May 29, 1992, the then head of Apple, John Scully introduced the first tablet company Newton. The device that made its debut exactly 25 years ago had potential, but nevertheless it turned out to be a complete failure for the company. It appeared too early and marked the beginning of a dark era for Apple - then it almost went bankrupt. But Newton also saved her. Without problems that arose due to the new tablet, Steve Jobs might not have returned to Apple in 1997. And who knows, there would then be an iPhone and iPad.

Immediately after returning to Apple Jobs closed the project Newton, because of what was criticized, writes Insider. Pro. Many believed that he destroyed it on purpose to plague Scully. But was the first tablet so bad?.

In many ways, Newton was an innovative product. First, it could connect to the network and transmit data at a distance using an infrared port. Secondly, he recognized handwritten text. Finally, the tablet had a self-learning function and became better through frequent use. Combined with a set of advanced applications for that time, such as notes and a phone book, Newton looked good.

But at the same time Newton - in all its varieties (in six years Apple released seven models) - it was terrible. Data transmission was very slow. The screen was even worse. Just look at this commercial, released by Apple, and imagine that you need to do some work on this tablet.

Handwriting recognition was so bad that it became a target for numerous jokes. One of the most popular appeared in The Simpsons.

But much of what seems to us so horrible today is not the mistake of Newton himself. Simply the world was not yet ready for such a tablet:

the mobile processors were not powerful enough, the screens were not very convenient, and the wireless connection was not of the same quality.

Fortunately, Apple has not abandoned the concept of the tablet, and many ideas and developments are reflected in the iPad. In this light, Newton does not seem to be a failure. It was Apple's first attempt to create a tablet. Yes, it turned out to be unsuccessful - but after 18 years the company managed to create a worthy product and earn millions of dollars on it.