This Day in Apple History: Episodes
Steve Jobs, rightly or wrongly, is the public face of Apple and has been since the beginning. The charismatic leader co-founded the company and was instrumental in restoring the shine Apple Computer once regularly enjoyed when he returned to become CEO in 1997. Apple is now seen by many as…
Apple has produced more than its fair share of innovations over the years, the original Mac interface being one of the most obvious. More innovative than the interface of the original Mac (which borrowed heavily from the ill fated Lisa) were the hardware innovations that powered the computer.The…
Steve Wozniak may be a well-heeled philanthropist and world-renowned tinkerer, but at one time, he had a Joe job as an engineer in Hewlett-Packard's calculator division. The job was to Woz's liking even though his efforts to join the computer division failed.Since he wasn't employed in the computer…
Apple's relationship with ChiatDay is well documented. Pundits ebb and flow about the efficacy of the commercials produced by ChiatDay but ChiatDay and Steve Jobs seem to be near inseparable. Surprisingly, there is a reason why ChiatDay and Apple cuddle more closely than a mother and a six-month-old ...
No hardcore Mac user will ever admit that Windows is better than OS X for anything, but denials aside, there are times when even the most loyal Mac user is forced to use a Windows only program. The remedy of choice in such a situation is Virtual PC, a program…
The Macintosh was originally conceived and code-named by Jef Raskin. Jef tried to keep the project under the radar but when Steve Jobs, after being frozen out of the LISA project, needed something to do, the Macintosh skunk works came to his attention. The upper management at Apple was happy…
If the Apple I was a revolutionary product, it was a revolution that many people didn't want. The reasons were apparent: the Apple was little more than a glorified kit computer and a large amount of additional hardware was needed, the power supply was absentto cite one crucial component.
There were a great many people involved in the Mac project, but no one was likely more essential on the software side than Andy Hertzfeld. Originally working on the Apple II, Hertzfeld became dismayed when then president Michael Scott initiated a mass layoff. Hearing of his discomfort, Scott…
If there was a consistent theme to Apple oversight until the return of Steve Jobs it was the presence of Mike Markkula on the Board of Directors. Widely considered the power behind the front man, Mr. Markkula, you might remember, was the venture capitalist who secured the funds for Apple…
Hardcore Apple fans remember Friday, April 30, 2005 as the day that Tiger was released. Of course, that release party was for OS 10.4, code named 'Tiger.' Surprisingly, it wasn't the first release of a tiger for Apple.That honor goes to a mass produced Apple IIe compatible machine.…
Mac on Intel once seemed heretical and now seems, well, unavoidable. But 2005 wasn't the first time Apple seriously considered supporting Intel processors. In actuality, there had been thoughts of porting Mac OS to Intel hardware roughly since the beginning of the Mac but the need was never seen as…
Steve Jobs has been lauded as a master marketer and design aesthete. One thing nobody has ever accused Steve of is being a financial savant. Steve's bank account may be heavily weighted to the happy side of zero but he didn't get there because of canny stock market trading.
Steve Jobs, it is widely known, is fascinated by industrial design. This passion means Steve loves producing computer hardware. Yet for all his love of design, Steve can manage to be a realist when serious cash, particularly his, is on the line. The hardware in question at this…
Nothing better typifies Apple's ability to innovate while also illustrating the missed opportunities that seem to be part of Apple's corporate culture than the Newton. Before the Newton, the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) wasn't a market segment; by the time the concept became intriguing, Apple was ...
Spacious hard drive, sharp color monitor, a tiny pinch of expandability, a cute form factor and a user friendly interface: it all adds up to a market moving smash hit, right? It might have, but when the Color Classic was introduced, featuring everything mentioned earlier, it elicited more of a…
It all seems quaint now, but at one time people were convinced that when the clock went from 11:59 PM December 31, 1999 to 12:00 AM January 31, 2000, society as most of us know it would be in serious trouble. The reason: many computers weren't Y2K compliant.The…
If you're an Apple fan it is often difficult to decide just who the competition is. Is Apple competing against the operating system made by Microsoft? The low cost machines sold via mail order by Dell? The Intel chip that powers most of the world's PCs? In 2006 Intel is…
Apple went public and Steve Wozniak found himself in a position he had not imagined a scant few years earlier: he was suddenly a millionaire a hundred times over. What do you do when you have more money than you can spend? If you're Steve Wozniak you keep plugging away…
The Apple III had been out since November and while it was positioned as a powerful business computer, it was in actuality, one of the worst machines Apple ever produced. Naturally no company is ever going to admit that one of the products they produce is an absolute dog, so…
When sports teams are underperforming they get rid of the coach, when businesses are underperforming they get rid of the President. The decision to fire someone when things are going poorly is the easy part; the harder question is who to hire to replace the ousted leader.When it…