Apple Expands the Newton Product Family
CUPERTINO, Calif. — March 4, 1994 — Expanding the capabilities of Newton technology, Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ-NMS: AAPL) today announced the Newton MessagePad 110, the most recent addition to the Newton MessagePad family. The Newton MessagePad 110 incorporates many new improvements, features, and design modifications which are based upon suggestions from customers and licensees.
With this announcement, Apple underscores its commitment to provide its customers with leading-edge technology, and to respond quickly to the diverse needs of mobile professionals.
Newton MessagePad 110
The MessagePad 110 has 3 times the user space (the amount of memory available to the user for data storage) of the original Newton MessagePad; longer battery life (alkaline battery life has been doubled and NiCD battery life has been tripled); and a fast recharge feature which enables NiCD batteries to be fully recharged in 2-3 hours. The new industrial design features a protective lid, a round telescopic pen, and a narrower, sleeker form factor. Among the new software features are:
— deferred handwriting recognition
— letter-by-letter recognition
— easier addition of new names to personal wordlist and Names File
— faster infrared transfers
All the software updates released since the launch of the original Newton MessagePad have been incorporated into the Read Only Memory (ROM) of all new Newton MessagePad systems.
"Apple continues to play a leading role in the development of the emerging personal digital assistant (PDA) industry," said Gaston Bastiaens, vice president and general manager of Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) division. "To that end we continue to solicit valuable feedback from MessagePad users and licensees of Newton technology, to incorporate this into our software development, and to provide groundbreaking solutions for our customers. The Newton MessagePad 110 brings a series of improvements to the original MessagePad, and continues our efforts to lead and define the PDA industry."
Newton MessagePad 100
To give customers a choice between the original Newton MessagePad form factor and that of the new MessagePad 110, Apple today announced plans to introduce the Newton MessagePad 100. This device will provide the new, improved software functionality of the MessagePad 110, while maintaining the popular form factor of the original Newton MessagePad.
Upgrade Program
To enable Newton customers to benefit from the rapid evolution of Newton technology, Apple will offer an attractive upgrade program to existing Newton MessagePad users. The Newton software upgrade program will give the original Newton MessagePad the new, improved software functionality of the MessagePad 110. Included in the the upgrade package will be a choice of two of the following Newton software products:
— Newton Connection Kit for Macintosh or Windows
— Dell Crossword Puzzles & Other Games on floppy diskette
— DrawPad on floppy diskette
— Dyno NotePad on floppy diskette.
The upgrade will be available starting April 1994 by calling 800-SOS-APPL.
Software additions to the Newton MessagePad 110 and the Newton MessagePad 100 include:
Deferred Recognition
Deferred recognition enables people to make notes and later turn some or all the notes into recognized text at leisure. For example, deferred recognition allows people to take notes quickly during a meeting without having to wait for recognition and correction. Later on the user can translate the notes into recognized text.
Letter-by-letter Recognition
Letter-by-letter recognition enables people to use words which are not in the wordlist, such as names, abbrieviations, acronyms and foreign language words, and add them to the wordlist quickly and easily. This feature allows people to bypass the user wordlist and the wordlist (the Newton dictionary of approximately 13,000 words) contained in the MessagePad ROM. By tapping the letter-by-letter recognizer button, users can instruct the recognizer to decipher individual letters without checking the recognized word against the wordlist.
Improved Names File Functionality
Letter-by-letter recognition is at its most useful in the Names File, where users enter proper names that are seldom in the wordlist. The increased functionality of the Names File enables people to add names to the wordlist quickly and easily, minimizing the time spent entering data.
Distribution and Availability
The Newton MessagePad 110 will be available from today across the United States in more than 2,000 computer retailers, Apple resellers and consumer electronic stores. The Newton MessagePad 110 is expected to be available in Canada and the United Kingdom later in March 1994, and in some international markets later in 1994. The Newton MessagePad 100 and the Newton software upgrade are expected to be available in the United States and the United Kingdom in April 1994, and in some international markets later in 1994.
Pricing
The Apple price for the Newton MessagePad 110 is $599 (U.S.), and for the Newton MessagePad 100 is $499 (U.S.). The Apple price for the Newton software upgrade (including two Newton software products) is $99 (U.S.), plus shipping and handling.
Headquartered in Cupertino, Apple Computer, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets personal computer, server and personal interactive electronic systems for use in business, education, home, science, engineering and government. A recognizod pioneer and innovator in the personal computer industry, Apple does business in more than 120 countries across the world.
NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh and Newton are registered trademarks. MessagePad is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. detail.
Product Specifications for Newton MessagePad 110
Newton MessagePad 110 Hardware Architecture
— ARM 610 processor at 20 MHz
— Apple custom system ASIC
— Reflective LCD display (320 x 240 pixels)
— Transparent tablet with round telescopic pen
— 4MB of ROM
— 1MB of RAM
— One PCMCIA type 2 card slot
— LocalTalk compatible serial port
— Low-power, half-duplex, infrared transceiver (up to 38.4 kbps at 1 meter)
— protective screen lid
— external charging contacts
Size and weight
— Height: 8.00 in. (202 mm)
— Width: 4.00 in. (106 mm)
— Depth: 1.25 in. (31 mm)
— Weight: 1.28 lb. (580 g)
CONTACT:
Emma Bufton, 408-974-1856, or Jennie Shikashio, 408-974-4104, both of Regis McKenna for Apple