A Brief History of
Apple Innovation
by
Larry MacPhee
Associate Director, e-Learning
Northern Arizona University
Disclaimers
• The views expressed are those of the
presenter and not necessarily the views of
e-Learning or Northern Arizona University 
• I have no relatives who work for Apple
Computer, but I have made a fair bit of
money buying and selling AAPL stock.
“It's really hard to design products by
focus groups. A lot of times, people
don't know what they want until you
show it to them”
-Steve Jobs, 1998
History
Apple leads the personal computer (PC)
industry not in market share, but in
innovation. Apple introduces more new
technologies to the public than any other
computer company, and most of these
technologies eventually find their way into all
computers. Apple has shaped the PC industry
like no other company. Not IBM. Not Intel. Not
Microsoft. Not Adobe. Not HP. Not Dell. The
following is a list of Apple firsts. Want to see
the future computing? Watch Apple.
1. The Personal Computer
1977
Apple II
2. The GUI
1984
Macintosh
3. Plug and Play
since 1984
Plug and play
4. The LAN
1984
AppleTalk
Local Area Network
5. Desktop Publishing
1985
WYSIWYG
Desktop Publishing
6. Hypertext
1987
Hypercard
7. AppleLink?
1989
AOL
8. The Modern Laptop
1991
Powerbook
9. Multimedia
1993
Quicktime
10. The PDA
1993
Newton
11. Digital Photography
1994
Quicktake
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The Dark Years
1995-97
Windows 95
Mac clones
Brain drain
Copland
Performas
Weak CEOs
– Sculley
– Spindler
– Amelio
• But finally…the return of Steve Jobs
12. The iMac
1998
Just in time for the Internet
13. Wireless
1999
Airport
14. Digital Video
2000
iMovie
15. MacOS X
2000 ->
MacOS X
16. Digital Music
2001
iTunes and iPod
17. The Switch to Intel
2006
• Processor parity
• Windows on Mac
Intel
18. iPhone
2007
Apple reinvents the cell phone
19. AppleTV
2007
Apple tries to repeat iPod’s success with movies
20. iPad
2010
Apple’s reinvents the computer…again
The Future?
The Post-Steve Era
More good stuff
• http://www.apple-history.com
• http://www.folklore.org/index.py
Why Macintosh?
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Not a major target for hackers
Very few viruses affect Macs
Runs the most popular software
Seamless Hardware-OS integration
Low TCO (Total cost of ownership)
High resale value
Innovative industrial design
Supportive user community
High reliability
High customer satisfaction
The choice of creative professionals
Runs Windows too
iOS and MacOS are very similar
Why not Macintosh?
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Some websites will treat you poorly
Some services come later to Mac
Some applications may not be available
Gaming is a drag
Some hardware/drivers not Mac compatible
Harder to get local repairs
More limited shopping options
International customers have to wait
Costs more up front than a budget PC
Mac haters will pick on you
You can still use your iPod with a PC
Apple can be fickle towards its users
Decisions, decisions
• Is it worth it?