pda

Two 'pda' stories January 2013

Collectors: Rare transparent Apple Newton 110 developer edition hits eBay for $1,350

Originally thought to be a prototype by its seller, this rare, transparent Apple Newton 110 was apparently given to a limited number of developers during an Apple Conference. The seller estimated through his research that there was somewhere between 150 units and 1,200 units produced. These have popped up for sale online in the past, but it’s clearly a rare piece. The seller will let it go for the Buy Now price of $1,350. A gallery is below:

Qualcomm CEO discusses relationship with Apple and attempt to make a smartphone Newton ahead of CES

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs went on “Charlie Rose” last night to discuss a range of topics, including Apple.

Jacobs notably told an anecdote (around 3:00) of when he tried to persuade Apple in the 1990s to put a Qualcomm radio in the Newton PDA, but his pitch failed. He also apparently took his Newton to Palm, with it taped to a Palm Pilot brochure, and pitched the idea of integrating Palm’s OS into a Qualcomm smartphone. Of course, that device eventually became the Qualcomm PDQ. As Venture Beat noted, the PDQ is quite possibly the world’s first smartphone with a mobile, app-centered OS and cellular connectivity.

Jacobs further called Apple an amazing marketing company and credited the iPhone as helping to expand the curve of mobile. He also admitted the success of Qualcomm is directly tied to Apple’s mobile endeavors in recent years (around 13:00): “We were putting Internet protocols into the phone in the early 90s, but it wasn’t really breaking through to the mainstream.”

Check it out: