One of the first things Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple in 1997 was to kill off the Newton. However even after that, they continued to renew the trademark – until now. Patently Apple reports that it has finally abandoned the Newton trademark, officially on February 12, 2013.
The Newton was never a terrible product, but it just came at the wrong time for Apple. It was cut more for financial reasons than anything else. However there was absolutely no reason to keep paying for something not is use, so it makes perfect sense. In fact, you wonder why it didn’t happen earlier.
