Radish, Keep Going!

Sep 30, 2026 · Product Management

How Palm's Graffiti Beat Apple Newton by Teaching Users a New Alphabet

In the early 1990s, Apple's Newton failed at natural handwriting recognition, while Jeff Hawkins' Palm Computing succeeded by inventing Graffiti, a single-stroke alphabet users learned in 15 minutes, enabling a $299 PalmPilot that outsold Newton and defined handheld computing until touchscreens made natural recognition viable.