Apple MessagePad Awarded Best Hand-Held Product of the Year
CUPERTINO, Calif. — April 20, 1995 — In another solid declaration of customer acceptance, Apple Computer, Inc.'s Power Macintosh systems received top honors in the 1995 BYTE Magazine Readers' Choice Awards. The Power Macintosh series was awarded the premier "Best Hardware Product of the Year," while the Apple MessagePad series was voted "Best Hand-held Product of the Year" for the second year in a row. BYTE's annual awards are considered a leading indicator of product acceptance and satisfaction among "real world" users.
BYTE's 1995 Readers' Choice Awards were compiled through a random poll of nearly 500,000 technically savvy subscribers who were asked to identify the best products in a total of 40 hardware and software categories.
"This has been a phenomenal year for the Power Macintosh," said Howard Lee, senior vice president of Apple's Macintosh Systems Division. "The Power Mac line recently celebrated a successful first year amidst strong sales, widespread developer support and industry praise. The addition of BYTE's Readers' Choice Award validates our efforts to bring RISC to the desktop and confirms that the Power Macintosh delivers an unparalleled combination of power, price/performance and compatibility to personal computer customers."
About the Power Macintosh
Introduced on March 14, 1994 the Power Macintosh is the first mainstream personal computer to bring the advantages and power of RISC (reduced instruction set computing) technology to desktop computer users. The Power Macintosh line — the Power Macintosh 6100/66, 6100 DOS Compatible, 7100/80, 8100/100 and 8100/110 computers — comprises the industry's highest-performing line of personal computers that are easy-to-use, offer superior price/performance and are compatible with DOS and Windows applications through optional hardware or software. Since the introduction of Power Macintosh in mid-March '94, Apple has become the largest manufacturer of RISC computers — having shipped more RISC-based systems than all other RISC computer manufacturers combined during the past year.
Best Hand-held Product of the Year
According to Shane Robison, vice president of the Newton Systems Group: "Customers across a wide variety of markets have clearly voted the Newton Operating System as the platform of choice for Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) products. Licensees and Apple are further refining and developing their respective products according to the market's requirements. The BYTE award and the March Computer Currents Award for the best Hand-Held/Personal Digital Assistant are ringing endorsements of Apple's PDA product strategy from the people who matter most — our customers."
Launched in August, 1993 at MacWorld Boston, the Apple MessagePad (based on the Newton Operating System) heralded the beginning of a brand new class of computing product: the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Conceived as a hand-held device to capture, organize and communicate information, the Apple MessagePad was joined by the Sharp ExpertPad as the first Newton-based devices on the market. In March, 1994, in response to customer feedback, a newly revamped MessagePad 110 was launched with more memory, greater battery life, revised industrial design and better handwriting recognition. In January, 1995, Motorola launched Marco, a Newton-based product featuring integrated wireless communications. In the same month, Apple launched the MessagePad 120, with an improved screen, more memory, revised industrial design, and a host of wireless and wireline communications capabilities. There are currently more than 100 commercial applications, 300 vertical market applications and more than 600 shareware titles available for Newton-based devices.
Additional Industry Praise
In addition to BYTE Readers' choosing the Power Macintosh as the best hardware product of the year, numerous industry publications have also recognized the significance of these products including:
Power Macintosh Awards
— New Media Magazine
Awesome Award for the Power Macintosh 8100
— Byte Magazine
Award of Excellence for Power Macintosh line
— PC Magazine Italy
Editor's Choice Award for Best Product in 1994 awarded to Power
Macintosh
— MacUser Magazine
Eddy Award for Hardware Product of the Year — Power Macintosh
6100/60
— MacWorld Magazine
World Class Award for Most Promising Newcomer, Hardware — Power
Macintosh
— Popular Science
Best of What's New Award — the Power Macintosh line
— MacHome Journal
Readers' Choice Award for the Favorite Macintosh — Power Mac 7100/66
— ComputerLife Magazine
Best of the Best Award for the Power Macintosh 7100/66
— BusinessWeek
Best Products of 1994 Award for Power Macintosh/PowerPC
— PC Magazine UK
Technical Innovation Award for Best Desktop System for Power Mac
8100/80
— InformationWeek
Most Important Products of 1994 for the Power Macintosh Product
Line
— Publish Magazine
Impact Award for Power Macintosh
— MacUser UK
Product of the Year for Power Macintosh family
— Univers Mac
Most Innovative Product for the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS
Compatible
— AV Video Magazine
1995 Platinum Award for Outstanding Achievement — Power
Macintosh 8100/80
Apple MessagePad Awards for 1994-1995
— Computer Currents
Best Hand-Held/Personal Digital Assistant
— EMMSy Electronic Mail Industry
Hardware of the Year (second year running)
— Popular Mechanics Magazine
Design and Engineering Award
— Fortune Magazine
Handheld Product of the Year
— Byte Magazine
Award of Excellence and Best Handheld/PDA – 1994
Apple Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq-NNM: AAPL), a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy-to-use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education, consumer, scientific & engineering and government markets in over 140 countries.
NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, and Newton are registered trademarks and Power Macintosh and MessagePad are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.
CONTACT:
Amy Kavanaugh of Apple Computer, 408-974-5430;
or
Jeni Johnstone of Regis McKenna, 408-974-2589