Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Ever wonder how Apple Computer became the industry icon it is today? How and why is it that a simple computer manufacturer could endear itself to its customer base so well that some researchers feel that Apple fans are not only just a cult but bordering on religion?"

Well now you can catch up on your Apple history by following along on this infographic, that gives a brief rundown from the birth of Steve Jobs to the present.

"As Apple's latest TV commercials for the iPhone 4's "FaceTime" functionality dazzle us with blandness, it got us thinking about the company's ad campaigns of years gone by."

You really appreciate the ads they are doing now when compared to some of the ones shown in this article. The one above isn't too bad, rather funny, but some of them are horrendous. I didn't realize Kevin Costner did an Apple ad until I read this article.

"The Mac community is waiting with bated breath for this week's expected Apple tablet announcement, but according to some quantum theorists, Mac communities in nearby parallel universes have been playing with Apple tablets since the Reagan administration."

Just to give you a taste for what could have been before we actually see today what is (hoping anyway), here is an interesting story about Apple's foray into the tablet world from back in 1983. Here are several more pics from the archive at Frog Design. 

"A few months ago, we provided details of an auction that featured a Mac that had been given to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry by Apple. If you missed your chance to pick up that prime item, now you have an opportunity to own an Apple that is even more rare: an Apple-1 (also known as the Apple I) that's currently on auction on eBay."

The auction is sitting at $50,000.00 USD, but that is the starting price since it hasn't received any bids. Interesting bit of history for a collector, but a pricey one!

"We're big fans of the unauthorized doc "Welcome to Macintosh" - a true love letter to the history of Apple and its community. Now this indie film is available on iTunes."

Incidentally, this is also available streaming via Netflix if you want to watch it instantly, something I did last night as a matter of fact. I thought it was a pretty good background on Apple, albeit one without a lot of substance but how in depth can you really get in 74 minutes? Anyway, it was certainly worth watching and now it is available in iTunes, as well as everywhere else!

"Sometimes you need info on a specific model of computer when you're nowhere near a computer. You could scour the Web for the information, but good as the iPhone's Web browser is, it can still be pretty time consuming to track down a certain tidbit. Frankly, you could probably download and install Ian Page's free Mactracker (iTunes link) in less time."

Want to know the processor speed of that old IIe you have lying around? Save yourself some time and download the free MacTracker from the iTunes App Store. Not only will it tell you that, but it will also tell you initial price, system specs and many other items that will serve you well should you get into a trivia contest about Apple. I kid. But it is interesting to look up not only computers but some of the peripherals such as the Newton and see everything you wanted to know about them right on your iPhone/iPod Touch screen. If you want it on a bigger screen there is a desk top version available at the MacTracker site.

When the iPhone launched on June 29, 2007, the lines to get one were tremendous. I waited on line for about 8-10 hours to get mine. A lot of people waited a lot longer, and in New York City if you didn't get yours before the weekend was over, you had at least a one-week wait to get your hands on your own. No sooner did people get them in their hands than a disgruntled group of non-buyers began explaining to anyone who would listen that the only thing selling the iPhone was hype. Accompanying that argument was the repetitive pointing out that there was "nothing new" about the iPhone and that everything we were seeing in it had been done before. Read more...