In April 2010, Apple Inc. launches its eagerly anticipated iPad, a multimedia computer tablet, which was the third major innovation that Apple had released over the last decade. It was another revolutionary product that could emulate the smashing success of the iPod and the iPhone Expectations ran high, and The Economist displayed the release of the iPad on its magazine cover with Jobs illustrate a biblical figure, noting that, “The enthusiasm of the Apple faithful may be overdone, but Mr. Jobs’s record suggests that when he blesses a market, it takes off.”
History of the Apple Computer
Apple History 2010
January 3, 2010: The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show. A laptop computer with Apple-like logo appears. An Apple Mac OS-like screen is used to denote a person forgetting something.
January 5, 2010: Apple announces that more than three billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide. “Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months – this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.” iPhone and iPod touch customers in 77 countries worldwide can choose from a range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.
January 27, 2010: Apple introduces iPad, a device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch display lets users physically interact with applications and content. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds. It is thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store.
February 9, 2010: Apple introduces Aperture 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto’09, Aperture 3 makes it even easier and faster to organize large photo libraries. Aperture 3 introduces new tools to refine photos including Brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of your photo, and Adjustment Presets for applying professional photo effects with just one click. Stunning new slideshows let users share their work by weaving together photos, audio, text and HD video.
February 25, 2010: Apple announces that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 10 billion songs from the iTunes Store, the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. The 10 billionth song, “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. As the winner of the iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs, Louie will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world and features the world’s largest music catalog with over 12 million songs. The iTunes Store has a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies including over 2,500 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
March 2, 2010: Apple files a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
March 18, 2010: Apple announces the death of Apple Board member Jerome B. (Jerry) York. York, the chairman, president and CEO of Harwinton Capital, joined Apple’s Board of Directors in 1997. He was the former CFO of IBM and Chrysler, and former vice chairman of Tracinda. He is widely acknowledged for his contributions at Chrysler and IBM during their turnarounds. “Jerry joined Apple’s Board in 1997 when most doubted the company’s future. He has been a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on our Board for over a dozen years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I’m going to miss him a lot.” Jerry York was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1938. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, and received an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Trained as an engineer, York worked his way up through Chrysler to become CFO.
March 29, 2010: Apple’s new iPad will be available in all 221 US Apple retail stores and most Best Buy stores this Saturday, April 3, beginning at 9 a.m. Starting at $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds – thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. It and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life. Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Also beginning Saturday morning, all US Apple retail stores will host special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product. Apple announces that iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store in the US on April 3.
April 3, 2010: Apple begins sales of the iPad tablet computer in the USA. The unit available features Wi-Fi and 9.7-inch touchscreen display. Price is US$499-829. First day sales total over 300,000 units. First month sales: 1 million.
April 5, 2010: Apple announces that it sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3. These sales included deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores. Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded over one million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day. iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.
The Book of Jobs: Hope, hype and Apple’s iPad. The Economist’s cover.
April 8, 2010: Apple previews its iPhone OS 4 software and releases a beta version of the software to iPhone Developer Program members. The iPhone OS 4 beta release includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer. New features include Multitasking for third party apps; Folders to better organize and access apps; improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages; enhanced Enterprise support with even better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution and more; Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform; and iBooks, the delightful new ebook reader and online bookstore recently debuted on the iPad. “iPhone OS 4 is the fourth major release of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re delivering over 100 new features, including multitasking, folders, a unified inbox, deeper Enterprise support, and an iPhone version of our iBooks reader and online iBookstore.”
April 13, 2010: Apple updates its line of high-end MacBook Pro line with faster Intel processors, powerful next-generation NVIDIA graphics and even longer battery life. The 13-inch MacBook Pro features the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor for up to 80 percent faster graphics and a groundbreaking 10-hour built-in battery. The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Apple’s new automatic graphics switching technology that toggles seamlessly between powerful NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and energy efficient Intel HD Graphics processors. Prices start at $1199 for the 13-inch model.
May 3, 2010: Apple announces that it sold its one millionth iPad on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. “One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”
May 26, 2010: Apple’s stock market value overtakes Microsoft’s. Later, in the third quarter of 2010, Apple’s revenues will surpass those of Microsoft. Market capitalization of Apple (US$222 billion) passes Microsoft (US$219 billion) for the first time since December 19,1989. Apple stock is worth more than ten times what they were ten years ago, whereas Microsoft stock is down 20 percent over the same time period.
May 28, 2010: Apple begins sales of the iPad tablet computer outside the USA, in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Britain, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
June 7, 2010: Apple releases Safari 5, the latest version of its web browser, featuring the new Safari Reader for reading articles on the web without distraction, a 30 percent performance increase over Safari 4, and the ability to choose Google, Yahoo! or Bing as the search service powering Safari’s search field. Available for both Mac and Windows, Safari 5 includes improved developer tools and supports more than a dozen new HTML5 technologies that allow web developers to create rich, dynamic websites. With Safari 5, developers can now create secure Safari Extensions to customize and enhance the browsing experience. “Safari continues to lead the pack in performance, innovation and standards support,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Safari now runs on over 200 million devices worldwide and its open source WebKit engine runs on over 500 million devices.” Safari Reader makes it easy to read single and multipage articles on the web by presenting them in a new, scrollable view without any additional content or clutter. When Safari 5 detects an article, users can click on the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field to display the entire article for clear, uninterrupted reading with options to enlarge, print or send via email. Powered by the Nitro JavaScript engine, Safari 5 on the Mac runs JavaScript 30 percent faster than Safari 4, three percent faster than Chrome 5.0, and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. Safari 5 loads new webpages faster using Domain Name System (DNS) prefetching, and improves the caching of previously viewed pages to return to them more quickly.
June 7, 2010: Apple announces it will debut its iAd mobile advertising network on July 1 on iPhone and iPod touch devices running its iOS 4 software platform. iAds combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of Internet advertising, giving advertisers a dynamic and powerful new way to bring motion and emotion to mobile users. iAd will kick off with mobile ad campaigns from leading global brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Company, Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm, Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios. Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over $60 million, which represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010. “iAd offers advertisers the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web, and offers users a new way to explore ads without being hijacked out of their favorite apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iAds will reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users—a highly desirable demographic for advertisers—and provide developers a new way to earn money so they can continue developing free and low cost applications.”
June 7, 2010: Apple presents the new iPhone 4 featuring FaceTime, which makes the dream of video calling a reality, and Apple’s stunning new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in super crisp text, images and video. In addition, iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40 percent longer talk time in glass and stainless steel that is the thinnest smartphone in the world. iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4, the newest version of its mobile operating system, which includes over 100 new features and 1500 new APIs for developers. iOS 4 features Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform. iPhone 4 will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on June 24, starting in the US at just $199 for qualified buyers with a two year contract.
June 28, 2010: Apple announces that it has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone 4 through Saturday, June 26, just three days after its launch on June 24. The new iPhone 4 features FaceTime and Apple’s new Retina display. iPhone 4 also features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, HD 720p video recording, Apple’s A4 processor, a 3-axis gyro and up to 40 percent longer talk time – in a beautiful all-new design of glass and stainless steel that is the thinnest smartphone in the world. iPhone 4 comes with iOS 4, the newest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which features Multitasking, Folders, enhanced Mail, deeper Enterprise support and Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform.
July 1, 2010: Comedy Central airs the Futurama TV show in the USA. An original Apple Macintosh appears.
July 23, 2010: Apple announces that white models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
July 27, 2010: Apple unveils a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display with 2560 x 1440 resolution and 60 percent more screen real estate than the 24-inch LED Cinema Display. Featuring a built-in iSight video camera, microphone and speakers, powered USB 2.0 hub, and universal MagSafe connector, the new LED Cinema Display is an ideal companion for the MacBook family or a Mac desktop, and is available for $999. The new, larger 27-inch LED Cinema Display features an 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display on an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless. The LED Cinema Display has vivid colors and exceptionally high contrast and uses a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.
July 27, 2010: Apple unveils a new Mac Pro line with up to 12 processing cores and up to 50 percent greater performance than the previous generation. Featuring the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD), the new Mac Pro continues to deliver amazing performance and expandability for the most demanding consumers and professionals. “The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.” Prices start at US$2499.
July 27, 2010: Apple announces that it has updated its all-in-one iMac line with the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and new graphics. Starting at $1,199, the new iMac line is the fastest ever with dual-core processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz, quad-core speeds up to 2.93 GHz and discrete graphics including the powerful ATI Radeon HD 5750. The new Magic Trackpad, with a smooth glass and aluminum design, gives iMac users the same intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures that Mac notebook customers have come to love and is available separately for $69. Dual-core Intel Core i3 and Core i5, and quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 processors set a new benchmark for iMac performance. The processors feature an integrated memory controller to access the system memory directly, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of its faster 1333 MHz memory. New discrete ATI Radeon HD processors deliver incredibly smooth, crisp graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications. iMac displays feature IPS technology to deliver an image across a wide 178 degree viewing angle. The SD card slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format to handle the latest high-capacity storage cards. Customers of the 27-inch iMac have the option to order a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) as a primary or secondary drive. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rates for faster startup and application launch times. Users Can Add New Features Through Extensions. Prices start at US$1199 with 21.5-inch screen.
July 28, 2010: Apple releases Safari 5.0.1, turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery. Apple introduces extensions support in Safari 5 in June so developers could begin creating extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features to Safari, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to download and install extensions either from the Safari Extensions Gallery or directly from a developer’s site.
August 2010: The Apple Store is open in Covent Garden, the largest Apple store in the world.
September 2010: Netflix streaming integration is added to TV Apple.
September 1, 2010: Apple introduces iTunes 10 with Ping, a new music-oriented social network for following your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading. iTunes Ping lets you post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes, plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend. iTunes 10 also features HD TV show rentals for just 99 cents an episode and AirPlay wireless music playback.
September 1, 2010: Apple releases the second generation Apple TV. This is the first Apple TV to run on an iOS.The device was housed in a very small all-black case, one-quarter the size of the original. This model did away with an internal hard drive and had 8 GB internal flash storage, enough local storage for buffering purposes. All media was streamed, instead of synced. The 2nd Gen Apple TV could also stream rented content from iTunes and video from computers or iOS devices via AirPlay and drawn from online or locally connected sources. Apple announces the new Apple TV which offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows on your HD TV for $99. Apple TV users can choose from the largest online selection of HD movies to rent, including first run movies for just $4.99, and the largest online selection of HD TV show episodes to rent from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America for 99 cents. Apple TV also streams content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe™, as well as music, photos and videos from PCs and Macs to your HD TV. Apple TV has built-in HDMI, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and an internal power supply for easy set-up, and features silent, cool, very low power operation in an enclosure that’s less than four inches square – 80 percent smaller than the previous generation.
September 1, 2010: Release of redesigned iPod shuffle which features both clickable “ring” buttons and Apple’s innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling users to easily navigate their music and playlists without ever looking at their iPod shuffle. The new wearable iPod shuffle has an all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in clip and comes in five brilliant colors – silver, blue, green, orange and pink. With nearly 50 percent more battery life, the new iPod shuffle features over 15 hours of music playback on a single battery charge* and offers 2GB of storage for $49.
September 1, 2010: Apple unveils a completely redesigned iPod nano featuring Apple’s Multi-Touch interface that lets users navigate their music collection by simply tapping or swiping a finger on the display. Nearly half the size and weight of the previous generation, the new iPod nano features a polished aluminum and glass enclosure with a built-in clip, making it instantly wearable. The new iPod nano features Genius Mixes, the ability to create and edit playlists, a built-in FM radio with live pause and up to 24 hours of music playback on a single battery charge.
September 1, 2010: Apple announces the new iPod touch, packed with new features including Apple’s Retina display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1 and Game Center, all combined in the thinnest and lightest iPod touch ever. The new iPod touch features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on a single battery charge.
September 9, 2010: Apple makes important changes to its iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions Apple put in place earlier this year. In particular, Apple is relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security Apple needs. In addition, for the first time Apple is publishing the App Store Review Guidelines to help developers understand how the company reviews submitted apps.
October 20, 2010: Apple announces the public beta of FaceTime for Mac, an entirely new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone 4 and iPod touch users as well as other Macs. Featuring an easy to use interface, FaceTime for Mac automatically uses your Address Book contacts so there’s no need to create special buddy lists, and it works seamlessly with the built-in camera and mic on Mac notebooks, iMac and Apple LED Cinema Displays. FaceTime for Mac requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard and is easy to set up with an Apple ID.
October 20, 2010: Apple introduces iLife’11, a major upgrade that gives Mac users even more great ways to create and share photos, movies and music. iPhoto’11 has a whole new look, with stunning full screen modes for Faces, Places and Events. iMovie’11 makes it easier than ever to edit videos and quickly transform them into fun theatrical trailers for easy posting online. GarageBand’11 introduces new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs with Flex Time and Groove Matching. Free with every new Mac, iLife’11 is available as a $49 upgrade for existing users. iPhoto’11 features new full screen modes that take advantage of the Mac’s brilliant display for browsing, editing and showcasing photos. Sharing photos is easier than ever in iPhoto’11, whether users send them by email using one of eight themes, post them to your Facebook wall with a single click, or play them in full screen with one of 12 professionally designed slideshows. iPhoto’11 features a completely new approach to creating books and cards with a sleek carousel interface, intelligent book layout and a bookshelf that displays all your projects. New letterpress cards let users combine their photos and text with elegant imprinted designs to create unique wedding invitations, birth announcements, holiday greetings and more.
October 20, 2010: Apple unveils an all new MacBook Air, the first of a next generation of notebooks which will replace mechanical hard disks and optical drives with Internet services and solid state flash storage. These next generation notebooks are: faster, with solid state flash storage is up to twice as fast as hard drive storage; more reliable, as hard drive crashes are eliminated; lighter and smaller- solid state flash storage is up to 90 percent smaller and lighter than hard drives. Available in 11-inch and 13-inch models and weighing as little as 2.3 pounds, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s lightest and most portable notebook ever. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time.
November 5, 2010: Apple introduces the Mac Pro Server, which will officially replace the Xserve line of Apple servers as of January 31, 2011. The Mac Pro Server includes an unlimited Mac OS X Server license and an Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz Quad-Core processor, with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM.
November 9, 2010: Apple and The Dentsu Group announce a partnership to expand Apple’s iAd mobile advertising network to Japan in early 2011. Dentsu will be responsible for the selling and creative execution of iAds in Japan, and Apple will host, target and deliver the iAds to its iPhone and iPod touch users. iAd was launched in the US in July and has emerged as a new way for leading brands to reach the tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch users, while providing a new revenue stream for developers.
November 22, 2010: Apple announces that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is now available for download for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay and AirPrint. “iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”
December 21, 2010: Apple announces that it expects sales of its new Apple TV to top one million units later this week. The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, all on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of $99. iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day. Now with AirPlay, recently available in iOS 4.2, users can wirelessly stream their music, video and photos from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to their new Apple TV, making it the perfect iOS accessory. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free app on the App Store.
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