Newsletter Issue #550: Does Anyone Believe that Apple is Giving Up the Mac?
June 13th, 2010Although Apple, until recently, had the word “Computer” in the corporate name, the product lines frequently extended far beyond that title. Don’t forget that the original LaserWriter, which, along with Adobe PostScript and PageMaker, heralded the desktop publishing revolution in the 1980s, came from Apple.
One of the first digital cameras was the Apple QuickTake, a Kodak-built gadget that was launched in 1994. Don’t forget the Newton, and the eMate 300, a true precursor to the iPad. Over the years, Apple has continued to build products that did not strictly conform to the PC mold, even though you might regard some of them as mere accessories.
When Steve Jobs took over as CEO and worked hard to keep the company from sinking — and he has admitted that Apple was at one time 90 days from going out of business — he cut back on non-performing products, focusing on Macs and not much else.
In 2001, Apple probably made its biggest move beyond its core computer competency with the first iPod. I expect most of you regarded it as little more than a curiosity at the time, especially considering the fact that digital music players had gone virtually nowhere up till then.
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Right on Gene, the PC (truck) shall be with us for a long time to come. The only real question is whether the iPad is the first car, or as the PC pundits will say, the first Segway.