The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. An early device in the PDA category, it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Apple started developing the platform in 1987 and shipped the first devices in August 1993. Production officially ended on February 27, 1998. Newton devices ran on a proprietary operating system, Newton OS; examples include Apple's MessagePad series and the eMate 300, and other companies also released devices running on Newton OS. Most Newton devices were based on the ARM 610 RISC processor and all featured handwriting-based input.
The Apple Newton MessagePad 2100, a 1997 model, running Newton OS, alongside the original iPhone from 2007 running iOS
Three Newton MessagePad devices with keyboard and LinearFlash PCMCIA memory card accessories
The custom ASIC chip inside the original Apple Newton H1000
Inside the Apple Newton Messagepad H1000, with back cover removed
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a multi-purpose mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android, and thus saw a rapid decline in use after 2007.
The Palm TX
Psion Organiser I (1984)
Apple Newton MessagePad (1993) – Computer History Museum
PalmPilot organiser on display at the Musée Bolo, EPFL, Lausanne