“Apple celebrated 40 years of existence on April 1,” Curtis Franklin Jr. writes for InformationWeek. “It’s a significant anniversary in any industry (and the ruby anniversary, if you’re a traditional sort), but it’s especially meaningful in an industry like computers.”
“The list of companies that have come and gone since April 1, 1976, is long and contains names that were once absolute titans of the industry,” Franklin Jr. writes. “Here’s a look at the 12 products that defined the company, and changed what we know as computing in the process.”
Covered in the full article:
1. Apple I
2. Apple II
3. Lisa
4. Macintosh
5. Hypercard
6. Newton
7. OS X
8. iPod
9. App Store
10. iPhone
11. iPad
12. MacBook Air
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Forgot one! Apple Watch.
Nice to see HyperCard on that list.
HyperCard was the thing that persuaded me to buy my first Mac. I could see that it gave me the tools I needed to create original and useful software to use with my business. Clients were impressed with professional how it looked, we loved how well it worked for us and the best bit was that the Stacks were easy to write and equally easy to maintain.
It’s such a shame that the product was allowed to fade away.
Hypercard was great, though I think it’s still around in concept. I call it the internet. Hyperlinks and all that. I think the printers did a lot too (those image printers they just kept on going) and the CD disk drive.
Not to mention Quicktime is not on the list.
More articles, more products. Apple’s watch will be on that list someday I hope.
I bloody loved HyperCard, one of the best and most missed technologies IMO.
Apple Watch? That’s hilarious. Perhaps if Apple Watch was on the list with hockey puck mouse, Newton, the “cube”, Pippin, Apple TV (1993), Performa, 20th anniversary Mac, and recent baffling bungling with and bitching about iOS update glitches. While current Apple flops are less spectacular they emphasize Apple’s supreme lack of innovative vigor. Now Apple is trapped in mediocrity where its successes are hohum and its failures dispiritingly expected.
Joe, don’t be jealous.
Stuff it troll boy!
My Apple Watch is brilliant Joe.
Take the strap off one and just appreciate how much technology is there in the palm of your hand.
I would merge Apple I/II and also Lisa/Macintosh or instead refer to Mac OS, like OS X.
I am not sure about the Newton, only because Palm did to Apple, what Apple did to everyone else and eventually Plam – make a product that every one wanted. Newton certainly had all the components, just not the sales. I don’t know about you but I recall everyone having a Plam device.
Apple Pay.
Apple Pay is changing the way we charge. Only time will tell how widespread and profitable AP ultimately becomes. The usual cast of shameless copy cats are following the leader!
Oh, let’s not forget Apple’s total embarrassment with FBI. The emperor has no clothes. This list of 12 is a mere distraction from the fundamental failures at Apple. An essay that is more Potempkin village than Pulizer Prize. A tome of ancient history rather than current brilliance.
Get back to your books son!
That way, you will stay in history far far away and won’t need to cuelessly take a shot in this forum.
My guess; you use a flip phone, internet dial-up, IBM thinkpad from the ’90 and a CRT television.
X-code. Without it, there wouldn’t be millions of apps for the phone or ipad and the entire “app economy” and the appstore wouldn’t exist. Sort of hypercard on steroids…
Didn’t the Newton and the Plam Pilot come out at the same time? The Plam was also a lot smaller than the Newtown if I recall correctly.
As far as Apple Pay goes.. I have yet to use it. If Applr Yap is going to be successful, it needs to be universally available. But so far it isn’t.. So Apple yap shouldn’t not be on that list.
No, the Plam came out after the Newton. The Newton was superior in many respects, it’s handwriting recognition was a lot better than the Plam’s. The Plam was still a solid product though.
The founders of Palm (Hawkins from GRiD Systems, Dubinsky from Apple, and Colligan from Radius), brought out the Pilot as pretty much a cost-reduced Newton in many ways.
They did a good job of trimming it down to a set of functions that did most of the basics of what people needed for an early PDA at an attractive price, $300 to $370, depending on the model ($500-$625 in today’s dollars).
The founders of Palm (Hawkins from GRiD Systems, Dubinsky from Apple, and Colligan from Radius), brought out the Pilot as pretty much a cost-reduced Newton in many ways, about three years after the Newton’s introduction.
They did a good job of trimming it down to a set of functions that did most of the basics of what people needed for an early PDA at an attractive price, $300 to $370, depending on the model ($500-$625 in today’s dollars).
iMac doesn’t count? It changed the way how desktop looks
Quicktake 100 doesn’t count? First commercial digital camera
LaserWriter doesn’t count? First commercial laser printer
Mac Portable doesn’t count? First true laptop of its days
iTunes Store doesn’t count? First successful online store to sell media legally
iBook Store doesn’t count? First successful online book store
Apple Pay doesn’t count? First commercially successful NFC payment method
Laserwriter! It allowed Desktop Publishing to become a reality.
Something few people noticed back then and no one thinks about today: (I believe it was) The Mac Portable introduced the keyboard at the back of the computer to allow for palm rests at the same height as the keys. Previous keyboards on laptops were at the front. People had to hold their hands in the air while typing, or rest them on the desk and angle the fingers up at an ungodly angle! It made portable computing much less of a pain!
iTunes — also let you burn CD playlists for free (other apps cost $$$)
Get that Lisa out!
-Put iTune, even if its a mess! it define the actual online store
-Put the iMac in there, that is a no-brainer in consumer computer.
-Their retail Apple store. Hey! they redifine the store experience.
-Postscript, develop with with the lasy, non-avangarde Adobe.
– Apple pay
-Apple watch
-…
Pfffffff….
Really? Where is iMac, iOS, iTunes, Laserwriter, original Apple Mouse, Powerbook, Quicktime, and Airport. Uh… without the iMac there may not have been an Apple left to make half the products on the list. Also what “journalist” doesn’t take five minutes to do some research, like search top Apple products. Lets not forget iTunes helped turn the fortune of the company around forever. The iPod would have been just another MP3 player without iTunes. Postscript and the Laserwriter revolutionized the computing industry and journalism lest he forgot. Powerbook brought us the now standard laptop design, pushing the keyboard forward, palm rests, and gave us the trackpad (oops there is another product that changed things). QuickTime kickstarted digital video. Airport brought Wi-Fi to the masses, and did it before any other Computer company.
It’s a good starter list , but lets improve it:
Apple I / Apple II
Lisa / Macintosh
– Newton
+ iMac
+ iTunes / Music
+ Pay or Watch (can’t decide)