It may be argued that no shopper electronics firm has captured the general public’s fascination the way in which Apple has. Over time, it has morphed into greater than only a firm or company, however for a lot of it has grow to be a illustration of a way of life or tradition, and a standing image full with a bigger fan base than most pop stars.
Right here at Mashable, we’re additionally fairly fascinated by Apple and its achievements. The corporate is thought simply as a lot for its veil of secrecy and skill to get the Web buzzing with rumors, as it’s for the precise merchandise. You are in all probability in on the gossip, however there are probably just a few issues you do not know about Apple.
So learn on for the origins of product names, factoids in regards to the Apple brand, what Wozniak offered to finance the Apple I, and extra wonders dug up from the archives of Apple’s previous.
1. The First Apple Brand Featured Isaac Newton
Though the now-retro rainbow brand is arguably Apple’s most well-known, the very first Apple brand featured Sir Isaac Newton sitting underneath a tree, with an apple about to hit his head. (Legend has it that he was actually hit on the top with an apple and that led to the idea of gravity.)
The Newton brand was designed by the lesser-known Apple founder Ronald Wayne (the man who offered his stake to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for $800 – ouch!) and was solely used briefly in 1976, since its excessive degree of element did not actually present up that nicely when shrunk down and caught on a product.
The rainbow apple, designed by Rob Janoff, changed Sir Isaac and remained the image of the corporate for a few years till the easier monochromatic apple brand was launched in 1998.
2. Wozniak Offered His Scientific Calculator to Increase Capital
With a purpose to increase sufficient cash to purchase elements and construct the primary few orders of the Apple I, Steve Jobs offered his Volkswagen van and Wozniak, then an HP worker, offered his Hewlett-Packard 65 scientific calculator for $500.
These born after 1990 may be stunned {that a} mere calculator would increase any sort of capital, however again in 1976, a scientific calculator will price as a lot as a laptop computer (again within the day), and the HP-65 was in truth marketed as “the smallest programmable pc ever.”
Woz received an honest worth contemplating it retailed for $795, and we think about any calculator in his possession would have been greater than pretty nicely used. We surprise if the customer knew he was getting a chunk of computing historical past — simply think about how a lot that calculator would fetch on eBay right this moment.
3. The Apple I Price $666.66
The excessive costs of Apple’s present computer systems have just lately been amongst critics’ greatest complaints. However traditionally talking, Apple merchandise have at all times boasted the next a price ticket.The truth is, while you account for inflation, again within the day, the very first Apple pc would have been costlier than the MacBook Air or perhaps a 17-inch MacBook Professional right this moment.
The Apple I wasn’t priced at $666.66 with any Satanic connotations, however fairly for extra sensible causes, as Steve Wozniak as soon as defined at a information convention, “I used to be into repeating digits,” he stated, and defined that the wholesale price to shops was $500, and including a 3rd to get the retail worth made it round $667, which Woz modified to all one repeating digit — $666.66 — “was simply simpler to kind.”
4. Apple Invented the “Dogcow”
Ever heard of “Dogcow?” Early Apple customers in all probability have, as she — sure she — was included within the Cairo font as a part of the unique Macintosh. After the Cairo font was discontinued, Dogcow lived on with LaserWriter Driver 4.0 after which turned a type of mascot for the Apple tech employees.
Designed by Susan Kare, Clarus — Dogcow’s given identify — makes a “moof” sound and was discovered on all variations of the Mac working system till OS X. Within the late Eighties, she surged in reputation and began for use by different developer teams — even Microsoft as soon as used Dogcow in an commercial.
As you would guess, Apple was none to keen on this, and the tech employees determined to jot down a Technical Observe to cease the misuse. Afterward, Technical Observe #31 was included on the primary Apple Developer CDs as an Easter egg, and Apple even registered logos for each Clarus the Dogcow, and her “moof” sound.
5. The Identify “Macintosh” Was Impressed by an Apple
It is typically cited that the Apple Lisa was named after Steve Jobs’ daughter, however the place did the identify “Macintosh” come from? Apple worker Jef Raskin is accountable for coining the machine after his favourite number of apple, well tying the entire fruit theme collectively.
Macintosh was only a code-name, and Steve Jobs is alleged to have tried to vary the challenge’s identify to “Bicycle” whereas the McIntosh-loving staffer was out of workplace. However Raskin clearly knew a very good identify when he coined it, as Macintosh simply had an excessive amount of endurance and caught proper to the tip of the product cycle.
6. Apple Made the First Mass-Market Coloration Digital Digicam
Again in 1994, Apple truly launched the primary mass-market shade digital digicam within the U.S. The Apple QuickTake 100 might snap a tremendous eight images and related to a Mac by way of a serial cable.
It price $749, which is in regards to the equal of $1,000 right this moment, which appears ridiculous for a digicam boasting lower than one megapixel decision and no digital show.
The QuickTake line expanded to 2 extra fashions earlier than Steve Jobs shut it down in 1997 when he returned to the helm at Apple and streamlined its product line.
7. The Identify “iPod” Was Impressed By 2001: A Area Odyssey
Intelligent copywriter Vinnie Chieco is credited with arising with the iPod identify as a part of a crew assembled by Jobs to create a consumer-friendly moniker for the brand new gadget.
The story goes that Jobs had already determined the MP3 participant’s tag-line was to be “1,000 songs in your pocket,” which left naming choices extensive open because it would not must explicitly refer one thing music associated.
“As quickly as I noticed the white iPod, I assumed 2001,” Chieco advised Wired in 2006. “Open the pod bay door, Hal! Then it was only a matter of including the ‘i’ prefix, as in ‘iMac.'”
In fact, Hal has one other place in Apple historical past, within the sinister Y2K warning advert that Apple aired to promote the truth that Macs wouldn’t implode with the entire 2000 switchover, in contrast to these pesky PCs individuals insisted on utilizing. Oh wait…
8. The First iPod Had A Secret Easter Egg
Apple’s first iPod got here with just a little secret — an Easter egg — within the type of a recreation that might be accessed when you knew the fitting mixture of buttons to press.
discover the sport is described in Nick Triano’s early 2002 Geek.com assessment of the iPod (memorable quote: “I do not suppose it is a stretch to say that it’ll change the way in which you take heed to music”). “Go to the ‘About’ menu, maintain down the middle button for about three seconds, and you will get a Breakout (Pong) recreation to play whilst you hear.”
Breakout, the hidden recreation itself, is notable in Apple’s historical past because it was a product that each Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak labored on collectively at Atari, the place legend has it Jobs cheated Wozniak out of hundreds of {dollars} of bonus cash.
9. Who Is John Appleseed?
The identify John, or Johnny Appleseed comes up time and time once more in Apple historical past, however up to now there’s but to be an official clarification as to why.
As many college students will know, Johnny Appleseed was an 18th century American pioneer, missionary, and gardener. He was a kind-hearted folks hero with a penchant for apples, which seems to be the one tenuous connection to Apple Inc.
The earliest Johnny Appleseed reference we are able to discover pertains to Apple investor and former CEO Mike Markkula — it was apparently the pen-name he used when he wrote applications for the Apple II. Then there’s the letter that might be seen when the Leopard TextEdit icon was enlarged. Sure, there’s an precise letter composed on that icon, and it is Apple’s “Suppose Completely different” marketing campaign that ran in print and tv advertisements in 1997:
“Right here’s to the loopy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The spherical pegs within the sq. holes. Those who see issues otherwise. They’re not keen on guidelines. They usually haven’t any respect for the established order. You possibly can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the one factor you may’t do is ignore them. As a result of they alter issues.”
That letter, is addressed to “Kate” and signed “Take Care, John Appleseed.”
And most notably, John Appleseed reveals up within the iPhone advertisements and associated iPhone and Mac imagery. We absolutely admit to being geeks, as we truly known as John Appleseed’s quantity. Sadly, all we received on the opposite line was a voicemail field that hadn’t but been arrange, and once we e-mailed to appleseed_john@mac.com it got here again with a “supply to the next recipient failed completely,” which looks like a missed advertising alternative to us.
10. Jony Ive Sticks to the Similar Shirt Too
Though a lot is manufactured from Steve Jobs’ uniform outfit (black St. Croix turtle neck, Levi 501 denims, New Steadiness trainers) it seems he isn’t the one senior Apple staffer to stay to the identical styling 12 months in and 12 months out.
Apple’s senior vp of Industrial Design Jony Ive seems to have worn, if not the identical, then the identical type of t-shirt in each single Apple intro product video thus far. For the final ten years, a minimum of. Hey, we’re on the identical web page as Jobs and Ive on this type sheet — if it ain’t broke, do not repair it.
[Image credits: Apple advertising (main image, Apple I ad) – The MotherShip, McIntosh apple – Lars Zapf, Apple QuickTake – CNet]
