10 Apple facts that amaze and astound
As we brace ourselves for a new iPhone and possibly an iWatch, it’s a good time to look back at some of the amazing things Apple has brought us over the last 38 years.
You are probably aware of some of the following Apple facts. But unless you’re someone who tucks his iPhone under his iPillow at night while wearing his Newton pajamas (or you’re Steve Wozniak), you probably don’t know them all.
1. There was a third founder
Two guys named Steve didn’t start Apple. Besides Jobs and Wozniak, the oft-forgotten third founder of Apple is Ronald Wayne, who left the fledgling company 12 days after it was founded in April 1976.
Wayne sold his 10 percent share of the company for $800, plus an additional $1,500 payout later that year. That share would be worth more than $60 billion today. In a 2011 interview with Bloomberg Television, the now-80-year-old Wayne said he had no regrets.
We totally believe that.
2. The Beatles didn't believe them
The Beatles’ record label, Apple Corps, sued the computer maker for trademark infringement in 1979, the first of several suits between the two companies.
The last of these suits was settled in 2007, but it was another three years before The Beatles catalogue finally appeared on the iTunes store.
3. Apple Computer’s first product wasn’t a computer
The first personal computer built by Apple was actually just a circuit board. Buyers of the Apple I had to add their own case, power supply switch, transformers, keyboard, and video display.
The Apple I retailed for $666.66. In June 2012, a working version of the Apple I sold at auction for $374,500
4. The banker never wears a Mac
The Macintosh was named for the increasingly ratty trenchcoat Steve Jobs wore constantly as a student at Oregon’s Reed College.
Had you going for a second there, didn’t we? The Mac was actually named by Apple project manager Jef Raskin for his “favourite kind of eating apple,” though he changed the spelling to avoid potential lawsuits from audio equipment manufacturer McIntosh. It proved to be one of the few instances where Apple cared about what other companies called their products.
5. Apple’s first tablet PC was not the iPad.
Apple’s first tablet was not the iPad but the Newton MessagePad, developed under then-CEO John Sculley and launched in 1993. This handheld “personal data assistant” allowed users to manage contacts and calendars, take notes, and send faxes; it weighed about a pound and cost $700.
6. Apple borrowed the names for all its iConic gadgets
The terms iPod, iPhone, and iPad were all first trademarked by other companies — an Internet kiosk company, networking giant Cisco, Fujitsu, and a Chinese display manufacturer, respectively. Apple later obtained the trademarks from their original owners using a variety of methods, including cash settlements.
7. In the iUniverse, it’s always 9:41 (or 9:42)
In ads for the iPhone and iPad, the clock on the device's home page is always set to 9:41 or 9:42 am. Why? Because that’s the time of day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone on January 9, 2007. Subsequent phones have also generally been introduced around the 40-minute mark of Apple’s now iconic presentations.
It seems time stands still for no one but Apple.
8. Hollywood loves Apple
Starting with the 1986 film Short Circuit, Apple products have appeared in more TV shows and movies than any other brand in history – more than 900 times in 2011 alone.
According to Front Row Marketing Services, 2011’s Apple-friendly "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" was worth $23 million in free publicity to the company.
Apple claims to never pay for product placements, though it often showers its Hollywood friends with free gadgets.
9. It’s moving into a new space — literally
The street address for Apple’s current headquarters is 1 Infinite Loop. This is intended to refer to a programming term, not the experience one has calling Apple customer support or its media department.
Construction on Apple’s new $5 billion campus – dubbed The Spaceship — is expected to be completed some time in 2016. It was unclear at press time whether the building will be able to achieve orbit in case of a global apocalypse.
10. Apple nearly died
In August 1997 Apple was nearly bankrupt, with stock trading at less than $5 a share, adjusted for splits. Then-interim CEO Steve Jobs had to secure a $150 million bailout from Microsoft to keep the company afloat.
Since then the company has sold more than 80 million Macs, 100 million iPod Touches, 200 million iPads, and 500 million iPhones.
Better yet: It hired Dr. Dre.
Morning news headlines
