Apple Newton, remember that?
Right after the Apple Newton came out, I took a job demoing them in stores because I wanted one. Not only did I want an Apple Newton but I really wanted to go to the weekend class where they showed you all the ins and outs. Standing in Best Buys and Circuit City's wasn't the most exciting thing I ever did but I did really like playing with my Apple Newton. (And as an aside, my friend who told me about the gig actually got to demo her Apple Newton to the former President Bush in a Best Buy.)
So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Apple Newton – and its community! – is alive and well, WIRED Blogs: Cult of Mac. You can buy one on eBay and there's open source software for it as well as mailing lists and hardware vendors. People are even saying they wouldn't give up their Apple Newton for an iPhone, primarily because you can't write applications for the iPhone like you can the Newton.
Crazy, huh? Here I thought the Newton was dead and there's a thriving culture around it. It fits right into what I'm learning reading The Long Tail – things no longer have to be a mass market hit to be successful. The internet has enabled things to be successful even if a very small number of people (relatively speaking) are interested.
If you want a real live Newton world go to: http://www.newtontalk.net/
Thanks for the pointer, John. That looks like a very active group!