Could 6, 1998: Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the unique iMac, a brightly coloured, translucent pc that can assist save the corporate. Coming simply 10 months after Jobs’ new administration staff takes over, the iMac G3 loudly broadcasts that the times of Apple quietly fading into the background are over.
The colourful pc marks the beginning of a really profitable run for Cupertino.
Unique iMac launch: A pc from planet
When Apple unveiled the unique iMac on today in 1998, it didn’t simply introduce a brand new pc. It signaled the resurrection of an organization on the brink. The iMac was greater than a machine. It was a manifesto. It tore up the beige field playbook and rewrote the foundations for shopper tech. The iMac revived Apple’s fortunes and likewise re-established the corporate’s id as probably the most design-forward firm in Silicon Valley. With its consumer-friendly options and a playful look, the iMac set the stage for the iPod, the iPhone and Apple’s trillion-dollar future.
“iMac comes from the wedding of the joy of the web with the simplicity of Macintosh,” Steve Jobs mentioned from the stage at De Anza Faculty’s Flint Middle for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, California. “Despite the fact that it is a full-blooded Macintosh, we’re concentrating on this for the No. 1 use that customers inform us they need a pc for, which is to get on the web — merely and quick.”
At the moment, it’s tough to overstate simply how completely different that first iMac (finally branded because the iMac G3) appeared when in comparison with different computer systems on the time. Subsequent to the grey or beige containers constructed by rivals, it actually stood out.
“It seems to be prefer it’s from one other planet,” Jobs mentioned. “And planet. A planet with higher designers.”
The designer chargeable for the iMac was Jony Ive, then simply 31 years outdated. Ive had been at Apple for a number of years earlier than Jobs’ return in 1997, and was on the verge of quitting. As an alternative, he discovered a lot in frequent with Jobs that his deliberate resignation became the pair creating a breakthrough new machine.
iMac G3: The world’s most accessible pc
The iMac G3 was very a lot an replace of the philosophy that drove the unique Macintosh in 1984. On the time, Apple’s most reasonably priced pc price $2,000, nearly twice what a typical Home windows PC ran. Jobs initially needed one thing stripped-down and reasonably priced, by which customers might entry the web.
Nevertheless, simply as occurred with the unique Mac, the iMac venture grew to become extra formidable and morphed into a press release pc. With its translucent sea-blue design (named Bondi Blue after the water at an Australian seaside), the iMac G3 appeared accessible and straightforward to make use of.
Not everybody preferred it, although. Some individuals thought it appeared too toylike, particularly with its horrible “hockey puck” mouse. However everybody acknowledged its distinctiveness.
Photograph: Apple
iMac G3 specs: A smash hit for Apple
By way of specs, the iMac G3 boasted a 233 MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor, 32MB of RAM, a 4GB EIDE onerous drive, and a alternative of both ATI Rage IIc graphics with 2MB of VRAM or ATI Rage Professional Turbo graphics with 6MB of VRAM.
Two different items of iMac G3 {hardware} additionally advantage a point out. The machine got here with a built-in phone modem at a time when most computer systems included these solely as elective extras.
It additionally, notably, didn’t include a floppy disk drive at a time when this was customary. Like Apple’s elimination of the three.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone years later, this prompted an uproar — till everybody realized Cupertino made the appropriate name.
The iMac went on sale in August 1998 just a few months after Jobs unveiled it. By then, the all-in-one pc had racked up 150,000 preorders. The excessive stage of curiosity drove Apple’s inventory value to greater than $40. This marked its highest level in three years.
The iMac G3 kicked off a brand new Apple period
The iMac’s colourful design later made its method to the iBook laptop computer, which additionally proved immensely fashionable. As well as, Apple launched a collection of iMac G3 fashions in different colours, together with oddball patterns like Flower Energy and Blue Dalmatian.
Apple moved away from the ultra-colorful look a few years later, starting with the distinctive white iPod. For years, the look most related to the fashionable iMac was a single skinny slab of aluminum.
Then, in 2021, Apple launched the primary iMac powered by the corporate’s speedy (and proprietary) M1 chip. Apart from a large efficiency enhance from the Apple silicon processor, the primary M1 iMacs additionally ushered in a top-to-bottom redesign. And so they got here in seven completely different colours — a throwback to when the Bondi Blue iMac G3 was the good pc round.
Did you personal an iMac G3? What did you consider it if you first noticed it? Tell us within the feedback under.
