Apple Newton MessagePad 110, 1994
The Newton software became known for being far ahead of its time—and for disastrously mediocre voice-recognition software. But Ive won big points for the hardware design—and with his colleagues for his work ethic and refusal to compromise. He spent weeks in Taiwan with manufacturers and labored endlessly to match the hardware capabilities to the underlying software. As he was trying to master the 3D CAD tool used to create the blueprint, "he didn't sleep for like two weeks," recalls a colleague. "He had just insane attention to detail."
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