What’s the deal with the clear MessagePad 110?

[splorp]

Look into incorporating portions of James Fraser’s Clear MP110 FAQ into the Newton FAQ and publish the entire thing as a separate document.

Here is the original email from James:

Clear MP110 FAQ

This FAQ was written with the intention of answering any
questions concerning these relatively little-known variants of
the Newton MessagePad, and of helping any potential purchasers
make an informed decision if they're thinking about buying one.

1) How many clear MP110s were made?

The short answer is: no one seems to know the exact number. It's
safe to say that a minimum of 400 were made, and that the total
number of units produced is likely to be somewhere just under
1000.

In an article, dated January 21, 2013, Macnn claimed "less than
400 units were made." (http://tinyurl.com/awyjcmb). Macnn was
contacted and asked where they had gotten that figure from. The
author of the article responded with:

While the tech news industry tends to skew a bit young, some of
us actually attended the conference that it was doled out! They
made a big deal at the conference about how many they had, and
that there was a clear cutoff how many of the developers were
getting them.

So the "400" figure given was based on the number of developers
who attended WWDC 1994 and received free clear MP110s courtesy of
Apple. If only the developers who were given a clear MP110 are
considered, the "400" figure is accurate as far as that goes.

However, while Apple did give away a number of clear MP110s to
developers, the units were also offered for sale at the event.
Grant Hutchinson (who manages the NewtonTalk mailing list, and
who also attended the WWDC '94), said in a posting made on
1/23/13 (http://tinyurl.com/bzfy2p3) to NewtonTalk:

Also, not all of the clear MP110 units were "given to
developers". I own two of them -- one is a "giveaway" that has a
dedication to a specific developer who was on the Newton team.
The other unit came with a receipt, as it was purchased (at a
special developer price) by an attendee at the event.

Grant then posted the receipt for the unit he purchased at WWDC
'94 to the list. The receipt shows a price of $499:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/9lk2w

Andrei Chichak, another Newton developer who attended the event,
had this (http://tinyurl.com/ag67an3) to say about clear MP110s
being sold at WWDC '94:

The ones from '94 were probably PVTs [Production Verification
Test] or a special run for the WWDC. Remember? These were
basically sold at WWDC as retail units, in a retail 110 box, with
videos etc.

In addition to the above giveaway and sale at WWDC '94, the clear
MP110s were also sold through retail outlets, at least for a
time.

A post found on comp.sys.newton.misc (http://tinyurl.com/b2m739l)
written by Michael D. Callaghan and dated September 7, 1994 gives
prices from Computer Town, a computer store in Nasua, New
Hampshire that carried Newton products. Interestingly enough, an
excerpt from that post shows the clear units are listed as
selling for just slightly more ($32 more) than stock MP110s:

MP100 from Computer Town $387.00
MP110 (black) from Computer Town $537.00
MP110 (clear) from Computer Town $569.00
No charge shipping over $500
Phone 800-777-1984

Disclaimer: I work for them ;-) Clear ones are limited. 

Apart from Computer Town, MacWarehouse, located in Lakewood, New
Jersey, may also have been given a supply of these units. eBay
seller "blackcatmagicshop," had this to say about the clear MP110
they were offering on eBay:

I am the sole owner of this very rare, clear Newton MessagePad
110 which I purchased via mail order from MacWarehouse on 9/19/94
(shipping slip included). Mine did not include a box. I had
ordered the standard model, and this unit was sent to me by
mistake in bubblewrap only. After talking to Customer Services, I
decided to keep the unit.

So while it's clear that MacWarehouse had at least one of this
particular variant of MP110 on hand, it's difficult to say based
on the information currently available whether they obtained and
sold multiple units, or if the MessagePad mentioned above was
strictly a a one-off for them. In any case, it's obvious that
distribution of the clear MP110s was not limited to the giveaway
that took place at WWDC '94 and that it was possible to obtain a
unit from a limited supply available from at least one retail
outlet if the purchaser was willing to pay a slight premium.

Shortly after a clear MP110 was recently (January, 2013) listed
on eBay, this post (http://tinyurl.com/aeaxqa5) appeared on
Appleinsider.com by "Realistic" concerning the clear MP110 that
was being offered:

These are not so rare. As a manufacture's rep for Apple back
then, I sold several hundred, if not a thousand of these to a
former Apple dealer in NH called Computer Town that sold them all
during a Macworld Show in Boston.

When the author of the post was contacted and asked if they could
give a figure as to how many units they sold, they had this to
say:

It was long ago but as I remember, it was just shy of 1000 units
and unfortunately I don't recall the year.

So while it's difficult to name an exact production figure based
on currently available information, it's safe to say that there
were a minimum of 400 units made; these were the units given away
by Apple at WWDC '94 to developers. As far as a maximum goes, an
exact figure remains anyone's guess, but as mentioned above, the
estimate given by the ex-Apple manufacturers' rep names a figure
of "just shy of 1000 units." 

2) Clear MP110s were given away by Apple to Newton developers.
Were they given away to anyone else?

Yes. Clear MP110s were given away to Apple and Claris employees
(Claris being an Apple subsidiary at the time). Clear MP110 owner
Michael "Mickey" Sattler has this to say on the page dedicated to
the Newton found on his website (http://tinyurl.com/a9gwt47):

Shortly after the introduction of the OMP it's larger, faster
sibling appeared: the MP 110. I was lucky enough to get a
transparent model, a few of which were made as promotional items
for Apple and Claris employees.

3) How many variants of the clear MP110 are there and what are
the differences?

Currently, there are 3 known variants; others might exist. Arnold
Kim's site (http://tinyurl.com/bfs7u97) talks about (and features
photos of) two of them:

There seems to be at least 2 versions of the Clear 110. The
difference lies in the lid. The first variant has the black
"Quick Tips" card glued to the underside of the lid. As a result,
you can see the back of this when the lid of the Clear 110 is
closed. The other variant has a clear lid, but with a plastic
grid molded into the lid.

There is also the "dedication" variant mentioned here
(http://tinyurl.com/bftz7z9) by Grant Hutchinson on NewtonTalk.
This particular variant of the clear MessagePad has the
inscription, "In Appreciation for your Contribution to the Lindy
Project — January, 1994" written on the lid of the unit. A
picture (credit: Grant Hutchinson) of one of these may be found
here: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/mghpe

The dedication variant features a glued-in card similar to the
Quick Tips card mentioned above. However, the card in that
particular variant is blank. Here's a picture of the two variants
juxtaposed, with the dedication variant on the left (photo
credit: Grant Hutchinson): http://www.freeimagehosting.net/y6gh5

Interestingly, the dedication variant also contains different
ROMs than the other clear models. According to a posting by
Maurice Sharp (an ex-employee of the Newton Developer Technical
Support group in Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics [PIE]
division) on NewtonTalk (http://tinyurl.com/bzbo3hn) dated
1/23/13:

For MP 110, there was a clear batch produced with incorrect ROMs
(i.e., they are not "real" MP110's.) These were all clear and
where handed out to employees. They come with the word Lindy
(codename for the 110) and some other writing on the back of the
screen protecting surface stuck to the flip cover. If memory
serves, the writing shows through the cover when it is closed.

The "incorrect ROMs" mentioned above were confirmed by Grant
Hutchinson on 1/29/13 on NewtonTalk when he posted the results
(http://tinyurl.com/awcugcr) of examining the ROM versions in the
two different clear MP110s he has:

My clear "dedication" MP110 has Newton OS 1.1.0 in ROM.
My clear "developer" MP110 has Newton OS 1.2.0 in ROM.