Is that some sort of iPad prototype? Nope, it’s a Newton: the original tablet, or at least the first PDA. Moi found Jaco‘s first Newton: a MessagePad 120 circa 1992. We took out the old batteries from the Newton and its the external 2400 bps Apple Newton Fax Modem which had luckily not leaked.
Plug it in to the wall and voilá! It works, and it still has a bunch of contacts stored from the mid nineties. These things were really, really nice and at least a full decade ahead of their time.
That's my reflection, not my photo... the screen is greyscale.
The resemblance between the old Newton ad and the new iPad ad is uncanny but not coincidental, a homage if you may. If you think the iPad is futuristic or ahead of its time – or magical even, then you probably didn’t get to play with a Newton when it first came out. My brother owned two and it was the coolest piece of technology. But it didn’t do as well: In it’s five years of existence, 200,000 Newtons were sold. In its first day, 300,000 iPads were sold.
