I'll bet you're wondering why I'm smiling.

Apple is spinning off the Newton group. Spinning off, not selling. By not selling the Newton group, Apple is giving one of their best technologies a fair chance. They are giving the Newton group free rein to make the Newton all that it can be. No outside company will get to smother the technology -- I'm thinking Microsoft here.

This is phenomenal news for those of us who use and develop for the Newton (remember that Newton is the technology and the OS while the MessagePad is the actual product). It was sad to hear, but ultimately true, that many developers and potential buyers were scared away from the Newton platform because of the Apple name. With all of the Apple bashing of the past decade, it's no wonder that people are leery of choosing a PDA from Apple instead of another product. No longer will the Newton evangelists have to defend Apple Computer before they can even begin to try to sell the Newton platform (BTW, Newton Inc., I'm available for that job!).

That's just the beginning of the good news. Perhaps the best thing to come out of this spinoff is the new form factors we will possibly be seeing in the future. Apple has done all it can do to keep people from confusing the MessagePad's with "real" computers. Apple even marketed the eMate in markets where it doesn't really have any laptop competition (K-12 education and to a lesser extent, higher education). Apple doesn't want to cannibalize the already floundering PowerBook market by making a PDA that can substitute for a laptop. Newton Inc. doesn't have that problem. In fact, that should be their goal.

Does anyone remember when Apple unveiled the original MessagePad? Remember that they also showed some prototypes with big screens? MessagePad's with screens that are actually the size of the notebook that they replace. Interested? Excited? Apple is keeping the eMate, but that's fine because Newton Inc. can make something that looks a little more professional and runs on the same StrongARM processor as the MP2K and has a larger display. Now that's something that will give a laptop a run for its money.

Newton Inc. is supposed to turn a profit almost immediately, especially with the great sales of the MP2K. Remember, however, Apple already invested bajillions of dollars in R&D; and Newton Inc. doesn't have to make that up. They still have to innovate, but the lion's share of the work is already done. They could get by with modest R&D; and just churn out products with bigger screens, faster processors, more RAM, and the like for quite a while. If you've ever used a WindowsCE device, you'd know that the MessagePad doesn't have much competition in the high end PDA market.

If you ask me, the Newton's future is pretty bright.