[112] in bcs-newton
Apple Announcement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff Nanis)
Tue Jul 20 13:09:55 1993
From: nanis@ll.mit.edu (Jeff Nanis)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 13:02:27 -0400
To: bcs-newton@world.std.com
Hi,
This is reposted from the comp.sys.pen Newsgroup:
Article: 1816 of comp.sys.pen
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From: Mats.Bredell@udac.uu.se (Mats Bredell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.pen
Subject: Newton
Followup-To: comp.sys.pen
Date: 20 Jul 1993 07:13:41 GMT
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CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- Apple is planning
a huge launch of several new products at Macworld Expo in Boston
and the Newton will be the centerpiece, according
to Jon Swartz at Macweek. The first Newtons, called the Messagepad,
will be available in three configurations along with some new Quadra
desktop Macintoshes.
The Messagepad is the same Newton demonstrated at the Seybold
Digital World conference. It's the classic Newton everyone who has
any remote interest in personal digital assistants (PDAs) has
probably seen by now.
Macweek reports the unit will come in three models: one base model;
one with a modem; and one with a modem and the Newton Connection Pro
kit with software and cable for interchanging data between the
Messagepad and a Macintosh or IBM compatible personal computer (PC)
running Microsoft Windows.
Specific pricing for the Messagepads has not been announced by
Apple, but the street prices will be $699, $799, and $899
respectively, according to Macweek. Swartz said the price estimates
are based on the dealer quantity price plus a ten percent mark-up.
Consumer channels are already gearing up to sell the Messagepad and
any retailer who is carrying Macintosh hardware now will probably be
carrying the Newton Messagepad, including consumer electronics
stores such as Silo and Staples.
The first day of the Macworld show, Apple is expected to have the
Newtons available for sale on the show floor. Swartz said he
understood over 2,000 of the units were being readied for sale by
Apple and as many as 5,000 units could be available for sale during
the week of the Expo.
The Newton sales may be the answer to Apple's financial woes.
Macweek says its sources report Apple has ordered 60,000 units per
month from Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, who is manufacturing the
Newton. Sharp is planning its own Messagepad-like model and reports
from inside sources in retail chains such as Compusa are stores
expect the Newton to sell big. Compared to the $3,000 plus price tag
of the American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T)/EO PDA, the Newton's
under $1,000 price is attractive to consumers.
The Messagepad also has attractive animations as well, sure to
delight consumers. One is an animation of a cloud that "poofs" away
a mistake, while another animation is of a piece of paper wadded up
and tossed into an on-screen trash can when an electronic document
is deleted.
Newsbytes saw error messages several times in demonstrations of the
Messagepad at Digital World at the end of June, including once where
the unit had to be turned over and reset. However, Swartz told
Newsbytes the current reports from his sources boast the handwriting
recognition of the unit is superb and no problems have been seen.
Macweek also reported about a dozen software companies plan to
announced software products for the Messagepad, including On
Technology, Pastel Development, Great Plains Software, and Portfolio
Systems. Other products expected for announcement at Macworld
include the new Quadra Cyclone and Tempest. Apple sources said the
company will not comment on unannounced products, but did say
announcements will be forthcoming.
(Linda Rohrbough/19930719/Press Contact: Tricia Chan, Apple,
tel 408-974-3886, fax 408-967-5651; Jon Swartz, Macweek, 415-
243-3500)
--
Mats Bredell Mats.Bredell@udac.uu.se
Uppsala University Computing Center (UDAC) Ph: +46 18 187817
Department of medical systems Fax: +46 18 187825
Sweden Think straight - be gay!
Jeff Nanis
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
