Nowadays it’s hard to think about technology enthusiasts who have never heard of names like that Mac o Apple. Not to mention the international notoriety of a figure like that of Steve Jobs.
Yet not everyone really knows the history of first Macintosh or the operating system macOS. Just as they don’t imagine years of difficulty which would have preceded the production of the beloved ones MacBook, MacBook Air e MacBook Pro.
The birth of the first Apple Mac
Il primo Mac Apple is officially produced January 24, 1984. But to understand how this result was achieved it is certainly useful to go back a few years back.
Exactly ten years earlier, the future co-founder of Apple Steve Jobs worked at for Atari to the production of video gamesbut within a few years he decided to leave the company and start your own business.
The Apple was founded on April 1st 1976 from Jobs, his old colleague at Atari Ronald Wayne and the computer scientist Steve Wozniakex Hewlett-Packard.
Also in 1976, the newly formed Apple began selling its own primo computer Apple 1which would have been sold mainly toHomebrew Computer Club: a circle of enthusiasts of new technologies, which, over the years, would include several internationally renowned computer scientists.
After going public, Apple develops its first Macintosh with a native operating system
However, the real leap that would have made the birth of the Macintosh possible took place between 1977 and 1980. In fact, in recent years Apple has sold almost a million dollar Apple II computers and, above all, it comes quoted at the stock exchangereaching a price of almost in less than a month two billion dollars.
The above revenues would have proved fundamental for the development of a new personal computer con proprietary operating system with graphical interface. The first example of what is still known today as Mac Apple.
The paradox is that macintoshat the time of its presentation, was thought of as a sort of economical alternative to another microcomputer that Steve Jobs was working on. The reference is to Apple Lisawhich however would prove to be sensational commercial failure.
On the contrary macintosh came received in a manner positive by the public since its debut and is still remembered today for several revolutionary choices.
From I work on icons and fontsuntil you get to the possibility of viewing overlapping windows on different levels. Without forgetting that the Apple Macintosh was one of the first computers to host the famous Microsoft programsWord ed Excel.
I Mac Apple senza Steve Jobs
History and technology enthusiasts know well that in 1985 Steve Jobs communicated his information to Apple resignation irrevocable. Probably following one reduction of powers and responsibilities never fully accepted.
But the company doesn’t stop and, within a few months, presents the second computer of the Macintosh family. A kind of update of the first Apple Mac, which though quadruples the RAM of the original, bringing it to 512 Kb.
Among other distinctive elements of Macintosh 512K you can mention the integration with the proprietary LaserWriter printer: a famous example of Apple products very little known to the general public. But also the first experiments of native softwareFor example MacPaint e MacWrite.
Precisely in these years the Apple Mac began to establish itself as the ideal computer for the so-called desktop publishing: activities and professions ranging from graphics and the advertising graphics all’publishing.
Nonetheless the overall sales of Macintosh continued to non to be sufficient. The main problem, according to several industry experts, was in the relationship between product quality and price.
Macintosh 512 was perceived as too expensive for the computing power that he offered. On the contrary i PC Windows were starting to make their way into the non-professional market.
Apple Macs in the New Millennium
Il Steve Jobs’ return to Apple in 1997 marks the beginning of a new era for the Mac. Both from the point of view of hardware e softwarewhich from that of marketing and comunication.
Within a few months the first iMac and the first Apple Store. On the one hand, Jobs proposes a futuristic model of computer all-in-onein which the different components are enclosed within a single frame.
On the other hand he has the intuition to create a dedicated chain of stores exclusively for the sale of Apple products. A winning idea, which translates very quickly into over 500 points of sale open all over the world.
The New Millennium is the one in which Apple forcefully enters international pop culture and in which Steve Jobs scores one success after another: starting with the digital music player iPoduntil you get to the mobile phone iPhone.
In the New Millennium Steve Jobs launches the new Apple MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptop models
At the same time, Macs are being rethought and adapted to new mobility needs of users. Thus we arrive at the first model MacBook in 2006based on Intel Core Duo processor.
And to the more specific MacBook Air e MacBook Pro: on the one hand a device dedicated to lightness and versatilityon the other a product that focuses above all on computing power.
Despite a market share fundamentally reduced, Apple finds its ideal size. Macs and MacBooks are aimed at a range corresponding to around 10% of consumers and the different products specifically satisfy specific needs.
Thus we arrive at thirty years celebrated in 2014 and to a decade of great commercial successes, but also of small, large shadows from a production point of view.
This is the case for example of butterfly keyboardwhich forces Apple to refund its users for a total of almost 50 million dollars. But also of touch barwelcomed with a certain perplexity both by consumers and industry experts.
To know more:
- MacOS, features, specifications, names, versions
- The computer: how it is made, how it works, how to improve it