eMate: Technology that never had a chance

Why did Apple consign a kooky little portable computer to an early death?

By Dylan Tweney

Mar 17, 1998 | I saw a computer last week that nearly made me cry.

This is an unusual reaction to a piece of technology, I know. Typical emotional responses in the computer business run a narrow gamut from detached interest to unbridled enthusiasm. Except for the occasional expression of disappointment over some product's failure to live up to its promises, new technology most often evokes either jargon or expressions of sublimated sexual desire.

The eMate, however, is truly tragic technology. Only a year old, Apple's eMate 300 -- an unusual sort of laptop computer -- was abandoned by the company last month at the same time Apple ditched its more famous older sibling, the Newton.

Of course, many other technology products with superior features, advanced technology or just plain good looks have also failed in the marketplace. Such failures typically evoke feelings of wistfulness or nostalgia among their fans: Witness Amiga users, devotees of vacuum-tube radios or Edsel drivers.

But the eMate is a different story: It barely even appeared in the marketplace. Commercials for the eMate never aired on television. Its distribution was mostly limited to primary and secondary schools. Toward the end of its life, the eMate appeared on some retail shelves, but even there it was hard to find. After its launch (to, as they say in the literary world, critical acclaim), Apple let the eMate founder through a year of obscurity, then pulled the plug. It never had a chance.

That's too bad, because the eMate is a remarkable portable computer: It's light, durable and cheap, and it's a highly effective tool for writing and composing e-mail. Besides, it's cute.

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