[sutro]

That is possible. It is also possible that Apple would have thrived in different ways. There would likely be no iPod and no iPhone. Jobs would likely not be the legend that he is today, though of course he would still be in the history books. What is certain, though, is that Be, as both a business and a technology, and Gassée as an individual, are exponentially less successful now (by standard business metrics, not necessarily in a deeper sense) than they would have been had Gassée said yes. I wonder if that still haunts him, or if he has made peace with it.

[pavlov]

There wouldn't have been an iPhone, but the Newton would most likely have become a smartphone platform.

(Actually a hypothetical 2002 NewtonPhone might have been quite the killer product against the first iterations of Symbian, Windows Mobile and PalmOS on Treos...)

[tfh]

  > There would likely be no iPod and no iPhone.

Why there would be no iPod? AFAIK it's not Steve Jobs who came with the idea.

[sutro]

No, Jobs didn't invent digital audio players, nor did anyone else at Apple. But Jobs decided to pursue it as a business. The story -- apocryphal or no -- is that Jobs named Apple Computer after the Beatles' label, Apple Records. He has always been a music fanatic. It is unlikely that with anyone else at the helm Apple would have driven as hard or as far into the music business.