Apple’s Groundbreaking iMac Turns 20

The world’s most innovative company Apple’s first generation iMac computer officially turned 20, today. Apple CEO Tim Cook, remembered the occasion and announced it on Twitter today.

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During the ’90s Apple was going through a really rough phase where it was on the verge of bankruptcy due to a muddled and overpriced lineup of Macs. The company was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, had a bloated product lineup with over a dozen Macintosh models and seemed clueless. That is when the late co founder and CEO Steve Jobs stepped in and changed the whole scenario. The innovative CEO Steve Jobs was a charismatic visionary personality. Jobs stepped in as the interim CEO to begin a critical restructuring of the company’s product line. The first iMac was brought to light in 1998. The iMac was a huge move from the boring square shaped machines that had been in the market since 1980s. The iMac was Apple’s first production Intel based machine. The revolutionary iMac featured a 15 inch Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screen, a meager 4GB hard drive. It had a CD ROM drive in a colorful translucent egg shaped housing. It also had a traditional desktop tower tethered to an external monitor. The system had a 233 MHz PowerPC processor which is a 4GB hard drive and sold for $1,299 in the US. The main objective of Apple iMac was to make internet access easy with a colorful and compact interface.

Despite the basic level features, the iMac was responsible for bringing Apple back into the business after years of commercial failures.

Currently, the iMac is in its seventh generation and is virtually outstanding. It comes with Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and the latest high–performance graphics. An Apple spokesperson notes an “iMac today consumes up to 96% less energy in sleep mode than the first generation.” From $1,299 priced original iMac to the present day iMac Pro at $4,999 Apple has taken technology premium to another level.

No wonder Apple is considered to be the king of innovation and technology. Currently, Apple is the most valuable company in the world thanks in huge part to the vision of the company’s late co founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. The lives of so many of us have been irreversibly changed for the better by the innovations of Steve Jobs.