A Brief History of Apple Innovation

1
A Brief History ofApple Innovation

• by
• Larry MacPhee
• Associate Director, e-Learning
• Northern Arizona University

2
Disclaimers

• The views expressed are those of the presenter
  and not necessarily the views of e-Learning or
  Northern Arizona University ?
• I have no relatives who work for Apple Computer,
  but I have made a fair bit of money buying and
  selling AAPL stock.

3

• It's really hard to design products by focus
  groups. A lot of times, people don't know what
  they want until you show it to them
• -Steve Jobs, 1998

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History

• Apple leads the personal computer (PC) industry
  not in market share, but in innovation. Apple
  introduces more new technologies to the public
  than any other computer company, and most of
  these technologies eventually find their way into
  all computers. Apple has shaped the PC industry
  like no other company. Not IBM. Not Intel. Not
  Microsoft. Not Adobe. Not HP. Not Dell. The
  following is a list of Apple firsts. Want to see
  the future computing? Watch Apple.

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1. The Personal Computer
1977
Apple II
6
2. The GUI
1984
Macintosh
7
3. Plug and Play
since 1984
Plug and play
8
4. The LAN
1984

• AppleTalk

Local Area Network
9
5. Desktop Publishing
1985
WYSIWYG
Desktop Publishing
10
6. Hypertext
1987
Hypercard
11
7. AppleLink?
1989
AOL
12
8. The Modern Laptop
1991
Powerbook
13
9. Multimedia
1993
Quicktime
14
10. The PDA
1993
Newton
15
11. Digital Photography
1994
Quicktake
16
The Dark Years1995-97

• Windows 95
• The first usable version
• Mac clones
• Stole the high end
• Brain drain
• Morale problems
• Copland
• Need for a stable OS
• Hardware Quality Problems
• Performas
• Too many models
• Weak CEOs
• Sculley
• Spindler
• Amelio
• But finallythe return of Steve Jobs

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12. The iMac
1998
Just in time for the Internet
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13. Wireless
1999
Airport
19
14. Digital Video
2000
iMovie
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15. MacOS X
2000 -gt
MacOS X
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16. Digital Music
2001
iTunes and iPod
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17. The Switch to Intel
2006

• Processor parity
• Windows on Mac

Intel
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18. iPhone
2007

• Apple reinvents the cell phone

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19. AppleTV
2007

• Apple tries to repeat iPods success with movies

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20. iPad
2010
Apples reinvents the computeragain
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The Future?

• The Post-Steve Era

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More good stuff

• http//www.apple-history.com
• http//www.folklore.org/index.py

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Why Macintosh?

• Not a major target for hackers
• Very few viruses affect Macs
• Runs the most popular software
• Seamless Hardware-OS integration
• Low TCO (Total cost of ownership)
• High resale value
• Innovative industrial design
• Supportive user community
• High reliability
• High customer satisfaction
• The choice of creative professionals
• Runs Windows too
• iOS and MacOS are very similar

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Why not Macintosh?

• Some websites will treat you poorly
• Some services come later to Mac
• Some applications may not be available
• Gaming is a drag
• Some hardware/drivers not Mac compatible
• Harder to get local repairs
• More limited shopping options
• International customers have to wait
• Costs more up front than a budget PC
• Mac haters will pick on you
• You can still use your iPod with a PC
• Apple can be fickle towards its users

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Decisions, decisions

• Is it worth it?