Apple’s Timeline 1.0.9

You can benefit from knowing the history of something (or someone) in at least three ways. You can gain (1) a perspective as to when important events took place, (2) a context as to how they relate to each other and why, and (3) an appreciation as to how the thing (or person) was then and is now.

You should keep in mind the very good saying, “Before you drink from a stream, you should consider its source,” and there is certainly no shortage of sources for the history of Apple Computer, Inc. — books like “Apple Confidential,” videos like “Pirates of Silicon Valley,” and websites like applehistory.com, and many more listed at the end of this document.

You will find each source has its own way of presenting its history of Apple Computer, Inc., most of which focus on one part for a moment, then another part for a moment, without being clear how one part affected the other, or that many parts were happening at the same time. For this presentation, we have chosen to present the history of Apple Computer, Inc., as a timeline. Enjoy!

Apr ’76  Jobs (21), Wozniak (25) and Ron Wayne (41) found Apple

Apr ’76  Apple I ships ($666)

Jan ’77  Jobs, Woz and Mike Markkula (34) incorporate Apple

Apr ’77  Apple logo is created

May ’77  Mike Scott of Nat’l Semiconductor is hired as CEO

Jun ’77  Apple II ships ($1,298)

May ’79  Jef Raskin sets the Macintosh’s initial design specifications — all-in-one case,
         portable, <20 lbs, 4"-5" screen, 5 1/4" floppy, 64K RAM,
         no internal expansion slots. For its 1st two years, Jobs hates it

Jun ’79  Apple SilenType, Apple’s 1st printer, ships

Nov ’79  Jobs visits Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), sees its Alto, a computer
         built in ’73 just sitting there, w/ many 1sts — like ethernet, three-button mouse,
         bitmapped characters, a pointer, pop-up menus, overlapping windows, scrollbars
         — that if sold, would have cost ~$40,000. Jobs instructs his Lisa project to work
         in that direction. Apple didn’t get blueprints from Xerox, but rather inspiration.
         Eventually more than 15 employees leave Xerox for Apple. But Lisa creates its
         own 1sts — like the menubar, pull-down menus, one-button mouse, cutting &
         pasting, the clipboard, and the trash can

Sep ’80  Michael Spindler joins Apple as a marketing manager of European operations

Oct ’80  Jobs is removed from the Lisa project

Dec ’80  Apple’s stock goes public, and closes at $29/share

Jan ’81  Jobs takes over the Mac project, flies a pirate flag, and raids the Lisa project of
         technology and people, so the Mac doesn’t rip off Xerox, it rips off Lisa

Feb ’81  Chiat/Day becomes Apple’s ad agency

Mar ’81  Markkula replaces Scott as CEO

Aug ’81  IBM PC ships

Sep ’81  Apple ProFile (5MB HD) ships ($3,499)

Jan ’82  Jobs gets Gates to agree to not create mouse-based business, database or
         financial applications for non-Apple computers

Jul ’82  Apple Dot Matrix Printer ships ($2,195)

Jul ’82  Apple’s stock hits a low of $5.50/share Jan ’83  Apple IIe ($1,395) and Lisa ship (5MHz 68000 processor, 1MB RAM,          5MB HD, 12" mono screen, one-button mouse, seven apps, 48 lbs, $9,995) Apr ’83  John Sculley (of Pepsi-Cola) replaces Markkula as CEO May ’83  Apple enters the Fortune 500 at #411 ___ ’83  Guy Kawasaki is hired to evangelize the Macintosh to software developers Sep ’83  “1984” was originally for the Apple II. The director had difficulty casting          the heroine because most professional models and actresses auditioning          got dizzy spinning, and Big Brother was originally silent, but the director          wanted some lines Oct ’83  “1984” plays to Apple Sales Reps in Hawaii — they love it Dec ’83  “1984” plays to Apple’s Board of Directors — they hate it

Dec ’83  “1984” airs at 1am in Idaho to qualify for that year’s advertising awards

Dec ’83  Net sales for ’83 hit $1 billion

Jan ’84  “1984” airs at SuperBowl XVIII, and as a 30 second version in theaters          for weeks Jan ’84  Jobs introduces Macintosh (8MHz 68000 processor, 128K RAM,          3 1/2" floppy, 9" display, 17 lbs, MacPaint and MacWrite, $2,495) Jan ’84  Apple Personal Modem ships (300 Baud, $300; 1200 Baud, $500) Jun ’84  Apple ImageWriter ships ($675) Aug ’84  Mac 512K ships

Jan ’85  “Lemmings” fails miserably

Jan ’85  Mac XL ships (essentially a Lisa 2 renamed w/ a Mac emulator)

Feb ’85  Jobs and Woz receive National Technology Medals from President Reagan

Feb ’85  Woz leaves Apple

Mar ’85  Apple LaserWriter ships ($6,999)

Apr ’85  Lisa is discontinued

Jun ’85  Gates encourages Apple to license the Mac OS, but Gassée and Sculley say no

 in ’85  Spindler is promoted to VP of Int’l Sales and Marketing

Jul ’85  AppleLink opens to connect employees, dealers, developers, suppliers,
         vendors, etc., via e-mail

Sep ’85  Jobs leaves Apple, and founds NeXT

Oct ’85  Sculley and Gates sign an agreement that Microsoft can use
         some Mac technology and will therefore continue to make Word and Excel

Nov ’85  Windows 1.01 ships

Dec ’85  Net sales for ’85 nears $2 billion

Jan ’86  Mac Plus ships

Feb ’86  Jobs invests $10 million in Pixar

Apr ’86  Apple buys a Cray supercomputer (~$15 million) to design future hardware and
         software

Apr ’86  BBDO replaces Chiat/Day as Apple’s ad agency

Apr ’86  KanjiTalk ships

Jun ’86  NeXT logo is unveiled

Feb ’87  Perot invests $20 million into NeXT

Mar ’87  Mac II ($3,898) and SE ship

___ ’87  Sculley releases his autobiography, “Odyssey”

___ ’87  Kawasaki leaves Apple, and founds ACI US, maker of 4D database software

Mar ’87  Newton project starts

Aug ’87  Hypercard ships

Jan ’88  Windows 2.03 ships

Mar ’88  Apple files a lawsuit against Microsoft and Windows

Mar ’88  AppleCD ships ($1,199)

 in ’88  Sculley opens AppleTV for satellite meetings

 in ’88  Spindler is promoted to Senior VP, then to President of Apple Europe

Jun ’88  System 6 ships

Aug ’88  Apple Scanner ships ($1,799)

Oct ’88  NeXT ships its 1st computer (25MHz 68030 processor, 8MB RAM
         expandable to 16MB, 250MB HD, 17" mono display, $6,500)

Mar ’89  Apple 21" Monochrome Display ships ($2,149) Jul ’89  Apple sells all 3.4 million shares of its Adobe stock  in ’89  Spindler is promoted to Senior VP of Apple Sep ’89  Mac IIci and Portable ship (16MHz 68000, 1MB RAM expandable to 4MB,          40MB HD, 10" B&W active-matrix screen, 16 lbs, $5,799) Sep ’89  NEXTSTEP 1.0 ships Dec ’89  Xerox files a lawsuit against Apple Dec ’89  Net sales for ’89 surpass $5 billion

Jan ’90  Spindler replaces Gassée as Chief Operating Officer, and
         is instructed by Sculley to search for a buyer

Mar ’90  Xerox’s lawsuit against Apple is dismissed

May ’90  Windows 3.0 ships

Sep ’90  NeXT ships its 2nd wave of computers and NEXTSTEP 2.0
         (25MHz 68040 processors, $4,995-$7,995)

Oct ’90  Apple almost merges w/ Sun

Oct ’90  Mac Classic, IIsi, and LC ship

Feb ’91  Gil Amelio arrives at Nat’l Semiconductor as Chairman, President and CEO.
         Nat’l is near bankruptcy w/ four consecutive annual losses

Mar ’91  StyleWriter ships

Apr ’91  Apple’s stock hits a high of $73.25/share

Apr ’91  Apple privately demonstrates to IBM Apple’s secret object oriented
         operating system, “Pink,” running on an IBM PS/2, making it look like
         a Mac running System 7

May ’91  System 7 and QuickTime 1.0 ship

Jun ’91  Perot resigns from NeXT’s Board of Directors Oct ’91  Apple 21" Color Display ships Oct ’91  Mac Classic II, PowerBook 100, 140, 170, and Quadra 700, 900 ship          (PowerBook 100 is 16MHz 68000 processor, 2MB RAM expandable to 8MB, 20 MB HD,          9" B&W passive-matrix screen, 5 lbs, $2,500. PowerBook 170 is 25MHz 68030 processor,          2MB RAM expandable to 8MB, 40MB HD, 10" B&W active-matrix screen, 7 lbs, $4,600) Oct ’91  Apple and IBM publicly partner for PowerPC, and form          Kaleida to create a multimedia engine and Taligent to complete Pink Dec ’91  Net sales for ’91 surpass $6 billion

Jan ’92  Sculley champions Personal Digital Assistants, and creates the PDA market

Feb ’92  Novell meets w/ Apple to port the Mac OS to Intel processors,
         a project codenamed Star Trek. Sculley meets w/ Intel CEO Andy Grove
         who agrees to help

___ ’92  Windows 3.1 ships

Jul ’92  Apple almost merges w/ Kodak

Jul ’92  Claris has a working prototype of a Mac OS clone, but
         Spindler and Sculley nix it

Aug ’92  System 7.1 ships

Sep ’92  NEXTSTEP 3.0 ships

Oct ’92  Star Trek gets “Welcome to Macintosh” splash screen, Finder and QuickTime
         running on a 486, but 3rd-party Mac apps will have to be recompiled to run in it

Dec ’92  Apple pays AOL for core software for eWorld

 in ’92  Mac IIvi, IIvx, LC II, Performa 200, 400, 600, PowerBook 145, 160, 180,
         Duo 210, Duo 230, and Quadra 950 ship

Feb ’93  NeXT discontinues its hardware

Apr ’93  Apple almost merges w/ AT&T Apr ’93  Japanese Language Kit ships Jun ’93  Spindler (“the Diesel”) replaces Sculley as CEO Jun ’93  Star Trek loses its funding due to a conflict of interest w/ Apple’s          partnership w/ IBM and Motorola for PowerPC, as well as due to          funding of Kaleida, Taligent, and forthcoming Newton and Power Macs

Jun ’93  Spindler changes his mind about licensing, and says Apple will license
         the Mac OS by the end of ’94

 in ’93  Mac Centris 610, 650, 660av, Color Classic, LC III, 475, 520, Mac TV,
         Performa 460 series, 550, PowerBook 165, 165c, Duo 250, 270c,
         Quadra 605, 610, 650, 660av, 800, 840av, and
         WorkGroup Server 60, 80, 95 ship

Jul ’93  Spindler closes AppleTV

Aug ’93  Apple’s lawsuit against Microsoft and Windows is dismissed Aug ’93  Newton MessagePad ships (20MHz ARM processor, 640K RAM, .90 lbs, $699) Aug ’93  IBM requests a license for the Mac OS for CHRP (the PowerPC          Common Hardware Reference Platform), but Apple says no, so Nov ’93  IBM announces PReP (the PowePC Reference Platform, CHRP w/o the Mac OS)

Nov ’93  Apple II is discontinued

Dec ’93  Net sales for ’93 hit $8 billion

Jan ’94  eWorld opens its doors

Feb ’94  Color StyleWriter Pro and QuickTime 2.0 ship

Mar ’94  “Copland” is publicly announced

Mar ’94  Power Mac 6100, 7100 and 8100, and Insignia Solutions’ SoftWindows ship
         (base 6100 is 60MHz 601 processor, 8MB RAM expandable to 72MB, 160MB HD, ~$1,800.
         max 8100 is 80MHz 601 processor, 16MB RAM expandable to 264MB, 1GB HD, CD, ~$6,000)

Jun ’94  Apple’s stock hovers around $27/share

 in ’94  Mac LC 550, 575, 630, Performa 570 series, 630 series, 6110 series,
         Power Mac 6100, 7100, 8100, PowerBook 150, 520, 520c, 540, 540c,
         Duo 280, 280c, Quadra 610 DOS Compatible, 630, and
         WorkGroup Server 6150, 8150, 9150 ship

Oct ’94  IBM offers to buy Apple for $40/share

Nov ’94  Amelio joins Apple’s Board of Directors

Nov ’94  System 7.5 ships

Dec ’94  Apple’s holiday season is a disaster, w/ excess inventory of low-end Macs, and
         no inventory on high-end Macs

Dec ’94  Kaleida ships ScriptX

Dec ’94  Power Computing licenses the Mac OS

Jan ’95  NeXT reports its 1st annual profit

Jan ’95  Radius licenses the Mac OS

Feb ’95  Nat’l Semiconductor reports its 3rd consecutive annual profit

Apr ’95  Canon offers to buy Apple for $54/share

May ’95  Apple tries to sells itself to Compaq, HP, Sony, and Toshiba

May ’95  Gateway almost licenses the Mac OS

Jun ’95  Backorders reach $1 billion

Jun ’95  Kawasaki returns to evangelize Apple

Jun ’95  Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS ships

Jun ’95  Apple’s stock hits a high of $49.38/share

 in ’95  Mac LC 580, 630 DOS Compatible, 5200, 5300,
         Performa 580, 640 DOS Compatible, 5200 series, 6200 series, 6300 series,
         Power Mac 7200, 7500, 8500, 9500, and PowerBook 190, 2300, 5300
         (The Power Mac 7500 is Apple’s 1st to use PCI internal expansion slots instead of NuBus
          and to sport an upgradeable processor, instead of requiring a full logic- or motherboard upgrade)

Jul ’95  Taligent ships CommonPoint

Aug ’95  “Copland” is to be in user’s hands by mid-’96

Aug ’95  Windows 95 ships

Aug ’95  Two pre-production PowerBook 5300s catch fire —
         one at an Apple programmer’s home, one at its factory in Singapore —
         because Sony’s Lithium-Ion battery overheated and exploded,
         which triggers a recall, but none catch fire w/ customers
         (The PowerBook 5300 is Apple’s 1st PowerPC PowerBook. A base 5300 is 100MHz 603 processor,
         8MB RAM expandable to 64MB, 500MB HD, 9.5" greyscale passive-matrix screen, 6 lbs, ~$2,199.
         A max 5300 is 117MHz 603 processor, 32MB RAM expandable to 64MB, 1.1GB HD,
         10.4" color active-matrix screen, 6 lbs, ~$6,499)

Sep ’95  Apple’s stock closes below $40/share

Nov ’95  Kaleida is discontinued. Its technology becomes QuickTime classes for Java

Nov ’95  Pixar releases “Toy Story”

Nov ’95  Pixar’s stock goes public, and closes at $39/share

Dec ’95  Apple almost sells itself to Philips

Dec ’95  Taligent is discontinued. Its technology becomes
         Mac OS 8’s Text Encoding Converter

Dec ’95  Net sales for ’95 hit a high of $11.3 billion

Jan ’96  Apple’s stock closes below $30/share

Jan ’96  Sun offers to buy Apple for $23/share

Jan ’96  Apple’s Board of Directors says it supports Spindler, then a week later Feb ’96  Amelio (“the Doctor”) replaces Spindler as CEO Feb ’96  Motorola licenses the Mac OS, and can sub-license it to others,          though those Mac clones must be certified by Apple Mar ’96  eWorld closes its doors

Apr ’96  3Com ships its PalmPilot ($300)

Apr ’96  “Copland” is to be in user’s hands by Jan ’97

Apr ’96  NeXT’s WebObjects ships

Apr ’96  “Mission Impossible” hits w/ tie-in to PowerBook 5300, generating demand

May ’96  PowerBook 5300 is discontinued May ’96  Ellen Hancock becomes Chief Technology Officer and Executive VP of          R&D, sees “Copland” as hopeless, says it is to be delivered in pieces          rather than as a monolithic package, and begins to shop around May ’96  IBM licenses the Mac OS under a similar Motorola agreement May ’96  Umax takes over Radius’ license

Jun ’96  Apple’s stock closes below $20/share

 in ’96  Mac Network Server 500, 700, Performa 5400 series, 6400 series,
         Power Mac 4400, 5400, 7600, PowerBook 1400, and
         WorkGroup Server 7250, 8550 ship

Jul ’96  Pixar’s stock hits a low of $12.25/share

Aug ’96  Hancock freezes all aspects of Copland not specific to
         Harmony (7.6) or Tempo (8.0)

Nov ’96  Apple offers <$100 million for BeOS, then $125 million,
         but Be wants $200 million

Nov ’96  Be licenses its OS to Power Computing

Nov ’96  Hancock orders her staff to consider Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and
         even Taligent

Dec ’96  NeXT demos OPENSTEP to Hancock, who is very impressed, so
         Apple announces its intentions to buy NeXT

Dec ’96  Net annual income is a loss

Jan ’97  Amelio delivers a three hour keynote at Macworld Expo/SF

Jan ’97  Mac OS 7.6 (codenamed Harmony) ships, and Rhapsody is announced

Feb ’97  20th Anniversary Mac ships (codenamed Spartacus, 250MHz 603 processor,
         32MB RAM expandable to 128MB, 2GB HD, 12" active-matrix screen, 15 lbs, $7,500)

Feb ’97  Apple buys NeXT for $427 million May ’97  Avandis Tevanian replaces Ellen Hancock as Chief Technology Officer May ’97  Jobs calls cloners leeches May ’97  Newton spun out as Newton, Inc Jun ’97  Amelio signs an agreement to license Mac OS 8, Rhapsody and PPCP          (the PowePC Platform, PReP w/ the Mac OS) to Power Computing

Jun ’97  Apple’s stock hovers around $15/share

 in ’97  Apple’s eMate ($700), Power Mac 4400 DOS Compatible, 5500,
         6500 series, 7300, 7300 DOS Compatible, 8600, 9600, 9600MP, G3,

and PowerBook 3400, G3 ship Jul ’97  Jobs replaces Amelio as interim CEO Jul ’97  Mac OS 8 (codenamed Tempo) ships, and          causes licensees to renew their licenses Jul ’97  Apple refuses to certify new clone models, and          refuses to give Mac OS 8 to licensees if their models are not certified

Aug ’97  Power Computing COO Joel Kocher encourages his Board of Directors to
         sue Apple, it refuses, so he resigns

Aug ’97  Jobs announces a new Board of Directors, and a renewed relationship w/
         Microsoft

Aug ’97  Chiat/Day replaces BBDO as Apple’s ad agency

Sep ’97  Apple acquires Power Computing’s core assets

Sep ’97  Motorola exits the Mac clone market

Sep ’97  Newton spun back in

Sep ’97  Apple airs new “Think Different” commercial and ad campaign

Oct ’97  Rhapsody Developer Release ships to developers

Nov ’97  Apple opens its Apple Store online

Nov ’97  CompUSA opens Apple “Store within a Store”

Nov ’97  Power Macintosh G3 and PowerBook G3 ship

Dec ’97  Apple’s stock hits low of $12.94/share

Dec ’97  Net annual income is a loss

Jan ’98  Claris absorbed back into Apple, and FileMaker, Inc. spun out

Jan ’98  Mac OS 8.1 ships

Feb ’98  Apple’s stock closes above $20/share

Feb ’98  Newton is discontinued

May ’98  Apple’s stock closes above $30/share

May ’98  Umax exits the Mac clone market

May ’98  Jobs outlines Apple’s hardware strategy, four products —
         one professional desktop, one professional laptop, one consumer desktop, and
         one consumer laptop

May ’98  Jobs outlines Apple’s software strategy — Mac OS 8.5 and Mac OS X,
         the latter to ship to developers in early ’99 and to the general public in Fall ’99
         (see QMUG/LA’s excellent “Pro. Go. Whoa.” coverage ->)

Jun ’98  Windows 98 ships

Jul ’98  Mac OS 8.5 (codenamed Allegro) ships Aug ’98  iMac ships (233Mhz G3 processor, 32MB RAM, 4GB HD, 15" display, 24X CD,          56K modem, 100Mb ethernet, USB, 38 lbs, $1,299) Jul ’98  Pixar’s stock hits a high of $66/share Aug ’98  Apple’s stock closes above $40/share

Nov ’98  Pixar releases “A Bug’s Life” Jan ’99  Blue & White G3 minitowers, rainbow iMacs and OS X Server ship Jan ’99  Mac OS 8.6 ships Jul ’99  Apple’s stock closes above $50/share Aug ’99  iBook (300Mhz G3 processor, 32MB RAM, 3GB HD, 12" display, 24X CD,          56K modem, 100Mb ethernet, USB, support for AirPort wireless networking, 7 lbs, $1,_99),          Power Mac G4 (base G4 is 400Mhz G4 processor, 64MB RAM, 10GB HD, 30 lbs, $1,599),          and 22" Cinema display ship Sep ’99  Apple’s stock closes above $70/share Oct ’99  Mac OS 9 ships Nov ’99  Apple’s stock closes above $90/share Nov ’99  Pixar releases “Toy Story 2” Dec ’99  Apple’s stock closes above $110/share Jan ’00  Jobs demonstrates Mac OS X Aqua interface

Feb ’00  Windows 2000 ships

Mar ’00  Apple’s stock hits a new high of $144.19/share

Apr ’00  Apple’s stock closes below $130/share

May ’00  Apple’s stock closes below $110/share

Jun ’00  Apple’s stock closes above $90/share

 

         Stock Status as of Mon, June 19th, 2000

Jun ’00  Apple’s stock closes above $90

 

         Sources

Books    Apple Confidential          more books about the history of          Apple Computer, Inc. Videos   Triumph of the Nerds          Pirates of Silicon Valley

WWW      apple-history.com          applemuseum.com           Misc     Apple’s Stock Prices          Apple’s Commercials Online

 

         Version History

1.0.0    debuted Mon, June 19th, 2000 at monthly mtng as eight page printed handout

1.0.5    debuted Mon, July 3rd, 2000 at www.qmug.org.
         added intro delivered at June presentation,
         clarified that Rhapsody was announced Jan 1997,
         and formatted 2ndary info in grey and smaller pt size.
         grew to nine pages

1.0.9    updated Mon, Sept 4th, 2000
         made vertical spacing more consistent,
         added ad agency info, Kawasaki, new printers, etc.