On May 6, 1998 The IMac Changed Apple — And The Entire World

On May 6, 1998, the newly returned Steve Jobs launched the first major consumer product of his second era at Apple. The original iMac was an instant success which changed the trajectory of Apple forever. “Today, I’m incredibly pleased to introduce iMac, our consumer product,” Jobs said on stage at Macworld that day in 1998. “iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh. Even though this is a full-blooded Macintosh,” he continued, “we are targeting this for the #1 use consumers tell us they want a computer for, which is to get on the Internet, simply and fast.” Jobs went on to tout the product, which was released right before the start of the following school year, to the education market.

In the presentation, Jobs compared the iMac to the other computer products on the market at the time, which he derided as slow, with “crummy displays,” and a lack of networking. “And,” he said, “these things are ug-ly.” Referring to the iMac, Jobs went on to state that, “the back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys’.” …read more >