Imac G3

iMac G3 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The iMac is credited with saving Apple from financial ruin, and for turning personal computers from niche, technical products to mass-consumer fashion. Other computers and consumer products appropriated the translucent plastic look, leading to legal action from Apple. The iMac G3 series was succeeded by the iMac G4, and the iMac G3's position in education markets was replaced by the eMac. Hiawatha Bray said the choices Jobs had made with the iMac doomed the product. In comparison, Macworld's Andrew Gore said the iMac G3 might be as important as the original Macintosh in shifting the computing paradigm, and that Apple's "Think different" marketing campaign was not just empty talk. The product's name influenced many of Apple's later products—such as iPod, iLife, and iPhone—and for a time defined Apple's consumer-focused product lines. Apple's consumer laptop the iBook followed the iMac's lead in a lack of legacy technology and use of colorful, translucent plastic. The iMac was so successful in schools Apple created a G4-powered successor named the eMac, initially sold only to the education market. The design influence of the iMac G3 was not limited to personal computers; by the early 2000s, multicolored, translucent plastic designs had become common among consumer designs, including microwave ovens and George Foreman grills. The iMac G3 became a computing icon. Paul Atkinson wrote that the original Macintosh made a huge impact on computing, but it had not affected the look of computers; for decades, personal computers were defined by unimaginative, beige boxes. The iMac, in contrast, did not affect the way consumers used computers but its design changed the idea of the appearance of computers. In the quarter the iMac shipped, Macintosh computer sales grew year-on-year for the first time since late 1995, and saw the Mac grow its worldwide market share from 3 to 5 percent. Apple went from losing $878 million in 1997 to making $414 million in 1998, its first profit in three years. The iMac continued to be a strong seller for Apple, with 3.7 million units sold by July 2000, and shipping the five-millionth iMac in April 2001. In announcing the computer's successor in January 2002, Jobs said that the iMac had sold 6 million units. The iMac G3 received mixed reviews on release.

iMac G3 destroys the 'beige box' computer: Today in Apple history

www.cultofmac.com

However, just as happened with the original Mac, the iMac project became more ambitious and morphed into a statement computer. With its translucent sea-blue design (named Bondi Blue after the water at an Australian beach), the iMac G3 looked accessible and easy to use. In terms of specs, the iMac G3 boasted a 233 MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor, 32MB of RAM, a 4GB EIDE hard drive, and a choice of either ATI Rage IIc graphics with 2MB of VRAM or ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics with 6MB of VRAM. The iMac’s colorful design later made its way to the iBook laptop, which also proved immensely popular. In addition, Apple released a series of iMac G3 models in alternative colors, including oddball patterns like Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian. Today, it’s difficult to overstate just how different that first iMac (ultimately branded as the iMac G3) looked when compared to other computers at the time.

How the Apple iMac G3 made our tech stylish | CNN

www.cnn.com

Compaq and IBM dominated the market, churning out homogenous boxy monitors, keyboards and modems. But, out of the (Bondi) blue in August 1998, soon after its cofounder Steve Jobs had returned to a company in crisis, Apple introduced a bold new design that drastically shifted our relationship with technology. Twenty-five years ago today, the unusual jewel-toned line of iMac G3 desktops came onto the tech scene; shaped like an egg and with a 15-inch CRT display, the intricacies of its hardware visible beneath a translucent plastic shell. Not only was the first line of iMacs meant to be easy to use at a time when home computers were still largely marketed to businesses and tech enthusiasts, the computers were easy on the eyes, too. In television commercials, the iMac slowly spun around — presented as an object to be objectified. ... Steve Jobs with the iMac G3 in 1999, following the release of the computer in five new colors. The iMac G3 as we know it, however, nearly wasn’t made. Though Apple had been buoyed by the release of the original Macintosh computer in 1984, it was hindered by other flops — like the $10,000 Lisa computer — and was barely cracking at behemoth IBM’s market share into the ’90s. Jony Ive and Jon Rubinstein, who led design and engineering, respectively, at Apple, in a March 1999 portrait. The iMac G3 was a monumental example of the "clear craze" that made tech transparent. ... The “magic” of Apple products, according to Antonelli, has always been “convincing you that it was worth it to pay more to get that type of quality.

iMac G3 - The Apple Wiki

theapplewiki.com

The iMac G3 was introduced on 6 May 1998 (1998-05-06), as the first product announced by Steve Jobs after his 1997 return to Apple as interim CEO. The iMac was developed as the company's consumer desktop Mac, replacing the extensive, confusing lineup of Macs preceding it. Despite the PowerPC G3 processor not being a new product, the iMac was a significant commercial success, largely due to its unique, fashionable design, making use of colored translucent plastic. The iMac is notable for removing legacy features such as serial ports, floppy drives, and Apple Desktop Bus, in favor of USB. It is also notable for being the first Apple product using the "i" prefix, denoting its purpose as an internet-oriented computer. There are two versions of the 1998 iMac G3. The iMac G3 (Slot Loading) was released on 5 October 1999 (1999-10-05). ... The iMac G3 (Summer 2000) was released on 19 July 2000 (2000-07-19).

Apple iMac G3 - School of Computer Science

carleton.ca

Internet Computer: Marketed explicitly as an “out-of-the-box internet appliance” at a time when home internet was still novel. Infamous round USB mouse: visually striking but ergonomically criticized; now a vintage favorite. Modernized the all-in-one form factor decades after early Macs and influenced later designs like the flat-panel iMacs. Commercially, the iMac G3 was extremely popular, selling millions of units and becoming one of the best-selling personal computers of its era, making it a pivotal artifact for illustrating how design, usability, and standardization reshaped public engagement with computing at the turn of the millennium. the Apple iMac G3 (introduced in 1998) is notable for re-establishing Apple’s relevance by combining a consumer-friendly all-in-one design with bold, translucent industrial aesthetics that deliberately made the computer a visible cultural object rather than hidden office equipment. One of the first mass-market computers to rely almost entirely on USB, accelerating its adoption across the PC industry.

From Apple’s first iMac G3 to the iMac with M1: a visual history ...

www.theverge.com

In a surprise to many at the time, the iMac G3 lacked the ancient but widely used 3.5-inch floppy disk drive; it was one of Apple’s early displays of “courage.” What the iMac G3 had instead was a CD-ROM tray, which was later replaced with a slot loading one in late 1999 and USB ports, making it one of the first consumer computers to use the new USB standard. Overall, it was of stark contrast to the boring beige (but functionally flexible and cost-effective) appliance boxes that filled the PC market during the time. Regardless of the design’s origin, all-in-ones are still often associated with Apple computers since the company popularized it for the home computer market with the Macintosh in 1984. And before that, some may also remember the “OK” Lisa computer Apple released 40 years ago (at least The Verge does). But that’s all ancient history, or should I say “obsolete,” as Apple officially deems its older products. If you’re looking for the true renaissance of the all-in-one computer, it came in 1998 with the release of the colorful and fun-tastically transparent iMac. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, reclaimed his position as CEO (interim at the time), and clicked with the company’s design lead, Jony Ive (you may have heard of him). Engineers and designers at Apple ended up with the bulbous and fun iMac G3 computer that shipped on August 15th, 1998 — 25 years before this article you’re reading was first published. On August 15th, 1998, the iMac hit store shelves. In the 25 years since then, the iMac has been a core product in Apple’s lineup and influenced many other products, both inside and outside the company.