I think firing the Human Interface Group was a mistake, too. I think the usability of Apple's products has suffered, and so has the usability of technology products in general.
How do you feel about it? I had a bunch of Newton MessagePad and the 2100 model was especially great.
The MessagePad UI was not in color and was less animated than something like the early released iPhone or iPad. Okay, probably hardware limitations of the time: screen price, lower power draw, less powerful graphics processing, ...
I always found the UI model of the iPhone (and iPad) limited to what the Newton MessagePad did. It is still boring in the main OS screens. Was it to reach mass market? was it a conscious choice? or was it the non-dynamic programming system introduced with the iPhone, which limits the experience?
I liked the Newton products, and used them for a while. I thought the MessagePad was an awkward size, though; too big to fit in a pocket, but too small to have a good-sized screen. It would have been better if it were either smaller, like the Palm Pilot, or larger, like the unreleased Senior and Cadillac prototypes (I had a couple of those and liked them quite a bit).
Hardware limitations did have an important effect on them. Pretty much everything you see on the shipping Newton was a compromise between trying to give the device enough power and capacity to be interesting and trying to keep it small and cheap enough for people to buy. We didn't hit the sweet spot.
Yeah, iOS gave up a lot of flexibility and capability as compared to Newton, but Steve was never going to reuse a failed product conceived under someone else's leadership, and anyway, he chose to abandon the whole idea of a device for creating stuff and went with a device for consuming.
I think firing the Human Interface Group was a mistake, too. I think the usability of Apple's products has suffered, and so has the usability of technology products in general.