Newton (Apple)
The Newton MessagePad was an early precursor to the PDA. Originally appearing in 1993, the Newton's main claim to fame was its handwriting recognition software; a feature that didn't actually work very well. This was
memorably lampooned on an episode of
The Simpsons, with town bully Dolph recieving the memo 'eat up Martha' after writing 'Beat up Martin'.
The Apple Newton languished in development hell for eight years, with Apple reportedly investing US$100M into the project. When it finally reached stores, customers were unimpressed by the buggy software, short battery life and $700 price tag. One of Steve Jobs' first acts as CEO was to axe the whole division. Few mourned.