THE HISTORY OF APPLE COMPUTERS
Steven
Wozniak and Steven Jobs were the true founders of Apple.
In 1976, Steven Wozniak designed what is now known as the Apple I. Jobs convinced
Wozniak that he needed to try to sell the machine, and on April 1, 1976, Apple
Computer was created. However, the market was not ready for such an advancement
in technology, thus setting back the take off of Apple until 1977. Apple began
to increase development with the introduction of the Apple II. The Apple II,
included color graphics and came in its own plastic casing. The first real computer
to come pre-assembled, there for making it more attractive to a larger group
of consumers. After the introduction of the Apple II, the orders for Apples
increased dramatically.
During 1979, Jobs began working on the Macintosh, when Apple's "Lucy" project began to crumble. The "Lucy" project was originally Jobs idea after visiting the Xerox PARC research facility in Palo Alto. There Jobs first saw and realized the potential or graphical user interface. "I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life. Now remember it was very flawed, what we saw was incomplete, they'd done a bunch of things wrong. But we didn't know that at the time but still I though they had the gem of the idea was there and they'd done it very well and within you know ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day." So as Apple's sales began to tumble Jobs started Macintosh. The Macintosh idea was to be an inexpensive DOS PC that would be more user friendly then the hard to use DOS applications used by IBM and there clones. However in Job's stress for perfection, the Mac still ended up being around $1,000 more then most PC's. Sales still were quite profitable the first year, but soon consumers began to realize that the Mac had few applications, unlike DOS PC's with spreadsheets and databases to go along with word documents. Another draw back was the inability for printers to print exactly what was on the screen. Mac users could make documents with great fonts, but when there documents were printed, they were in plain dot matrix. This time Apple teamed up with an ex-Xerox employee, John Warnock who had stared his own company called Adobe. Adobe had figured out what no one else could, how to print what you see on your computer. With this Apple redeemed itself by introducing the first Desktop Publishing programs. With this development Mac began to lead the industry overnight.
By the 1990s, the computer market had been saturated by so many personal computer clones. Since Apple was the only one selling Macs, because of their stingy patents they began to fall behind. This was due to the development of Windows 3.0, which was able to run on almost every personal computer clone. Apple computers were not compatible with the Windows 3.0, thus making it very inconvenient for people to buy Apple computers. With so many PC clones using DOS, software developers like Microsoft were able to capitalize on a growing market and keep the consumers happy and wanting more. Apple on the other hand had fewer applications, as well as more older applications that were less appealing to the consumer. Thus contributing to there steady decline.
Finally, in 1994, Apple introduced the PowerMac, this was the first Mac to be structured on the PowerPC chip. The PowerMac was an extremely fast processor, that had been co-developed with IBM and Motorola. This allowed Apple to remain a high competitor for the best computer on the market. This is what enabled Apple to stay afloat in an already heavily saturated computer industry.
Apple began to take a turn for the worst again in 1995. Apple all of a sudden had accumulated to many backorders, and did not have sufficient materials to build them. Apple began to lose millions of dollars and during this time Apple failed to make a profit. Apple also had trouble keeping up with Bill Gate's Windows '95, that had been introduced during the summer of 1995.
In later half of 1996, Apple proceeded with a large merger, that would enable Apple to acquire NeXTstep. This program began the basis for Apple's next generation of computers, the OS. This was the start of Apple to again regain a high position in the computer market. In 1997, Apple made an relationship with Microsoft, that would give the two companies a 5 year patent cross-license. Microsoft also paid Apple an unstated amount of money, in order that Apple keep quiet about Microsoft stealing Apple's interface design. This design had brought in great success for Microsoft, while Apple was not even recognized for it.
Apple has begun to return to the positive side of their financial difficulties. They have learned from their past mistakes, and have produced many machines that are very competitive in the current market. Apple still remains to be diversified within the computer industry, whether this will help them or not. Apple should not be counted out from the top ranks of the computer industry.
Click here to read an in depth history of Apple and the PC industry!
Steven
Wozniak and Steven Jobs were the true founders of Apple.
In 1976, Steven Wozniak designed what is now known as the Apple I. Jobs convinced
Wozniak that he needed to try to sell the machine, and on April 1, 1976, Apple
Computer was created. However, the market was not ready for such an advancement
in technology, thus setting back the take off of Apple until 1977. Apple began
to increase development with the introduction of the Apple II. The Apple II,
included color graphics and came in its own plastic casing. The first real computer
to come pre-assembled, there for making it more attractive to a larger group
of consumers. After the introduction of the Apple II, the orders for Apples
increased dramatically.During 1979, Jobs began working on the Macintosh, when Apple's "Lucy" project began to crumble. The "Lucy" project was originally Jobs idea after visiting the Xerox PARC research facility in Palo Alto. There Jobs first saw and realized the potential or graphical user interface. "I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life. Now remember it was very flawed, what we saw was incomplete, they'd done a bunch of things wrong. But we didn't know that at the time but still I though they had the gem of the idea was there and they'd done it very well and within you know ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day." So as Apple's sales began to tumble Jobs started Macintosh. The Macintosh idea was to be an inexpensive DOS PC that would be more user friendly then the hard to use DOS applications used by IBM and there clones. However in Job's stress for perfection, the Mac still ended up being around $1,000 more then most PC's. Sales still were quite profitable the first year, but soon consumers began to realize that the Mac had few applications, unlike DOS PC's with spreadsheets and databases to go along with word documents. Another draw back was the inability for printers to print exactly what was on the screen. Mac users could make documents with great fonts, but when there documents were printed, they were in plain dot matrix. This time Apple teamed up with an ex-Xerox employee, John Warnock who had stared his own company called Adobe. Adobe had figured out what no one else could, how to print what you see on your computer. With this Apple redeemed itself by introducing the first Desktop Publishing programs. With this development Mac began to lead the industry overnight.
By the 1990s, the computer market had been saturated by so many personal computer clones. Since Apple was the only one selling Macs, because of their stingy patents they began to fall behind. This was due to the development of Windows 3.0, which was able to run on almost every personal computer clone. Apple computers were not compatible with the Windows 3.0, thus making it very inconvenient for people to buy Apple computers. With so many PC clones using DOS, software developers like Microsoft were able to capitalize on a growing market and keep the consumers happy and wanting more. Apple on the other hand had fewer applications, as well as more older applications that were less appealing to the consumer. Thus contributing to there steady decline.
Finally, in 1994, Apple introduced the PowerMac, this was the first Mac to be structured on the PowerPC chip. The PowerMac was an extremely fast processor, that had been co-developed with IBM and Motorola. This allowed Apple to remain a high competitor for the best computer on the market. This is what enabled Apple to stay afloat in an already heavily saturated computer industry.
Apple began to take a turn for the worst again in 1995. Apple all of a sudden had accumulated to many backorders, and did not have sufficient materials to build them. Apple began to lose millions of dollars and during this time Apple failed to make a profit. Apple also had trouble keeping up with Bill Gate's Windows '95, that had been introduced during the summer of 1995.
In later half of 1996, Apple proceeded with a large merger, that would enable Apple to acquire NeXTstep. This program began the basis for Apple's next generation of computers, the OS. This was the start of Apple to again regain a high position in the computer market. In 1997, Apple made an relationship with Microsoft, that would give the two companies a 5 year patent cross-license. Microsoft also paid Apple an unstated amount of money, in order that Apple keep quiet about Microsoft stealing Apple's interface design. This design had brought in great success for Microsoft, while Apple was not even recognized for it.
Apple has begun to return to the positive side of their financial difficulties. They have learned from their past mistakes, and have produced many machines that are very competitive in the current market. Apple still remains to be diversified within the computer industry, whether this will help them or not. Apple should not be counted out from the top ranks of the computer industry.
Click here to read an in depth history of Apple and the PC industry!
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