Referring to Apple's strategy to focus "all of our software development resources on extending the Macintosh operating system," interim CEO Steve Jobs announced today the company is discontinuing development of the Newton operating system and Newton products, including the MessagePad 2100 and eMate 300. Apple's announcement and Newton Technology FAQ note the company will continue to sell and market the devices until inventory runs out, and will provide support to current users. Apple is trying to emphasize it's still committed to affordable mobile computing, and said it plans to offer similar Mac OS-based products in 1999, perhaps in the form of a "business eMate" reportedly in development, or as a long-rumored network computer (NC) implementation. This decision comes less than six months after Apple reabsorbed the short-lived Newton, Inc. spin-off, and about two weeks after TidBITS reported the division had been stripped of its engineering staff. (Some Newton engineers have turned up at 3Com, working on the next generation of PalmPilot PDAs.)

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