Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Be Productive
The iPad isn't Apple's first foray into producing a PDA, or “personal digital
assistant.” The company created the category—and coined the term,
even—with the Newton handheld. But the Newton wasn't adopted as
broadly as its upstart competitor the PalmPilot, and when Steve Jobs
returned to Apple in 1997, he killed the Newton. As Palm ascended and
Windows Mobile devices appeared (and disappeared), people wondered
when Apple would get back into the game. I think rumors of a new Apple
PDA started floating around the day the Newton died.
A decade later, Apple finally created its modern PDA: the iPhone. Yes, it
was a phone, but the phone aspect was just a way to put it into a famil-
iar category. The iPhone, and now the iPad on a grander scale, is capable
of storing and making accessible all of your personal information: your
schedule, list of contacts, notes, snippets, ideas, and doodles.
