Regrettably, there has been a great deal of misinformation in the
newspapers of late regarding our Newton program. An uninformed
outsider's view of the situation coupled with relentless doom-n-gloom
reports in the popular media could lead one to believe Apple was in
the process of "shutting-down" the Newton division. This is not the
case.
I want to take this opportunity to provide you with an update on our
continued commitment to our products and to you, our developers and
customers. We are committed to complete marketing and sales efforts to
launch our two exciting products this quarter. Both of these products
are in manufacturing ramp and are on target to ship later this
quarter. And we continue to develop future products.
On the marketing front, to support the shipment of the MP2000 and the
eMate 300 we are participating in a number of events over the next
couple of months including the following:
=80 Demo '97 (Feb 10-12)
=80 HIMMS - Healthcare show (Feb 17-20)
=80 MacWorld Tokyo (Feb 19-21)
=80 FETC - Education Show (Feb 27- Mar 1)
=80 CEBIT - one of the biggest shows in Europe, held in Hanover,
Germany (March 16-23)
In addition to these events, eMate 300 ads are beginning to appear in
education focused publications such as Education Week, Electronic
Learning and Technology & Learning. We will be advertising the Message
Pad 2000 between April and June in both Windows and Mac publications,
as well as general business dailies. Other marketing activities for
the eMate 300 and MessagePad 2000 include conducting direct mail
campaigns to the school superintendents in March and the MessagePad
installed base in April, revamping our website to include more
customer focused information on our platform, new products, success
stories from customers using our technologies, etc., and utilizing our
PR engine to regain momentum amongst key industry press and analysts.
On the engineering and development front, we are continuing the
internal efforts on our product roadmap for future Newton-based
products. There are currently projects underway at all phases of the
development cycle - from early concept to full development These
projects build upon the strength of the MessagePad 2000 and eMate 300
and focus on future customer needs and expectations in mobile
computing.
In light of the recent reorganization of Apple Computer, the Newton
Systems Group remains intact under the direction of Jim Groff and
myself. The Newton Systems Group continues to be focused exclusively
on this marketplace and expect to be the leader in the category. The
feedback that we have received from analysts and others who have
received "pre-release" units has been extremely positive. The
comparisons to WinCE devices has been very favorable and we are
anticipating exceptional response when we begin shipping these two
products later this quarter. Advance orders on these products is
running above expectations.
The Newton platform is alive and well, and I hope we can count on your
continued support.
Thank you for your support and commitment to the Newton platform,
together we will succeed.
Sandy Benett
Vice President, Newton Systems Group
-----
Mike Pinkerton
mpinkert@cc.gatech.edu http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/home/mpin=
kert
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