How Apple went from bust to five million colorful iMacs sold

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  • Reply 21 of 29
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    apple ][ said:
    sflocal said:
    I remember those fun iMac years.  I also remember the shameful Chinese iKnockoff makers making a virtually identical PC-version of those iMacs back in the day.  
    Yes, not long after the iMacs were released, everybody was all of a sudden releasing a ton of stuff in the same color palettes that the various iMacs came in, just a coincidence of course. 

    The entire world was using beige mostly for years and years and nobody questioned it, that's just how things were and everybody was happily just chugging along.

    And along comes Apple and says "Screw this beige crap", and they make a super bold move with the introduction of the iMac.

    Not long after that, it was monkey see, monkey do time.
    I remember seeing toasters, coffee makers, stereos, speakers, all in the Bondi Blue transparent cases so you could see the innards. I also remember Steve Jobs talking about his father who told him that if he wanted to make quality products they should be of high quality where people could not see as well as where they could see. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 29
    john f.john f. Posts: 111member
    apple ][ said:


    The only bad thing I have to say about the original iMacs is the horrible hockey puck mouse that came with them. They were not ergonomic at all,

    I was having terrible RSI issues at the time so I was flat-palming all mice.  Turned out that the iMac mouse was perfectly ergonomic for that:  rest palm on the mouse, using the cord to aim it (between fingers), and flex fingers at the knuckles to click.   I used the iMac mouse long after I stopped using an iMac.  
    Yeah, flat mice are better for me personally. They let me rest my hand naturally on the table, instead of conforming to a large "ergonomic" mouse shape -- I get cramps when I use those mice. To me it is weird that people like big mice, but it's a personal preference, I guess.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 23 of 29
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    apple ][ said:
    Lots of products have gone through name changes and had their names changed before the official release. Another one that comes to mind is Apple TV, that was originally called iTV. If I'm not mistaken, Apple even demoed it or spoke about it on one of their keynotes, and they used the name iTV.
    I think it's just a sign Apple wanted to get off the whole "i" naming thing in general. Remember when people were calling the Apple Watch the iWatch!!!! The problem is people see Apple may come out with something new and then copyright the name iWatch or iTV, etc and then Apple couldn't use it. It's really about as dumb as putting a X in front of a name. Which is how we got XBox. Apple wanted to move away from using the "i" and instead just go with Apple. Which is why we have Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Homepod, etc. Apple is a little stuck with iOS. But they call the others TVOS, WatchOS, etc, even though it's pretty much iOS. Will Apple stick with iPhone and iPad instead of just Apple Phone or Apple Pad? Maybe it's just to late to change those names now.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 24 of 29
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    sflocal said:
    I remember those fun iMac years.  I also remember the shameful Chinese iKnockoff makers making a virtually identical PC-version of those iMacs back in the day.  
    I think eMachines or somebody eventually got sued for mimicking them too closely. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 29
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member

    svanstrom said:
    All in one designs were awfully limited...
    Not more than they are today. When we buy an iPhone or iPad or MacBook we pretty much decide which all-in-one level to "limit" ourselves to, and then we're more or less stuck/happy with that until we replace the device.

    Were the iMacs even more "limited"?! Well, that does depend on if you're part of the group of people that wanted the specs from some randomly (in theory only) built PC or not. But, most people doing those theoretical builds in their heads never even once in their lives actually built anything that came close to what they "must" have when they criticised Apple for not selling it; and at the time the games to actually take advantage of that hardware were Win-only anyways.

    I was happy with my iMacs at the time, and most people that actually had them seem to have similar memories. I actually can't think of a single person that I know that were unhappy with their iMacs.
    Yup. AIO has a use case. I switched from DIY PC towers to iMacs over a decade ago and haven’t looked back. I put mine on a VESA arm and love having a clean desk. 

    entropys said:
    Superior to competitor PCs at a competitive price. Of course the iMac did well.

    it was the beginning of great days for the Mac which appear to have ended around 2015, with the Mac Pro warning in 2013.
    Nah. I just bought another iMac in 2019 and it’s awesome, better than the 2011 it replaced in every single way. Especially love how much thinner and lighter it is (10lbs so), as it’s even sleeker and more minimal floating over my desktop. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 29
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member

    john f. said:
    apple ][ said:
    The only bad thing I have to say about the original iMacs is the horrible hockey puck mouse that came with them. They were not ergonomic at all, they weren't even optical, they had a spinning ball that would often get dirty and they were a pain in the butt to use.
    I actually prefer flat mice, instead of "ergonomic" ones that your hand has to fully envelope. I rather rest my hand flat on the table, with the mouse loosely grabbed underneath. The current magic mouse is pretty flat. I occasionally use a MS Wedge mouse that is flat and I only rest my two fingers on the buttons (horrible scrolling, though, without Smooze installed). I don't like the original pro mouse and mighty mouse that much.
    I use the current Magic Mouse, and while it is fast (unlike my honking ergo mice of yesteryear) it is also oblong, which fixes the problem he described with the original iMac puck mouse. It would spin at times, so when you pushed up it wasn’t going up and you had to rotate it back. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 27 of 29
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    apple ][ said:
    Lots of products have gone through name changes and had their names changed before the official release. Another one that comes to mind is Apple TV, that was originally called iTV. If I'm not mistaken, Apple even demoed it or spoke about it on one of their keynotes, and they used the name iTV.
    This is correct, then the British TV network ITV got wind of "iTV" and apparently wasn't too pleased.
  • Reply 28 of 29
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    jbdragon said:
    apple ][ said:
    Lots of products have gone through name changes and had their names changed before the official release. Another one that comes to mind is Apple TV, that was originally called iTV. If I'm not mistaken, Apple even demoed it or spoke about it on one of their keynotes, and they used the name iTV.
    I think it's just a sign Apple wanted to get off the whole "i" naming thing in general. Remember when people were calling the Apple Watch the iWatch!!!! The problem is people see Apple may come out with something new and then copyright the name iWatch or iTV, etc and then Apple couldn't use it. It's really about as dumb as putting a X in front of a name. Which is how we got XBox. Apple wanted to move away from using the "i" and instead just go with Apple. Which is why we have Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Homepod, etc. Apple is a little stuck with iOS. But they call the others TVOS, WatchOS, etc, even though it's pretty much iOS. Will Apple stick with iPhone and iPad instead of just Apple Phone or Apple Pad? Maybe it's just to late to change those names now.
    Seems odd to me that iOS is named as it is - phoneOS would have made more sense considering the "i*" started with the iMac, and not the iPhone. Sounds a bit generic but so does watchOS and tvOS.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 29
    petripetri Posts: 118member
    jbdragon said:
    apple ][ said:
    Lots of products have gone through name changes and had their names changed before the official release. Another one that comes to mind is Apple TV, that was originally called iTV. If I'm not mistaken, Apple even demoed it or spoke about it on one of their keynotes, and they used the name iTV.
    I think it's just a sign Apple wanted to get off the whole "i" naming thing in general. Remember when people were calling the Apple Watch the iWatch!!!! The problem is people see Apple may come out with something new and then copyright the name iWatch or iTV, etc and then Apple couldn't use it. It's really about as dumb as putting a X in front of a name. Which is how we got XBox. Apple wanted to move away from using the "i" and instead just go with Apple. Which is why we have Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Homepod, etc. Apple is a little stuck with iOS. But they call the others TVOS, WatchOS, etc, even though it's pretty much iOS. Will Apple stick with iPhone and iPad instead of just Apple Phone or Apple Pad? Maybe it's just to late to change those names now.
    It was more to do with the warning they received from the UK broadcaster ITV (aka “independent television”, as opposed to BBC).    ITV’s been established since the 1950s and is a global media brand, even Apple couldn’t pay them enough.  Given that Apple TV, the box, has now morphed into Apple TV+ the content producer and subscription service, it’s even more obvious why ITV weren’t ok with Apple appropriating their name.

    I seem to recall there was also an existing trademark on Iwatch, owned by one of the watch brands that hadn’t done anything with it, but would no doubt have contested its use by Apple.

    As for iOS, originally it was called iphoneOS, ISTR.  It became iOS when the iPhone was joined by the iPad running the same software.  Of course more recently that’s now split away into “iPadOS”, so maybe iOS will revert to its old name too.
    edited April 2020
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