At first I was going to answer with "the better part of Steve Jobs' absence from the company". However, thinking about it a bit longer, I think Apple started ge

At first I was going to answer with "the better part of Steve Jobs' absence from the company". However, thinking about it a bit longer, I think Apple started getting into actual trouble after the launch of Windows 95. They had absolutely nothing to fight back with except marketing, which consisted mostly of cheap attack ads like these ones: - http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/08/congrtlnsw95_yo.html http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/08/congrtlnsw95_yo.html - http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n-JrcfOL7Y8/SKHqBnwaUWI/AAAAAAAAABg/k8baUcgo2Qk/s400/AppleWin95.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_n-JrcfOL7Y8/SKHqBnwaUWI/AAAAAAAAAB... Windows 95 was launched in late August of 1995. Prior to Windows 95, Apple wasn't exactly the best run company in the world. Their product line-up was an absolute mess. The Newton was acknowledged by everybody as pretty cool but it wasn't a resounding business success. However, most people still considered their products to be the best for desktop publishing and education which were huge markets at the time. Once Windows 95 was launched however, Apple's act as the only serious solution for desktop publishing and education was rightfully ended. Skip ahead two years and Apple is in serious trouble. People looked at them the same way they look at RIM today. They were has-beens living on borrowed time. They were in really really really big trouble as a company. Steve Jobs took the reigns of Apple as interim CEO in September of 1997 (http://www.apple.com/ca/press/1997/09/InterimCEO.html http://www.apple.com/ca/press/1997/09/InterimCEO.html). Roughly 8 months later in May of 1998, the iMac is announced, and Apple's second act -- one in which it is an industrial design leader -- begins. So existence by sheer momentum lasted approximately two years for Apple. I would say that the iPhone was RIM's Windows 95. Hell, Microsoft has pivoted and Windows Phone 7 is a great competitor to iPhone. Google's first shot at an iPhone competitor was also pretty good and took them a little over a year to match. But RIM? They've let the better part of 4 years pass without matching, let alone one-upping, the iPhone (and now Android/Windows Phone 7). Momentum does not last that long. * edited to fix Win 95 launch date (thanks meric)