MessagePad 2000

The MessagePad 2000 was a touchscreen mobile device that was released by Apple Computer as part of its MessagePad tablet computer line.

Release
The MessagePad 2000 was announced on October 28, 1996 and shipped on March 24, 1997 to strong sales, described by Apple as being "five times as high as they were a year ago." It was discontinued on February 27, 1998 along with the rest of the Newton platform.

Features
The MessagePad 2000 introduced a new form factor with a far faster 162 MHz StrongARM 110 processor and 1 MB of dynamic RAM. An additional 4 MB of flash memory was built-in for storage, which could be expanded through the two PCMCIA slots. The 480 x 320 LCD display supported 16 shades of gray and included backlighting. The design was carried over into the MessagePad 2100 which featured 4 MB of dynamic RAM.

Upgrade program
On November 10, 1997, Apple offered an upgrade program to bring the DRAM memory specs of existing MessagePad 2000 units up to that of the 2100. It included Newton Internet Enabler 2.0, Newton Press 1.1 and EnRoute i-net 1.4.2 e-mail client. A separate 2 MB PCMCIA flash storage card was also included for early upgrade customers, but the supply was quickly exhausted due to overwhelming demand.

Articles

 * Today in Apple history: Newton MessagePad reaches new heights by Luke Dormehl at Cult of Mac (2019-03-24)