June 21, 2010: Apple releases iOS 4, which introduces a range of productivity features as well as the FaceTime videotelephony service. The iOS 4 launch represents a big step forward for Apple’s flourishing mobile devices.
Due to the arrival of the first-gen iPad earlier in the year, iOS 4 also brings a transition from the mobile operating system’s original name, “iPhone OS.”
June 20, 1994: Apple launches eWorld, a subscription service for Mac owners that’s designed to compete with America Online and other nascent online properties. Part messaging service and part news aggregator, the early internet service gives customers access to email, a bulletin board, and software downloads and support.
Apple envisions eWorld, which runs on Macs and Apple IIGS computers, competing with heavy hitters like AOL, Delphi, CompuServe and Prodigy. Unfortunately, Apple’s online service is doomed from the start.
June 19, 1995: Apple releases the Power Macintosh 9500, a high-end Mac that boasts a second-generation PowerPC chip that’s much faster than its predecessor.
The Power Mac 9500 is also significant for having six Peripheral Component Interconnect, or PCI, slots. They allow owners to attach hardware using Intel’s industry-standard connection. Along with seven bays for internal drives and a swappable daughterboard, this makes the 9500 the most expandable Power Mac ever produced.
June 18, 1993: John Sculley steps down as Apple CEO after a 10-year run. The Apple board asks Sculley to leave after AAPL shares collapse from a high of $4.33 in 1992 to a measly 73 cents.
Sculley hands over the CEO role to Michael Spindler before briefly taking the role of Apple chairman, prior to departing altogether.
June 17, 2009: Apple releases iPhone OS 3, the third iteration of its mobile operating system (and the last before a name change). It adds Cut, Copy and Paste functionality, among the most requested features since the original iPhone shipped in 2007.
“iPhone 3.0 has more than 100 new features for our customers,” says Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, as he demos the new operating system in front of developers. “Let me walk you through just a few, starting with Cut, Copy and Paste. So, we’ve been working really hard to design an easy-to-use, straightforward user interface for Cut, Copy and Paste on our large touchscreen display, and we think we’ve nailed it.”
iPhone OS 3 also brings a host of other new features, including MMS, a landscape keyboard, support for audiobooks and iTunes video, and Spotlight search, which users can access by swiping left on the iPhone’s Home Screen. And the Find My iPhone app comes along for the ride.
June 16, 2010: Apple reports a massive surge of interest in its latest smartphone, with iPhone 4 preorders racking up 600,000 sales on their first day.
The company calls the number “far higher” than expected. At the time, it’s the most iPhone preorders Apple has ever taken in a single day. AT&T suffers server problems thanks to the demand — with 10 times the usual traffic on its website. It’s proof positive that Apple is onto a winner!
June 15, 2011: Three people get sentenced to prison in China for leaking information about the iPad 2 prior to its release.
The Foxconn R&D employees receive sentences ranging from one year to 18 months. They also must pay fines between $4,500 and $23,000. If you ever wonder why more Apple products don’t leak prior to release, this might help explain why!
June 14, 2007: Paul McCartney sings his new song “Dance Tonight” in an iPod + iTunes ad, the latest in a series of Apple spots starring music industry legends.
The new animated ad signifies a thawing of the icy relationship between Apple and McCartney, whose original band The Beatles has been locked in a legal battle with Cupertino for decades.
June 13, 2013: Apple exec Eddy Cue takes the stand to defend the company’s iBooks business strategy in an antitrust case regarding e-book pricing.
Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, runs the iBooks Store initiative. His testimony proves vital to a case brought by the Department of Justice, in which potential damages climb well into the nine figures.
June 12, 2005: Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivers a brilliant commencement speech to graduating students at Stanford University.
Packed with incredible insights, the motivational speech includes many memorable lines that capture the essence of Jobs’ incredible life — and provide a template for success through following your passions. And he does it all in less than 15 minutes.
June 11, 2007: At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, CEO Steve Jobs unveils Safari 3 for Windows, bringing the company’s web browser to PCs for the first time.
Apple pitches Safari as the world’s fastest and easiest-to-use web browser, capable of rendering web pages up to twice as fast as Internet Explorer and 1.6 times faster than Firefox. Safari for Windows will last until 2012, but never becomes a major player on Microsoft’s dominant operating system.
June 10, 1977: Apple Computer Inc. ships its first Apple II computer.
A hulking beige behemoth with 4KB of RAM (upgradeable to a whopping 48KB), the Apple II is the computer that will define Apple for a generation of fans. Retailing at $1,298, it cost the equivalent of a handful of MacBook Pros today — even though it seemed a total bargain at the time.
June 9, 2002: Apple launches its “Switch” advertising campaign, featuring real people talking about their reasons for switching from PCs to Macs. Apple’s biggest marketing effort since the “Think different” ad campaign a few years earlier, one “Switch” ad in particular turns a 15-year-old high school student named Ellen Feiss into an unlikely star.
She becomes a viral sensation after viewers suggest she was stoned while filming her sleepy-eyed “Switch” spot about a homework-devouring PC.
May 17, 1978: Steve Jobs’ first child, a daughter named Lisa Brennan-Jobs, is born. The child of the 23-year-old Apple co-founder and his high school girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan, Lisa’s parents are no longer a couple when she comes into the world.
Several shameful years follow in which Jobs denies paternity of his daughter, before they eventually reconcile.
The Apple Watch repeatedly saves lives around the world, thanks to its health monitoring features and emergency functions.
Here’s a comprehensive roundup of some of the most notable ways Apple Watch has saved people’s lives. From fit teenagers with undiagnosed health problems to car crash victims in danger of drowning, Apple’s smartwatch helps people cheat death in remarkable ways.
For the 10th anniversary of its launch, we compiled over a decade of Apple Watch history into a quick timeline. Starting with the original three collections — including models in solid 18 karat gold — all the way to today’s far more advanced (and sensible) Apple Watch Series 10 and Ultra 2.
The Apple Watch was the first major product introduction of Tim Cook’s reign as Apple CEO. There was immense pressure on Apple to prove that it could still innovate without Steve Jobs. While the Apple Watch wasn’t as flashy as the iPhone and iPad, it’s grown into an incredible business rife with breakthrough technology, in one of the most physically constrained form factors yet.
December 15, 2003: Almost eight months after launching the iTunes Music Store, Apple celebrates its 25 millionth download.
The song in question? Appropriately enough for this time of year, a Frank Sinatra cover* of the Christmas classic “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
November 17, 1995: Apple releases the first beta version of its new Mac OS Copland operating system to approximately 50 developers. Not so much a Mac OS update as a totally new operating system, it offers next-gen features designed to help Apple take on the then-mighty Windows 95.
Sadly, Copland OS will never reach the public.
November 9, 1994: Gil Amelio, a businessman with a reputation as a talented turnaround artist, joins Apple’s board.
Coming off his impressive revitalization of two other tech companies, National Semiconductor and Rockwell International, Amelio’s appointment at Apple sparks widespread celebration. Many Apple watchers think his arrival means the company’s dark days are over. Sadly, Amelio’s turnaround tricks won’t work in Cupertino.
Apple only shows off its finished products, which makes the company’s secret prototypes and early concepts all the more fascinating. Details of these first-draft designs usually don’t come out until years after Apple dreams them up and discards them. Even if you’re well-versed in Apple history, these alternate-history unreleased Apple products will intrigue and confuse.
The wild and crazy ideas go back more than 40 years. If anything, it proves that Apple continuously skates toward the next hit. The quest for innovation continues, no matter whether the company is in dire straits or cruising on success. Keep reading or watch our video to see the wildest Apple products that might have been.
June 12, 2007: With iPhone frenzy hitting a fever pitch in the buildup to the device’s launch, journalist Walt Mossberg sends the Apple world into a tizzy by whipping out a prerelease unit during a speech. The Wall Street Journal columnist is one of a handful of tech writers given early access to Apple’s revolutionary smartphone so he can put it through its paces for a review.
Speaking at The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Presidents Forum, Mossberg says he isn’t sure whether he’ll give the iPhone a thumbs up. Worried doubters immediately fear Apple is about to drop a dud.
May 19, 1980: Apple introduces the Apple III at the National Computer Conference in Anaheim, California. After two years of development, the business-oriented computer arrives to follow the enormously successful Apple II. However, for a variety of reasons, the Apple III launch turns out to be the company’s first major misstep.
The Steve Jobs Archive’s first major release — a digital book titled Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words — will arrive April 11.
Despite the announcement coming in an email from the archive on April Fools’ Day, the news appears to be genuine. And that includes the part about the e-book, which is filled with Jobs’ emails, conversations, photos and more, being free online for all.
December 14, 1999: Apple acquires the domain name www.iphone.org, prompting years of speculation that Cupertino is considering building a cellphone. While the news generates interest, some take it as a warning sign.
Apple only recently abandoned the kind of non-computer projects like games consoles, PDAs and digital cameras that proved to be dead ends earlier in the decade. An Apple phone could never be a thing, right?
In some ways, it’s hard to remember what the world looked like before Apple arrived in 1976. The upstart company made computing consumer-friendly, fashionable and, ultimately, ubiquitous.
In just four and a half decades, Apple made a surprisingly big impact on the tech scene and the world at large.
As we look back on the company’s 45th birthday this week, we take stock of 45 ways Apple put a ding in the universe. Hit the highlights in this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Get the free app to enjoy the stories on your iOS device. Or read them on the web via the link stacks below.