Which was the most important, or "revolutionary", hardware product launched by Apple when Jobs was CEO in your opinion between 1997 and 2011?
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Most important product launched during the Steve Jobs era (1997-2011)?
- Thread starter Adeapplephone
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Of course, there's no right answer to these things, so I'm going to go with "other" just to be awkward: OS X
When Jobs took over, classic Mac OS was horribly outdated and on its last legs. The intended replacement - Copeland - had turned into an epic failure - and while anything looked good alongside Windows ME, "pro" PC users were already switching to Windows NT and its successors which were actually pretty solid, modern operating systems.
If the the hugely ambitious (since it basically broke backwards compatibility) switch to OS X hadn't worked, the Mac wouldn't have had long to live. Also, OS X went on to form the basis for iOS, so the iPhone didn't have to start from bare metal.
Of course, the fact that Jobs' NeXT already had a proto-Mac OS X in the form of NExTStep probably had a lot to do with Jobs taking over in the first place.
.....
As for the other options: I'd accept iPhone or iPod.
The iPod was probably the cash cow that made the difference between Apple bubbling under with the Mac for another 5 years. The other missing option being the iTunes Store which really paved the way for online media sales and kept the iPod distinct from other personal audio players.
The iPhone has to have had the biggest social/technical impact - but might not have existed without the iPod which established Apple as a maker of consumer electronics (and probably bankrolled the iPhone's development). It was the iPod that mean't that Apple had to develop a phone or lose the iPod market to MP3-capable dumbphones.
MacBook Pro/MacBook Air - great products, but not really industry-changers. The really significant product there is the 1991 PowerBook 100, which basically defined the design of the modern laptop, but Jobs doesn't get the credit for that. Between then and 2016 the rest of the laptop industry has just been routinely copying Apple anyway.
Then there was, of course, the first Steve Jobs era, which brought:
The Apple 2 - not the first personal computer, but possibly the first personal computer "appliance" that you could just take home, plug in to your TV and use without needing to know which bit of a soldering iron gets hot. We all know that Woz designed the guts, put it was likely Jobs that pushed the "appliance" bit. Still, that was only "first" by a matter of months (c.f. the TRS-80, PET, and several less-well-known systems).
The Mac - which changed everything, even if you never used one.
Then, the real alternative answer: the LaserWriter - not quite the first commercially available laser printer, but coupled with the Mac UI and cheap/easy Appletalk networking (so you could share your expensive laser printer between multiple Macs) it put both Desktop Publishing and local area networking on the map.
When Jobs took over, classic Mac OS was horribly outdated and on its last legs. The intended replacement - Copeland - had turned into an epic failure - and while anything looked good alongside Windows ME, "pro" PC users were already switching to Windows NT and its successors which were actually pretty solid, modern operating systems.
If the the hugely ambitious (since it basically broke backwards compatibility) switch to OS X hadn't worked, the Mac wouldn't have had long to live. Also, OS X went on to form the basis for iOS, so the iPhone didn't have to start from bare metal.
Of course, the fact that Jobs' NeXT already had a proto-Mac OS X in the form of NExTStep probably had a lot to do with Jobs taking over in the first place.
.....
As for the other options: I'd accept iPhone or iPod.
The iPod was probably the cash cow that made the difference between Apple bubbling under with the Mac for another 5 years. The other missing option being the iTunes Store which really paved the way for online media sales and kept the iPod distinct from other personal audio players.
The iPhone has to have had the biggest social/technical impact - but might not have existed without the iPod which established Apple as a maker of consumer electronics (and probably bankrolled the iPhone's development). It was the iPod that mean't that Apple had to develop a phone or lose the iPod market to MP3-capable dumbphones.
MacBook Pro/MacBook Air - great products, but not really industry-changers. The really significant product there is the 1991 PowerBook 100, which basically defined the design of the modern laptop, but Jobs doesn't get the credit for that. Between then and 2016 the rest of the laptop industry has just been routinely copying Apple anyway.
Then there was, of course, the first Steve Jobs era, which brought:
The Apple 2 - not the first personal computer, but possibly the first personal computer "appliance" that you could just take home, plug in to your TV and use without needing to know which bit of a soldering iron gets hot. We all know that Woz designed the guts, put it was likely Jobs that pushed the "appliance" bit. Still, that was only "first" by a matter of months (c.f. the TRS-80, PET, and several less-well-known systems).
The Mac - which changed everything, even if you never used one.
Then, the real alternative answer: the LaserWriter - not quite the first commercially available laser printer, but coupled with the Mac UI and cheap/easy Appletalk networking (so you could share your expensive laser printer between multiple Macs) it put both Desktop Publishing and local area networking on the map.
I gotta go with iPhone. Everything else was an evolutionary change. The iPhone completely changed the way people thought of want a phone should be and do. That is revolutionary.
The iPhone is the most obvious choice, it changed the whole smartphone industry and now everyone has these slates of glass with touchscreen. Changed the lives of most of the world in one way or another.
I went with the iMac though because this product saved Apple, so it's the prerequisite for any of the others to happen. Turned the company around and started the most successful AIO line.
I went with the iMac though because this product saved Apple, so it's the prerequisite for any of the others to happen. Turned the company around and started the most successful AIO line.
Not so sure - the iMac was certainly prominent, but Apple would probably have muddled through with any half-decent desktop line to replace the mess that Jobs inherited. They already had really desirable laptops (probably the only reason they were still afloat).
They did need a new OS, however, and the iPod let them break into mass market consumer electronics (which also raised the profile of the Mac - see “Halo Effect”)
As far as affordability, productivity, app selection, and overall impact on users personal / work life, it is the iPhone, in my opinion.
The most revolutionary was the iPhone.
But the most important was the original iMac. WHY? Because it was Jobs' return to Apple (1997) and the intro of the original iMac that changed Apple from a hemorrhaging near-bankrupt company to the largest and wealthiest tech company today.
Jobs and the (original) iMac reversed Apple's course. That's why it was important. The most important.
Yes, the iMac kept Apple in business and paved the roads on which the iPod and iPhone would roll to victory.
This.
Without the iMac there would (probably) not be any Apple anymore, or at least not one with the financial muscle to do R&D and realease of the iPod and, later the iPhone, and iPad.
Then iPhone was the one that propelled them to being the giant they are today.
2005 as OS X on Intel was readied in the wings for Mac Pro.
The IBM PowerMac G5 with LCS was great in paper but poorly executed. Hit, loud, liquid cooling system failures, no L3 cache, empacted with dust. A side detour that should have shown Apple could do workstations with the best of them - but didn't.
The lampshade iMac was reminiscent of the Cube to me sadly.
The IBM PowerMac G5 with LCS was great in paper but poorly executed. Hit, loud, liquid cooling system failures, no L3 cache, empacted with dust. A side detour that should have shown Apple could do workstations with the best of them - but didn't.
The lampshade iMac was reminiscent of the Cube to me sadly.
The iMac helped save Apple. So did a $150 million dollar investment from Microsoft. And the release of Mac OS 8. But the iPhone is why Apple is the way it is today. The iPhone was more important.
The iMac had the significant impact on Apple itself, but the iPhone literally changed the world as we know it today.
The iPhone took Apple to a whole different level -- no question. It's their biggest and most important product without question. Without the iPhone, Apple would likely be a premium, but niche, personal computer maker.
Sound like the right way... I hate multiple choice, particularly when so many are good.
It would have been better if one product was miles ahead, while the rest suxed.
iPhone.
Total no brainer on multiple levels.
It has changed the world.
Steve himself referred to it as "the computer for the rest of us."
Note that he also had Apple remove "Computer" from the company's name. This was LONG before iPhone became the dominant source of Apple's revenues. Steve knew.
The iPhone also paved the way to Apple being the publicly traded company with the highest market capitalization. If you are an American with a 401(k) or other retirement plan (including pension funds), you are a beneficiary of AAPL's success.
Total no brainer on multiple levels.
It has changed the world.
Steve himself referred to it as "the computer for the rest of us."
Note that he also had Apple remove "Computer" from the company's name. This was LONG before iPhone became the dominant source of Apple's revenues. Steve knew.
The iPhone also paved the way to Apple being the publicly traded company with the highest market capitalization. If you are an American with a 401(k) or other retirement plan (including pension funds), you are a beneficiary of AAPL's success.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
The iMac or iPhone? The chicken or the egg question, in my opinion.
The way I see it, it was the iMac UNTIL the iPhone.
That device changed EVERYTHING.
The iMac was great for Apple. The iPhone was great for the entire world.
Turing machines --> Xerox PARC GUI --> iPhone --> The Matrix?
The way I see it, it was the iMac UNTIL the iPhone.
That device changed EVERYTHING.
The iMac was great for Apple. The iPhone was great for the entire world.
Turing machines --> Xerox PARC GUI --> iPhone --> The Matrix?
The iPhone. The only way you can argue for anything else is to say that the iPhone wouldn't have existed without one of the earlier products. Which I guess is true, but that's just another way of saying that the iMac/iPod/etc were important *because* they let Apple get to the iPhone, i.e. the iPhone is still of primary importance.
It changed people more than it changed the world.
And while not a product, let's not forget about the three ads that changed how people felt about Apple...