Apple Core

These days, Cupertino describes Apple Watch as “the ultimate device for a healthy life.” But it didn’t start out that way. When Tim Cook originally launched the product in 2014, he positioned it as an “intimate way to connect and communicate.”Over its ten year history, Apple Watch has pivoted more radically than any previous Apple product. The user interface has transformed to such an extent that even the Digital Crown and side button no longer perform their original functions.The story of ho...

When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, it surprised no one. Tech blog Gizmodo had already spilled the tea two months earlier by publishing photographs of a lost prototype. Jobs was furious, but he found a way to turn the situation to his advantage. The design of the iPhone 4 set the standard for all subsequent models. And with innovative new features like FaceTime and the Retina Display, Jobs described it as the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone. iPhone 4 ...

Safari is one of Apple’s most enduring and popular apps, with versions running on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Vision Pro. But it wasn’t always the behemoth we know today.When it launched in 2003, Safari faced fierce competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, a bruiser of a browser with over 95% market share. Safari didn’t seem to stand a chance. And yet, just twelve years later, Microsoft gave up the fight, scrapping Internet Explorer in favor of Edge, a new app based on code borrowed fr...

Apple launched its first handheld computing device way back in 1993. With no internet access, flaky handwriting recognition, and an eye-watering price tag, the Newton MessagePad never stood much chance of success. But the writing was really on the wall with the arrival of the PalmPilot, a cheaper, more compact alternative, with a breakthrough text input system.Inspired by the “Knowledge Navigator” concept video Apple published in 1987, the Newton MessagePad was ahead of its time, featuring bl...

Steve Jobs was famous for his keynote presentations, which combined showmanship with beautifully designed slides to generate his trademark ‘reality distortion field.’But what few people knew at the time was, he didn’t use a Mac to produce those slides. Not until 2002, at least. Instead he relied on a little-known app called Concurrence on his trusty NeXT computer.Jobs loved this app so much, he hired its creator to work on a top secret project at Apple. The result was Keynote, an app speciall...

Apple’s interest in fitness products goes way back. In 2006, before Apple Watch was even a twinkle in Tim Cook’s eye, Steve Jobs took the stage with Nike CEO Mark Parker at an ultra-exclusive venue in New York City to announce the Nike+iPod Sport Kit.With a sensor that went into special Nike running shoes, and a receiver that plugged into your iPod, Nike+iPod was a pioneering product that helped define the emerging category of fitness wearables. It set the stage for products that would f...

When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded in 1997, Apple was in disarray. After two failed attempts at a next-generation operating system, the Mac had been stuck on System 7 for years. The acquisition of Jobs' company, NeXT, offered a solution, with its NeXTSTEP operating system, which would form the basis of Mac OS X. But that was still three years away, and the Mac platform was already on life support. Jobs needed to take action fast. So, he salvaged bits from former fail...

In 1999, Steve Jobs needed one more product launch to complete the four-computer matrix he introduced on his return to the company three years earlier. That product was the iBook—a portable version of the hugely popular iMac G3.iBook had a striking design with eye-popping colors. But what really set it apart was AirPort, Apple’s proprietary version of WiFi, which ushered in the age of wireless computing. AirPort was such a revolutionary concept that Jobs wanted to prove no wires were req...