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Remember when PDAs first came out? We were paying $300+ for something with 8MB RAM and a black-and-white LCD.

Actually, I do remember when PDAs first came out. I even bought a second-generation Palm Pilot Personal (back when they were still "U.S. Robotics"). US$200...

The first Newton MessagePad was $800.

Also, the first Palm device, the Pilot, was shipped by a company called Palm Computing, Inc., whose CEO was Jeff Hawkins. The company started in 1992 developing software for the GRiDPad, then later for the Newton and also for the Zoomer. Only rather later did they decide to go it on their own, after Apple kept going for more advanced machines rather than smaller, simpler, cheaper ones. At that point they got a $44 million stock infusion from US Robotics to put out the Pilot.

The Pilot cost $300.

After 30 years, they finally made it.

http://www.billzarchy.com/clips/clips_apple_nav.ht m

As part of the demo, the Apple guys showed us a video of upcoming technology, including a computer that folded like a book. The computer used an "avatar" that the user controlled by speaking naturally, as if to a person.

Ah, that would be "Knowledge Navigator," John Sculley's attempt at being a visionary. KN was what he wanted the Newton to eventually become. The video was originally made in the late 80's-- now it's almost 20 years later, and we're still quite a bit away from a device that can do what KN is capable of.

~Philly

Actually, the Newton was the fruition of some concepts dreamt of years before which were bound together into a concept design called the Knowledge Navigator.

This Knowledge Navigator also is the origin of Bill Atkinson's HyperCard and HyperScript language, the later being the ancestor of what became the AppleScript language.

Nah.

An iPhone is not just a big move for Apple -- it's a HUGE move. Something like the iPad would make a lot more sense.

Apple can create a web pad device that has mobility built in (thanks to Airport aka 802.11b) and because of the Unix OS features the device could just be a terminal extension to a large nearby desktop. You can take it into the living room and surf while you watch TV, or even talk on the phone using Apple's new iPhone program (with voice recognition no doubt!). They also have handwriting recognition built-in to 10.2 which is great for filling out forms while surfing.

The iPad makes more sense since it replaces the iBook as the low-end laptop and can be sold to Apple fans and new users alike. It's just less of a stretch than a phone and closer to Apple's roots of inventing new computing devices.
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This thing has already been dreamed up by Apple more than 10 years ago.

See their Knowlege Navigator QuickTime movie.