A personal digital assistant (PDA) was also known as a handheld PC.
The first PDA was the Psion Organizer, released in 1984. This was followed in 1991 with the release of Psion's Series 3 which has a full keyboard.
But the the term "PDA" was first used on January 7, 1992 when Apple Computer CEO John Sculley coined it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. At that time, he referred it to the Apple Newton MessagePad, which was released by Apple in 1993.
As an early device in the PDA category, it was the Newton that originated the "personal digital assistant."
Newton's marketing materials promised a device that could take notes as well as any pad of paper, all by providing a simple, portable, use-everywhere experience.
At that time, handheld computers were still the things from science fiction, and Apple had an ambitious goal with this PDA product line.
"The goals were to design a new category of handheld device and to build a platform to support it," explained Steve Capps, Newton’s head of user interface and software development.
Newton was known as a completely new category of device. Running Newton OS, the device was an entirely new architecture in a form factor that represented a completely new and bold design language. After all, its original intention was to be a complete reinvention of personal computing.
However, while the device incorporated innovative technology at the time, such as a 2MB of expandable memory, the first that featured handwriting recognition, a pen-based touch screen and the ability to sync with software on a PC, Apple only sold around 50,000 units of the product in its first four months on the market.
The cause was a combination of factors, which included: the debut of the competing Palm Pilot which substantially reduced its market share, a high price and early problems with its handwriting recognition feature.
"We were just way ahead of the technology," said Capps. "We barely got it functioning by ’93 when we started shipping it."
When John Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler, and later by Gil Amelio, the product line was still developing.
But it was then in 1998 that Newton was discontinued, at the direction of Steve Jobs, after he was made the CEO in his return to Apple, replacing Amelio.
Jobs was critical of the device's performance, the management of the development team, the stylus which he hated as it prevented users from using their fingers, and also because it was a project of his old adversary John Sculley.
While Newton failed, Jobs saw a potential in the technology and the concept. This was one of his motivations for Apple to later create similar devices, but different in a whole new level: the iPhone and iPad.