iPhone Keypad Reminiscent of Apple's Failed Newton?

The NYT's ever-intrepid John Markoff yesterday reminded those few people on Alpha Centauri who didn't know it already that Apple's (AAPL) imminent iPhone won't have a traditional mechanical keyboard. Whoa!

Of course, for those of here on Earth that's not really news. What's more, the usually reliably scoop-driven Mr. M. doesn't even have a buried revelation in the piece like he normally does.

Instead, it seems that Markoff wanted to remind people of Apple's last experiment in touch-centric interface design, the Newton. It was, of course, a bust. Even Markoff, however, concedes that the comparison is largely irrelevant.

Nevertheless, as a blast from the past here are two favorite images from the Newton days. Above right is a screenshot from a classic The Simpsons episode where "Beat up Martin" wrongly became "Eat up Martha" and below you'll see a Doonesbury strip lampooning its pure character recognition.

Comments

[Macbth:]

I would believe that Apple learned a lot with the Newton
- not to make the same mistakes.

2007 Jun 14 07:34 AM

[Tom B:]

1) the Newton was handwriting recognition-- not a keyboard at all.
2) That project was entirely during the period when Jobs was not at Apple.
3) Later versions of the Newton apparently worked better-- but I think the key failing was NOT the text entry, but the price point. They could never get down to the Palm level on cost.

2007 Jun 14 08:38 AM

[Big Cajun Man:]

And if you input Egg Freckles into your Newton, that exact comic came up!!!

Touch keyboards on displays are very frustrating to deal with, and I would not be surprised to see a grey market of external keyboard add ons to appear quickly!

2007 Jun 14 11:15 AM