The story of Apple

The next chapter in the adventure is simple: Apple sees the success of its iPod and ITMS, how indispensable they are and ensuring their future success. IPod and ITMS, it’s a bit like printers and print cartridges. Except that in the case of Apple, the two are very good money makers and assures they have a good image. Add to this a design culture, of beauty, even from a software point of view (MacOS X) from a hardware point of view when they were very reliable (even if the overall quality is lower then it once was it still compares favorable to others). There was also a great buzz magnificently orchestrated by a secretive culture, and you start to see a good recipe for the company post-2000.

The 20^th of February sees the launch of the iPod Mini in the United States. Despite the mitigated image, 100 000 units are ordered! Apple needs to postpone the European release to April but this still isn’t enough: the iPod mini quickly sells out of stock worldwide. Dissatisfied people who have ordered their iPod mini and have to wait for them can (if they wish) have a15 GB iPod 3G in its place for the same price.

At the start of April, when the model comes out in Europe, the courts finally hand down their first decision in the case of Apple Computers vs Apple Corps.

What happened is this; when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak applied for the name “Apple” it was already taken by the Beatles Company. Wozniak notified Jobs of this but he didn’t seem to take much notice. When Apple Computers became known, Apple Corps signed an agreement with Jobs stating that he wouldn’t attack the music market (1991). However, with the launch of the iPod and ITMS this agreement was broken, and the lawyers from Apple Corp started knocking. On top of this, Apple Corp prefers the DRM technology from Microsoft...

Until June, a few new developments come out of the Apple world such as new versions of their software and machines, but nothing really impressive. On the 7^th of June, Apple presents the Airport Express and AirTunes, to be able to deliver music anywhere in the house by wireless.

One week later, The ITMS takes off in Europe! Alas, the offer for France is almost non-existent and success takes a long time to come. The songs are offered for 99 euro cents each.

On the 28^th of June, Apple presents MacOS 10.4 alias Tiger. The Spotlight index system is presented for the first time, a RSS reader is included in Safari and iChat gets the possibility of video. Even the menu bar is redefined. Alas, this graphical change is not integrated in the final version. Finally, Apple presents Dashboard, a clone integrated by Konfabulator.

During this same conference, Apple presents its new flat screen monitors, Cinema Displays. There are three on offer, 20, 23 and 30 inch displays. Their look is in the same vain as that of the PowerMac G5 and their specifications receive positive reviews.

The PowerMac also evolves to a higher version, integrating 2x2.5 GHz, despite the intention of having 3GHz. On top of this, these PowerMacs are equipped with a water cooling system, displaying the difficulties IBM has had with mastering their heating problems.

On the 19^th of July, Apple presents the iPod 4G. Its dimensions are smaller, a wheel is added and longer batteries are all included. Five days later, the iPod Mini finally arrives in Europe! On the 24^th of July with very low supplied, the new Mp3 player from Apple is finally available.