Paytan History of The Mac

By Paytan Hiatt

  • Macintosh project

    Research project for a new low cost computer has begun under Jef Raskin, Apple's director of publications and new product review.

  • IBM

    IBM
    The IBM PC is introduced. Apple "welcomes" IBM to personal computing market

  • Apple Lisa

    Apple Lisa
    The Apple Lisa is introduced for $9,995; it drops to $6,559 by the end of the year

  • Apple commercial

    In mid December, Apple airs the now famous TV commercial during sign-off in Idaho market to qualify for the years advertising awards. It has only aired one other time during the 1984 Super Bowl

  • The Mac and The Apple Lisa II

    The Mac is introduced for $2,495 and The Apple Lisa II is priced at $3,495.

  • Power Struggle

    After a power struggle with Apple CEO John Scully, during which Steve Jobs is stripped operational activities, Jobs resigns from Apple to create NeXT Inc.
    The Lisa is discontinued. Some models are converted and sold as the Mac XL.

  • Windows

    Microsoft licenses some of the Mac's technology in order to create to develop Office for Mac. Later that year, the company releases Windows 1.01.

  • Mac II and Mac Se

    Apple ships the Mac II ,the first to eschew an all-in-one design and to support color, along with the Mac SE. Both machines debut the inclusion of expansion slots in Macs.

  • 1 million

    The installation base of Mac users has reached 1 million

  • Drama between Microsoft and Apple

    Windows 2.03 is released. Apple sues Microsoft over similarities between Windows and the Mac OS. Microsoft countersues, citing the companies' 1985 license agreement, and a protracted legal battle ensues, during which Microsoft continues to develop windows. Microsoft will eventually win in both federal and appeals courts.

  • Xerox sues and Mac Portable is introduced

    Xerox sues and Mac Portable is introduced
    Xerox sues Apple over Mac and Lisa interface elements originally conceived at PARC. The suit is dismissed a year later. The Macintosh Portable is introduced. Weighing nearly 16 pounds and originally ships without backlit screen. The portable hardly lives up to the name and doesn't sell well.

  • Apple takes back the lead

    Apple takes back the lead
    After having learned of the Mac Portable's short comings, Apple launches the PowerBook 100, the first true notebook

  • Sub-notebooks

    The Powerbooks line of sub-notebooks is introduced, along with Duo Docking stations the replicate the many common ports left out of the Duos to save space and weight.

  • PowerPC

    Apple ships the first Power Macintosh models, which begin the transition from Motorola's 680x0 processors to the newer PowerPC chips

  • Rhapsody

    Rhapsody
    Rhapsody, the code name for a next-generation replacement for Mac OS built on NeXT OpenStep, is released to developers.
    first iMac
    Apple releases Mac OS 8, a moniker originally intended for Copland. Since clone license agreements are tied to releases of Mac OS 7.x, this signals the beginning of the end of the Mac clone era

  • IBook

    IBook
    iBook clamshell design.The first iBook is introduced with a rugged and colorful design appropriate to education markets.
    The first version of Mac OS X Server is released, sporting many underlying technologies that will become part of Mac OS X as well as several new server technologies, including QuickTime Streaming Server and NetBoot

  • Power Cube

    The Power Mac G4 Cube is introduced. With an unusual cube design, lack of expansion options and initial $1,799 price tag, it doesn't sell well.

  • Mac OS X

    Apple releases the public beta of Mac OS X, the only time that Apple makes such a pre-release product publicly available. The move allows Apple to respond to public criticisms (such as the beta's removal of the Apple menu) in the final release of Mac OS X.

  • First stores

    Apple opens its first retail stores as a way to reach consumers directly

  • Metal case

    The PowerBook G4 introduces the metal case that has been used in higher-end Apple notebooks ever since (though the choice of metal will change from titanium to aluminum in 2003)

  • Ipod

    The iPod is introduced, first as a Mac-only media player.

  • Mac OS X 10.2

    Mac OS X 10.2 is released, becoming the most widely adopted version of Mac OS X to date.

  • Xserve

    Apple introduces the Xserve, its first rack-mounted server

  • iSight

    Apple introduces the iSight digital camera. Originally an external device, the iSight is eventually built in above Apple's notebook and iMac displays

  • Mac Mini

    Mac Mini
    The Mac Mini is introduced as a low-end compact desktop machine. Similar in concept to the G4 Cube, it is even smaller and much less expensive (and thus more popular).