About Apple.

I've written about Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997 after more than 10 years building and running NeXT. That article ended with this paragraph:

Steve would become interim CEO in July of 1997 and full time CEO again on January 5th, 2000. Mac OSX (built on the foundation of OpenStep) launched in 2001 and continues to power macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS today.

Which made me reflect on the amazing run of products that he would oversee over for the next decade at Apple. So here's the list of major products released from 1999-2011 as seen on the front page of the Apple website (fun aside: next.com still redirects to apple.com).

iMac G3

Apple Website November 17th, 1999

Absolutely iconic. Launched in 1998 512 Pixels calls it The Macintosh that Saved Apple.

iBook G3

Apple Website August 27th, 1999

The iBook G3 was released in July and was the portable companion to the iMac.

Mac OS X

Apple Website April 21st, 2001

One of the main reasons that Apple acquired NeXT in 1997 was because they needed an operating system. It came down to NeXT and BeOS, and NeXT came with Jobs.

25 years later and Mac OSX now powers macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS.

iPod

Apple Website October 31st, 2001

The original Scroll Wheel iPod announced on October 23rd 2001.

iPod Mini

Apple Website January 13th, 2004

The iPod mini introduced the Click Wheel and brought a smaller, colourful aluminium design to the iPod family. It was replaced in 2005 by the iPod nano.

Intel Macs

Apple Website January 18th, 2006

The switch to Intel isn't a product per se but without it I don't know if Apples Mac business survives. Without the Mac business it's hard to say how their other products would have faired.

"What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it's ever done in a PC."

Man that's a killer tag line. Steve Jobs was never shy about criticising the competition. As seen in this 1995 interview where he praises Microsoft for being opportunists and then goes on to say that their biggest problem is that they have no taste. Ouch.

iPhone

Apple Website June 30th, 2007

Say hello to iPhone. At this point Blackberry was riding high and the carriers thought their monopoly would last for ever.

Nearly 20 years later and the iPhone is Apple's biggest revenue line, generating over $200 billion in 2025, and accounting for 50% of the companies total revenue.

MacBook Air

Apple Website January 8th, 2008

The original MacBook Air released in 2008. It's tapered unibody design set the laptop design gold standard. And it fit in a manila envelope!

iPad

Apple Website April 4th, 2010

iPhone 4

Apple Website June 8th, 2010

If you know you know. The best iPhone ever made. Despite the fact that it didn't work if you held it wrong.

Conclusion

There were other products and you may not agree with the signifigance of my personal choices. Regardless this was an incredible time of innovation and would set the course for the decades to come.