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iMac: 1998. Started a whole breed of computers with fancy physical designs. Original iPod: 2001. Completely destroyed the walkman/cd player industry. iPhone:

by eykanal 14y ago

iMac: 1998. Started a whole breed of computers with fancy physical designs. Original iPod: 2001. Completely destroyed the walkman/cd player industry. iPhone: 2007. Redefined the mobile phone. iPad: 2010. Defined what tablets look like. ---- How often do you expect one company to completely shake up an entire ecosystem?

phatbyte 14y ago
Exactly my thoughts, if any, Apple has spoiled it's users (media mostly tbh) and we are always expecting new changing tech from them. And since that hasn't happen in like 2 years all you read is "Apple is doomed to die"
BonoboBoner 14y ago
iTV: 2012. Changed the television market forever. You never know what happens :)
iaskwhy 14y ago
Exactly. And here we are just ignoring iTunes, for example. I guess one can expect Apple to deliver the TV of the future given all it's been said about it so things will keep coming on a different segment, just like before.
jarito 14y ago
iTV: 2012/13/14. Redefined how video entertainment is consumed. Rocks the $97.6B cable provider industry.
rednukleus 14y ago
> iMac: 1998. Started a whole breed of computers with fancy physical designs. What? How many computers are there out there other than the iMac with "fancy physical designs"? The iMac had virtually no impact on the industry. Your other points are dubious at best. Apple are never first to market with new products, they only ever tweak existing markets and set up hype and an ecosystem around them. The question is, are there any other markets out there right now that are just on the edge of taking off, that Apple can sneak into?
- makmanalp 14y ago
  Egads, the iMac mouse! The horror of design that somehow made it into a consumer product: http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/7thgrade/intel/ho_imac_mouse_c.jpg http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/7thgrade/intel/ho...
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- slantyyz 14y ago
  If I recall, all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out. The iMac was the first to drop the floppy, and the first to really push USB into the mainstream.
  - rednukleus 14y ago
    > all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out. Yeah, and how long did that "trend" last? USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac. I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive sitting next to it. I've seen computer labs with banks of iMacs and external floppy drives sitting next to them.
    - slantyyz 14y ago
      >> Yeah, and how long did that "trend" last? That trend lasted for a while, until case manufacturers started copying the G-whatever tower, and then eventually the Mac pro tower. The Shuttle small-form-factor PC I bought in the early 2000's had a Mac-like "candy" design. >> USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac. I was Windows 9x user (I left Macs right before Jobs came back) when the iMac came out, and most of the peripherals I was buying were still parallel devices. It wasn't until a lot of peripheral makers realized that one hardware version could sell to multiple platforms that USB really took off. >> I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive That's not the point. I didn't say that the need for a floppy was obviated by the iMac design, because you always have legacy users. Apple has a history of dropping legacy features in their hardware (VGA, mini-DVI, optical drives, the soon-to-be EOL'ed dock connector) before PC vendors do.
sin7 14y ago
Only two of those points are defensible. My computer still looks like it did back in 1995. The monitor is thinner. The mouse is a little more ergonomic. The keyboard looks the same. Tablets look like they did when Moses was holding up the Ten Commandments. So, a revolution every six years. We are due for one next year.
- mootothemax 14y ago
  My computer still looks like it did back in 1995. I think you're not looking very closely. Sure, it's all about small details, but a quick and highly unscientific Google image search shows precisely what computers used to look like at the turn of the century: https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=799&q=dell+1998&oq=dell+1998&gs_l=img.3..0i24.279.1931.0.2191.9.8.0.1.1.0.75.525.8.8.0...0.0...1ac.zq7XkbnaQuw https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=&#38...
Jaecen 14y ago
Simple extrapolation indicates every three to four years.

by eykanal 14y ago

phatbyte 14y ago

Exactly my thoughts, if any, Apple has spoiled it's users (media mostly tbh) and we are always expecting new changing tech from them. And since that hasn't happen in like 2 years all you read is "Apple is doomed to die"

BonoboBoner 14y ago

iTV: 2012. Changed the television market forever. You never know what happens :)

iaskwhy 14y ago

Exactly. And here we are just ignoring iTunes, for example. I guess one can expect Apple to deliver the TV of the future given all it's been said about it so things will keep coming on a different segment, just like before.

jarito 14y ago

iTV: 2012/13/14. Redefined how video entertainment is consumed. Rocks the $97.6B cable provider industry.

rednukleus 14y ago

> iMac: 1998. Started a whole breed of computers with fancy physical designs. What? How many computers are there out there other than the iMac with "fancy physical designs"? The iMac had virtually no impact on the industry. Your other points are dubious at best. Apple are never first to market with new products, they only ever tweak existing markets and set up hype and an ecosystem around them. The question is, are there any other markets out there right now that are just on the edge of taking off, that Apple can sneak into?

makmanalp 14y ago
Egads, the iMac mouse! The horror of design that somehow made it into a consumer product: http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/7thgrade/intel/ho_imac_mouse_c.jpg http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/7thgrade/intel/ho...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
slantyyz 14y ago
If I recall, all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out. The iMac was the first to drop the floppy, and the first to really push USB into the mainstream.
- rednukleus 14y ago
  > all the whitebox parts makers started making "bondi blue" knockoffs after the iMac came out. Yeah, and how long did that "trend" last? USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac. I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive sitting next to it. I've seen computer labs with banks of iMacs and external floppy drives sitting next to them.
  - slantyyz 14y ago
    >> Yeah, and how long did that "trend" last? That trend lasted for a while, until case manufacturers started copying the G-whatever tower, and then eventually the Mac pro tower. The Shuttle small-form-factor PC I bought in the early 2000's had a Mac-like "candy" design. >> USB was fairly mainstream before the iMac. I was Windows 9x user (I left Macs right before Jobs came back) when the iMac came out, and most of the peripherals I was buying were still parallel devices. It wasn't until a lot of peripheral makers realized that one hardware version could sell to multiple platforms that USB really took off. >> I don't think I ever saw an iMac in the wild that didn't have an external floppy drive That's not the point. I didn't say that the need for a floppy was obviated by the iMac design, because you always have legacy users. Apple has a history of dropping legacy features in their hardware (VGA, mini-DVI, optical drives, the soon-to-be EOL'ed dock connector) before PC vendors do.

sin7 14y ago

Only two of those points are defensible. My computer still looks like it did back in 1995. The monitor is thinner. The mouse is a little more ergonomic. The keyboard looks the same. Tablets look like they did when Moses was holding up the Ten Commandments. So, a revolution every six years. We are due for one next year.

mootothemax 14y ago
My computer still looks like it did back in 1995. I think you're not looking very closely. Sure, it's all about small details, but a quick and highly unscientific Google image search shows precisely what computers used to look like at the turn of the century: https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=799&q=dell+1998&oq=dell+1998&gs_l=img.3..0i24.279.1931.0.2191.9.8.0.1.1.0.75.525.8.8.0...0.0...1ac.zq7XkbnaQuw https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=&#38...

Jaecen 14y ago

Simple extrapolation indicates every three to four years.