The Mac turns 25 year’s old today, giving Apple fans yet more reason to celebrate following its record breaking financials reported yesterday, which pointed to quarterly earnings at $10 billion.The first Macintosh appeared back in 1984. The key differentiator between Apple’s offering and the rest of the market back then was a similar picture to today – more than half an eye on style and a simpler user interface was employed, in order to appeal to as many people as possible. Also like today’s Apple products, those early models had a premium price tag attached, which some say veers away from the mission statement slightly.
Since the year was 1984, some bright spark in the marketing department decided to theme the launch advert on George Orwell’s dystopian novel of the same name. You can see the (very eighties) advert here.
CEO Steve Jobs left soon after the initial Macintosh launch, and Apple struggled to maintain the initial success. In the summer of 1985 the firm laid off 1,200 employees.
The firm chugged along in the years that followed, enjoying moderate successes with products such as the Newton Message Pad and subsequent Macintosh machines.
Jobs rejoined the firm in the late nineties. He is thought of in some circles to be almost solely responsible for the firm’s return to the forefront of the technology industry.
New stylised Macs appeared soon after Jobs’ return, attracting a wider consumer base and cementing the brand as a high-end, stylised, and user friendly alternative to PCs.
These days, products such as the iPhone and iPod are the firm’s chief breadwinners, though the Macintosh still represents a significant part of the business.
A comprehensive history of the Mac and Apple can be found here.
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