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Apple allowed other companies to produce computers running the Macintosh OS from 1995-1997. Steve Jobs ended the program when he returned with Apple's acquisiti
by actsasbuffoon 10y ago
Apple allowed other companies to produce computers running the Macintosh OS from 1995-1997. Steve Jobs ended the program when he returned with Apple's acquisition of NeXT.
The program was generally not well received: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_clone
- tzs 10y agoThose weren't really so much clones as Macs in non-Apple cases and assembled in non-Apple factories. The licensed clone makers had to use Apple-approved motherboard designs, and Apple would not approve designs other than those that were very similar to Apple's. Power Computing demonstrated prototypes that would take the Mac into new markets that Apple's designs didn't fit well in, and publicly begged Apple to allow them to sell them, but Apple refused. The result was that the pseudo-clones competed directly for the same customers Apple was going for, and so of course the program was a failure. A successful authorized clone program needs to grow the market, not merely redistribute it.