For last few weeks, Apple Inc has been part of headlines, thanks to the upcoming iPhone 5 and recently launched Mac OS X Lion. Today also headlines featured news related to Apple, which were not related to their products but to the more shocking update regarding changes in authorities at Apple Inc. Steve Jobs announced his resignation in formal letter addressed to his colleagues and Apple Community.
Steve Jobs never took engineering degree from any university but still considered as most creative mind in the world of Technology. He unveiled many products in his career at Apple, setting new benchmarks for his competitors. We at The Geeks Club explore ten products that introduced the world to the creative side of Steve Jobs.
Apple II
It was a time when computer was alien word for ordinary people like you and me. It was 1977, when Apple Computers came up with first 8-bit computer designed for personal use. It ran 1 MHz MOS Technology 6502 Microprocessor and 4 KB RAM. To load and store different programs, it featured audio cassette interface.
The product was made available at price tag of $1298. Another more powerful model with 48 KB RAM used to cost around $2368. Thanks to the expansion slots, many third party devices were able to get integrated to Apple II. It was noticeable success in terms of hardware compatibility that made Apple II popular then.
First Mac
After failing to commercially benefit from Lisa, Apple came up with first ever personal computer; the Macintosh or the Mac. Introduced to the world in 1984 through US $1.5 million advertisement, Mac was commercial hit. Termed as “1984”, the commercial was aired during Super Bowl XVIII.
It was first ever desktop to feature graphical user interface and mouse control, which proved beneficial and easy-to-perform over command line argument control featured by most of personal computers before release of Mac.
First Mac featured 9 inch monitor, 128 KB DRAM, 8 MHz Motorola 6800 Microprocessor and 16 bit data bus. It was priced at $2,495. The product was discontinued in Q3 1985 when Wintel affected Mac sales.
iMac
The revolution was about to begin with entry of iMac in consumer market. The year was 1998 when Steve Jobs unveiled first all-in-one desktop for personal use named iMac. During his keynote, Steve made audience understood meaning behind letter “i” in iMac, which stands for internet. It was also dedicated to personal use, where “i” stands for individual. It cleared company’s motto and direction of company’s development in upcoming years then.
The development of iMac, which is available today as unified aluminum body, was through redesigning of five distinct forms. It started with iMac G3, an egg-shaped all-in-one desktop with CRT display. In iMac G4, all the working components were arranged in hemispherical tomb housing slim display over it. It was iMac G5 and Intel iMac that came up with all the components arranged behind monitor itself; thus making product beautiful to look at and it also consumed less space than all those similar products available in market then.
Today, iMac features Intel Core i series of Processors and extensive storage that ranges up to 1 TB.
First Gen iPod
After revolutionizing personal computer industry, it was turn of digital devices. Instead of going for camcorders or digital cameras, Steve Jobs decided to tackle music industry that had no market leader then, as stated by Steve Jobs himself at Apple Music Event 2001 that introduced world with tiny music player; Apple iPod.
The main aim was to make music portable by bringing in a product that can hold 1000’s of songs and cost few bucks as compared to other products that were popular in market by then. Steve Jobs defined iPod as “MP3 CD player providing CD-quality music and that can play all of the available open formats of digital music”. The product stood to its definition allowing user to carry their own music library with them wherever they go. It was fastest, smartest and beautifully manufactured Apple music devices that won hearts of millions of users in no time.
After unveiling iPod on October 23, 2001, it has been updated in terms of designs and storage drastically. iPod Touch, iPod Classic, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle are some of the most popular iPods available in market today.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X was present in all Macintosh developed during and after 2002 at Apple Inc. Mac OS X was result of years spent at NeXT by Steve Jobs where he developed NeXTSTEP, an operating system for desktops. Mac OS X for desktops was first unveiled in 2001 named after big cat “cheetah” and the legacy continued till latest Mac OS X Lion.
It is Unix-based operating system that is faster and easy-to-control than that of Windows developed by Microsoft. Though Windows has grabbed major share of desktop operating systems, it’s Apple Mac OS X that stands next to it.
User friendly interface, advanced security from threats like malware and easily digestible system components like registry are some of the Mac OS X features that places it over popular Microsoft Windows.
iPhone
This part of the Apple Inc requires no introduction. We all are very much aware of what iPhone is and what it can do. This gadget has revolutionized Smartphone industry with its elegant looks and incredible functionality. Apple iPhone has set a benchmark to reach for many contemporaries in terms of design and power.
Steve Jobs unveiled iPhone to the world on January 09, 2007 by defining it as a wide screen iPod Touch featuring functionalities of phone and an Internet communicator named iPhone. After the launch of iPhone in market on 29th of June in same year, Smartphone industry changed completely.
Apple iPhone introduced world with revolutionary UI, smarter and faster processing capability and unimaginable creativity. It also introduced world with term “app” that does count for major part in our lives today. Since its launch, iPhone has always been considered as reference for comparison factor.
MacBook Air
Apple had gained reputation as tech giants coming up with unbelievable designs and extremely capable products that revolutionize an industry it belongs to. It was year 2008 when Apple announced its ultra-portable mac notebooks; MacBook Air.
Since its launch on January 29, 2008, MacBook has undergone many transformations in terms of CPU and graphics capability. Latest model in MacBook Air genre is recently launched in July, 2010. It is available in 11.6” and 13.3” models.
Many competitors of Apple tried to copy design of ultra-thin and ultra-portable MacBook Air, which made Apple file patent for design of MacBook Air. Read more about it on The Geeks Club.
iPad
It was 27th January 2010, when Steve Jobs unveiled Apple iPad; a tablet PC by Apple Inc. Apple iPad runs iOS and thus can run iPhone applications. But it’s not the only distinguishing factor. It is lighter than any other tablet in market and performs equally faster.
Apple iPad recorded breathtaking sale of 3 million in just 30 days of its launch. It counted to the incredible 75% of total market share in terms of tablet computers sold across the globe in year 2010. Today, this number has reached to 15 million counting to over 70% market share in US.
Apple iPad features 10 inch screen featuring multi-touch input capability. It has flash memory storage ranging from 16 GB to 64 GB. Our readers can go through iPad review to know more about this incredible tablet.
iPhone 4
Following the success of previous models of iPhone, Steve Jobs announced iPhone 4 on June 7, 2010. It was second new product in 2010 by Apple and tech world was shivering in excitement.
There are 8 notable features of iPhone 4 as described by Steve Jobs that includes all new design, built in antenna, screen featuring higher resolution and much more. It features 1 GHz cortex A8 processor and 512 MB RAM. Featuring front facing camera, this fourth generation Smartphone is suitable for video calling.
However, Apple faced humiliation in case of iPhone 4 due to its connectivity issue of which most of them are solved. Our writers at The Geeks Club have compared iPhone 4 with their contemporaries like Google Nexus S for our readers. Don’t forget to check it out!
iPad 2
It was success of iPad that made Apple Inc introduce world with iPad 2; a next generation iPad. Through special event earlier this year in March, iPad 2 was unveiled to the world by Steve Jobs despite of his medical issues. It was said that Steve wanted to unveil the product before some bad things happen with him in terms of his health.
Our reader can check out Apple iPad 2 review on The Geeks Club to go through technical specs and catchy features of this tablet.
It was creativity and dedication of Steve Jobs and his colleagues that made us familiar with excellent products listed above. With Steve Jobs still being at the position of Chairman at Apple Inc, we can expect a lot more to happen!
Now have a look at the failures from Apple!
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