When Apple introduced the App Store on July 10, 2008 with 500 apps, it ignited a cultural, social and economic phenomenon that changed how people work, play, meet, travel and so much more. Over the past decade, the App Store has created a safe place for users of all ages to get the very best apps and a vibrant app economy for developers of all sizes, from all over the world, to thrive. Today, customers in 155 countries are visiting the App Store more often, staying longer and downloading and using more apps than ever before.
Category: Apple History
Original Retina MacBook Pro now Vintage⇢
- This machine gave birth to a very good line of laptops.
- We should all feel old reading this.
How Far Does 20 Mhz Go Today⇢
Chris Wilkinson at Ars Technica is doing the Lord’s work:
I stumbled across a gem: a Macintosh IIsi. Even better, the old computer was for sale along with the elusive but much desired Portrait Display, a must-have for the desktop publishing industry of its time. I bought it the very next day.
It took me several days just to get the machine to boot at all, but I kept thinking back to that article. Could I do any better? With much less? Am I that arrogant? Am I a masochist?
An Interview with Andy Hertzfeld⇢
I really enjoyed this. Andy is a nerd hero of mine.
The Last of Its Kind: The Power Mac G5⇢
Yours truly, over on MacStories:
In every way, the Power Mac G5 was more than the G4 it replaced. It was bigger, more expandable and faster.
Of course, we know the trouble that came with that power — the inability to ever ship a G5-powered notebook. Even with that cloud hanging over it, this tower brought a lot to the table worth talking about.
The 2013 Mac Pro, Five Years Later
On June 10, it will have been five years since Apple first showed off the iteration of the Mac Pro that has come to be known as The Trashcan.
To put that in a little context, it was the same WWDC keynote where iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks were introduced.
Introduction and Release
This section of the keynote wasn’t a full-blown product introduction, but rather a tease of what was to come:
Late 1980s Apple Promo Videos⇢
I just came across this YouTube Playlist of Apple promo videos from the late 1980s. There are a bunch of gems in here, including this one:
Mac OS X Era Now as Long as Classic Mac OS⇢
Here’s a bit of numerology for you. Today marks 17 years, one month, and 29 days since Mac OS X 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001. That’s a strangely odd number—6269 days—but it also happens to be the exactly length of time between January 24, 1984 (the launch of the original Macintosh) and March 24, 2001.
In other words, today the Mac’s second operating system era, powered by Mac OS X (now macOS) has been in existence as long as the first era was.
The Power Mac G4 Line⇢
Yours truly, over on MacStories:
For almost five years, the heart of the Power Mac was the PowerPC G4 chip. Starting in 1999 it clocked at just 350 MHz, but by the time the Power Mac G4 line was retired, a tower with dual 1.42 GHz CPUs could be ordered. In that time frame, things like Gigabit Ethernet, SuperDrives, and Wi-Fi became mainstream.
The Power Mac G4 came in three distinct cases over the years it was available. Each style of machine saw several revisions while in service, bringing the total number of models to 10. That’s a lot of computers to cover, so let’s get started.
Unboxing an Original Macintosh⇢
A user on r/VintageApple has posted a real treat:
A retiree in my area sold me his original 1984 Macintosh - with unused transport bag! - for $200. I’ve always wanted to own one, so I was thrilled to learn that he took excellent care of his Mac and kept pretty much everything that came in the original box… except the manuals. (“It’s a Mac, who needs the manuals?“). I decided to document the unboxing, because I have never seen an original Mac unboxing posted online. I also took some shots of product and packaging details that I found particularly striking.
Video: iPod mini History⇢
The iPod mini marked a giant turning point in Apple’s music business. With its smaller size and colorful design, it turned the iPod from a tech product to a piece of fashion:
iMac Developer Documentation⇢
I’ve been checking out some cool iMac documentation this afternoon, via Brendan Shanks on Twitter:
The Apple iMac computer is a new consumer-oriented desktop computer. This developer note is a technical description of the iMac, with the emphasis on the features that are new or different from those of other Macintosh desktop computers.
Don’t miss the related USB page Apple had up on its website at the time.