4 ms·

Apple's Folly: Long before the iPhone, the Pippin console flopped hard (2013)

50 points by Hooke 8y ago

morkfromork 8y ago
I remember walking by the Apple booth at a Consumer Electronics Show and watching people frantically trying to get Netscape Navigator to run on it.
brian_herman__ 8y ago
Yeah, that was the dark time when Steve Jobs wasn't working at apple. Thank god he killed it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/five-apple-products-steve-jobs-killed-for-the-good-of-the-company/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/five-apple-products-...
dahart 8y ago
The title immediately made me think long before the iPhone, the Newton also flopped, and Newton was actually trying to do what iPhone later did. But this is a pretty interesting story of a failed collaboration between Apple and Bandai. It makes me wonder if or how much this event contributed to Apple’s current culture of product secrecy and increasing control over every bit of tech and manufacturing in their entire stack.
- Anechoic 8y ago
  increasing control over every bit of tech and manufacturing in their entire stack. Bandai might be a part of it, but it was also do to Adobe, Microsoft and Metrowerks basically forcing Apple into the directions that Apple didn't necessarily want to go -- Those companies could use the dominance of their tools to limit things that Apple may have wanted to do.
oflannabhra 8y ago
Apple collector and commentator Stephen Hackett has a video [0] opening a mint Pippin. He also has a succinct article on the history and hardware of the Pippin [1]. [0] - https://youtu.be/y9pwX-j6dfw https://youtu.be/y9pwX-j6dfw [1] - https://512pixels.net/2012/11/pippin/ https://512pixels.net/2012/11/pippin/
- kar1181 8y ago
  There's a nice video from The Obsolete Geek on the Pippin too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz05U67NecI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz05U67NecI Shame he's really stopped making any new videos, between him and the 8-bit guy I think I have lost months in nostalgia.
m_mueller 8y ago
Interesting: https://support.apple.com/kb/TA34386?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/TA34386?locale=en_US Published in Feb 2012 - I guess that was the last migration date of their KB documents? I was surprised they've kept this page still around.
rasz 8y ago
first paragraph is full of BS, is it even worth reading the rest? >In terms of processing power and speed, the Pippin was a Ferrari compared to the lumbering Pintos of other game consoles at the time. Pipping bare 66MHz CPU with no GPU, no blitter, nothing but a frame buffer. PSX 33MHz CPU, but powerful GPU. N64 90MHz CPU and powerful GPU. >Sony PlayStation hitting stores in Japan shortly before the Pippin was launched PlayStation Release date JP: 3 December 1994 N64 Release date JP: June 23, 1996 Pippin Release date‎ ‎JP: March 28, 1996 >fullscreen picture of Bungie released Marathon while in reality it ran in a tiny 1/4 screen window
HHalvi 8y ago
Barely a few hours ago at Apple's iPad Pro keynote the presenters compared to Xbox One S and they showed off a games playing at 60 FPS and pitted it against Console Quality Gaming. I won't really be surprised if they end up pulling off a Apple TV powered by the same specs to enable the same kind of gaming power? Or maybe have something like Switch Dock with the iPad pro itself.
- jamesgeck0 8y ago
  If they're trying to position the Apple TV as a game console, they're doing a pretty bad job. The platform just lost support for Minecraft because it had so few players.
- Tiktaalik 8y ago
  The game industry has been waiting and expecting Apple to do something like this for years, ever since the Apple TV was announced, but it appears that Apple has little interest in the traditional games space.
  - jrs95 8y ago
    If I weren't a gamer I'd use Apple for everything. But I am, so my desktop is a PC because I couldn't buy a Mac with competitive specs. And then I chose Spotify over Apple Music because it works better with my PC. Why not buy AirPods? They don't work well with my PC. Apple might dislike gaming for whatever reason, maybe they think gamers have a bad image that will dilute their brand value or something, but in my opinion ignoring that market puts a real dent in their ecosystem. I have a Mac provided to me for work and that's the only Apple device I even have at this point which is a shame.
just_myles 8y ago
I remember there being a Dragonball Z Pippin choose your own adventure game. Wonder if that was ever released.

50 points by Hooke 8y ago

I remember walking by the Apple booth at a Consumer Electronics Show and watching people frantically trying to get Netscape Navigator to run on it.

brian_herman__ 8y ago

Yeah, that was the dark time when Steve Jobs wasn't working at apple. Thank god he killed it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/five-apple-products-steve-jobs-killed-for-the-good-of-the-company/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/08/five-apple-products-...

dahart 8y ago

The title immediately made me think long before the iPhone, the Newton also flopped, and Newton was actually trying to do what iPhone later did. But this is a pretty interesting story of a failed collaboration between Apple and Bandai. It makes me wonder if or how much this event contributed to Apple’s current culture of product secrecy and increasing control over every bit of tech and manufacturing in their entire stack.

Anechoic 8y ago
increasing control over every bit of tech and manufacturing in their entire stack. Bandai might be a part of it, but it was also do to Adobe, Microsoft and Metrowerks basically forcing Apple into the directions that Apple didn't necessarily want to go -- Those companies could use the dominance of their tools to limit things that Apple may have wanted to do.

oflannabhra 8y ago

Apple collector and commentator Stephen Hackett has a video [0] opening a mint Pippin. He also has a succinct article on the history and hardware of the Pippin [1]. [0] - https://youtu.be/y9pwX-j6dfw https://youtu.be/y9pwX-j6dfw [1] - https://512pixels.net/2012/11/pippin/ https://512pixels.net/2012/11/pippin/

kar1181 8y ago
There's a nice video from The Obsolete Geek on the Pippin too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz05U67NecI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz05U67NecI Shame he's really stopped making any new videos, between him and the 8-bit guy I think I have lost months in nostalgia.

m_mueller 8y ago

Interesting: https://support.apple.com/kb/TA34386?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/TA34386?locale=en_US Published in Feb 2012 - I guess that was the last migration date of their KB documents? I was surprised they've kept this page still around.

rasz 8y ago

first paragraph is full of BS, is it even worth reading the rest? >In terms of processing power and speed, the Pippin was a Ferrari compared to the lumbering Pintos of other game consoles at the time. Pipping bare 66MHz CPU with no GPU, no blitter, nothing but a frame buffer. PSX 33MHz CPU, but powerful GPU. N64 90MHz CPU and powerful GPU. >Sony PlayStation hitting stores in Japan shortly before the Pippin was launched PlayStation Release date JP: 3 December 1994 N64 Release date JP: June 23, 1996 Pippin Release date‎ ‎JP: March 28, 1996 >fullscreen picture of Bungie released Marathon while in reality it ran in a tiny 1/4 screen window

HHalvi 8y ago

Barely a few hours ago at Apple's iPad Pro keynote the presenters compared to Xbox One S and they showed off a games playing at 60 FPS and pitted it against Console Quality Gaming. I won't really be surprised if they end up pulling off a Apple TV powered by the same specs to enable the same kind of gaming power? Or maybe have something like Switch Dock with the iPad pro itself.

jamesgeck0 8y ago
If they're trying to position the Apple TV as a game console, they're doing a pretty bad job. The platform just lost support for Minecraft because it had so few players.
Tiktaalik 8y ago
The game industry has been waiting and expecting Apple to do something like this for years, ever since the Apple TV was announced, but it appears that Apple has little interest in the traditional games space.
- jrs95 8y ago
  If I weren't a gamer I'd use Apple for everything. But I am, so my desktop is a PC because I couldn't buy a Mac with competitive specs. And then I chose Spotify over Apple Music because it works better with my PC. Why not buy AirPods? They don't work well with my PC. Apple might dislike gaming for whatever reason, maybe they think gamers have a bad image that will dilute their brand value or something, but in my opinion ignoring that market puts a real dent in their ecosystem. I have a Mac provided to me for work and that's the only Apple device I even have at this point which is a shame.

just_myles 8y ago

I remember there being a Dragonball Z Pippin choose your own adventure game. Wonder if that was ever released.