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May 6, 2008

In pictures: 10 years of iMac

Looking back at Apple iMac history

Simon Jary

It was 10 years ago – on May 6, 1998 – that Apple unveiled the computer that revolutionised the company and marked the end of the beige box computer forever.

It looked like no computer before it, couldn't be bothered with floppy disks, introduced USB as a mainstream connection, and stood out in glorious translucent Bondi Blue plastic. And it had a terrible 'Puck' mouse almost as legendary in its awfulness as the computer was for its iconic status!

Happy 10th birthday, iMac.

Since his return to Apple the year before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted the company to get back its mojo with something as different as the original Macintosh in 1984. He needed to make his mark on Apple and on the world again.

The egg or bubble-shaped Bondi Blue iMac (code-name Columbus) was unveiled at the very same auditorium as the Mac, Cupertino's Flint Center at De Anza College.

It was designed by Brit Jonathan Ive (a toilet designer from Chingford), who went on to win countless awards for other groundbreaking Apple products, such as the G4 Cube, PowerBook G4, iPod and iPhone.

Apple called the 15in iMac "the internet-age computer for the rest of us". It featured a 233MHz PowerPC G3, 32MB of RAM, 4GB hard drive, and 24x CD-ROM.

The iMac didn't actually go on sale until that August, but in the interim Apple took an amazing 150,000 orders – and it was soon the fastest-selling Mac ever.

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Comments received


Mike Kaufmann said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

Thank you for dumping that ugly Sony Blu-Ray Ad!

ad suck said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

ad suck

Rue said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

Although the pathetically conservative, technology nerds may have panned the dalmatian and flower power iMacs, I saw teenage girls in my classroom petting the flower power iMac I acquired for students to make videos. They cooed to it as well.

What a terrific History said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

The iMac has always been an industry leader and a pleasure to look at and use!

It has evolved to become a fast, and ultra-competent machine that is at the top of it's game.

It is a machine with a bright past and a strong future-I can't wait for the next one!

TA said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

Forcing us to click "next" 14 times to get 2 pages of text is pretty ridiculous. But, what I really loved was that one page loaded painfully slowly. What held it up? Loading an ad for Dell, of course! :-)))

Aine Langford said on Saturday, 03 May 2008

I had one of almost every model of iMac, and each one was better than the last. But the Bondi Blue original was unique for introducing people who never before touched a computer into buying one. I have friends who still are using their's daily.

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