One of the first products you could purchase online from Apple was a set of golf balls and tees. Not a golfer? Apple also offered a puzzle in a can, a paddle game, luggage tags, and even a onesie with the classic Mac OS Trash icon screen printed on the front. These forgotten items and nearly 100 more products came from the peculiar world of AppleDesigns.com, one of Apple’s earliest online shopping projects.
Buying a Mac in the 90s still involved finding a local reseller and venturing out to the store. It wasn’t until November 1997 that Apple launched the online Apple Store and changed the way we shop. But even before the return of Steve Jobs, Apple was experimenting with retail online.
Apple called AppleDesigns “the Apple online department store.” The early website was featured on a full-page ad in MacWorld magazine and briefly listed on Apple’s website as a place to buy “Apple Softwear” and gifts for friends and family.
SOFTWEAR!