thing I want to do with a laptop that this can't accomplish (more than 200 pieces of software and counting.) WP, database, spreadsheet, graphics, printing, faxing, Java-capable internet.
If anything AAPL has sandbagged the Newton's capabilities (and marketing) so as not to cannibalize sales of its Powerbook line.
Up till now, the Newton's major drawback has been speed, but the E-Mate 2000 will run at 160mhz for *days* on AA batteries. Portability? Convenience? Price? It weighs 1.4 lbs (20% of a 1400); Instant start up; no moving parts. small enough to fit inside a valise -- even with optional keyboard. For $1,000, compare that to any laptop (desktop?)
Also, the "clamshell" 300 model will give durable portable computers to grade schoolers for $800. 1/3 the cost of a desktop.
AAPL already has voice recognition capability in Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese. The 2000 already can record up to one hour of conversation, how long before real VR is ported to this puppy?
Fair warning to all investors -- do NOT discount the potential of this machine! (If I had any real cohones, I'd short the entire computing industry *including AAPL* unless they figure out a way to make money off the damn things.)
To appreciate it, you can't just play with it at the Wiz for a few minutes. You've got to really use it (spend a few hours going through the manual) to appreciate its capabilities -- and potential to radically alter our core concepts what we think of as a "computer".
soup
PS Sorry to tee off, but I've been thinking this for a while and your comment set me off. |
