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Business and the economy in the United States

Computers

Steve Jobs

Microsoft

Science and technology

The 1990s in America

Apple Computer

by Leigh Husband Kimmel

Identification American hardware and software company

As the manufacturer of the Macintosh, the first computer based on a graphical user interface, Apple was a leader in innovation in the early 1990’s. By the end of the decade, the company had reinvented itself and come back from near financial collapse.

In 1990, Apple Computer (later Apple, Inc.) introduced its fastest Macintosh to date, the IIfx. However, it was a troubled machine, its price point placing it out of the reach of all but the most high-end users. Furthermore, it used special hardware that was in short supply, and several of its interfaces were prone to intermittent trouble. By the end of the year, Apple announced that it would produce a number of new Macintosh models that would bring the price point down to levels comparable to Intel-based machines. In theory, these models would make Apple’s slogan of “The computer for the rest of us” less of a bad joke, but in fact the LC and IIsi remained pricey, and Apple’s market share did not grow.

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Computer, holds an iMac computer. Jobs and his new line of computers helped revitalize the company in the late 1990’s.

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(AP/Wide World Photos)

In 1989, Apple released its first laptop, the Mac Portable. A heavy, underpowered monstrosity, the computer was a failure. Apple took two years to rethink laptop computing and finally ended up partnering with Japanese electronics giant Sony to produce laptops. In October of 1991, Apple rolled out the PowerBook, which introduced several key features that would soon be widely copied, including a keyboard with handrests on either side of the trackball. That year also saw the introduction of the System 7 operating system (OS), which had been delayed several times. Also in 1991, Apple joined forces with International Business Machines (IBM) and Motorola to create the AIM alliance, which was supposed to create a new generation of computers based on RISC (reduced instruction set computing) processor technology. The alliance created the PowerPC microprocessor, which became the basis for all of Apple’s computers for more than a decade.

In 1993, Apple finally took the drastic step of eliminating the Apple II, the computer that had originally made its fortune. By that point, the Apple IIgs, the only model remaining in production, had incorporated so many features from the Macintosh that it was deemed redundant. That year also marked major upheavals in Apple’s corporate structure as chief executive officer (CEO) John Sculley left under a firestorm of criticism, to be replaced by Michael Spindler, a German-born engineer nicknamed “the Diesel.”

After the introduction of several lower-cost consumer models in 1992 and 1993, Apple rolled out the Power Macintosh series, its first computers to be based upon the PowerPC chip, in 1994. At first these machines were aimed primarily at high-end users, but as economies of scale began to take hold, the use of PowerPC chips spread throughout the Macintosh line to consumer models and laptops, and use of the 68000 series of chips was phased out.

Near Collapse and Comeback

The mid-1990’s proved a low point for Apple. The innovative PowerBook 5300 proved a lemon, with horror stories of fragile power ports and flammable batteries driving customers away. Worse, the various projects that were supposed to create a new and innovative operating system to take full advantage of the PowerPC chip’s designs were foundering, and the Mac OS had received no major upgrades since the introduction of System 7. This failure of innovation, combined with an increasingly complex and confusing product line, drove customers away from the Macintosh toward Windows-based computers, particularly as Microsoft made Windows increasingly Mac-like. Even the replacement of Spindler as CEO with Gil Amelio could not stay Apple’s slide into oblivion.

In 1997, the board of directors took drastic measures. In a complex deal, they purchased NeXT to gain access to the NEXTSTEP OS and brought back Apple cofounder Steve Jobs to become interim CEO. Jobs immediately simplified Apple’s confusing product line to desktop and laptop machines for professional and consumer use.

In 1998, Jobs introduced the iMac, a return to the all-in-one form factor of the original Macintosh, but with curved lines and transparent plastic that some critics derided as girlish. However, it contained numerous technological innovations, including the new universal serial bus (USB). Its market success led to the introduction of a companion consumer laptop, the iBook, which also featured curvilinear design and brilliant colored plastics. By the close of the 1990’s, the iMac and iBook had resecured Apple’s fortunes, positioning the company for the introduction of such innovative products as the UNIX-based OS X operating system and the iPod digital music player.

Impact

Although Apple entered the 1990’s as an innovator, with several sophisticated desktop and laptop machines, by the middle of the decade the company seemed to have lost its way. Its product line had become confusing, with so many different niche market items that many prospective buyers had no idea which model was best for them. By 1997, Apple was in serious danger of failing altogether. However, Jobs’s return enabled Apple to recover its competitive position by simplifying its product line and by taking risks with such products as the iMac and iBook. As a result, Apple closed the decade positioned for the introduction of the iPod and the consequent expansion into consumer electronics.

Further Reading

1 

Carlton, Jim. Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders. New York: Random House, 1997. Corporate history of Apple, from its foundation by Jobs and Stephen Wozniak to Jobs’s return.

2 

Levy, Steven. Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything. New York: Viking Press, 1994. Published on the tenth anniversary of the Macintosh, the book came out just as the AIM alliance was bearing fruit, and thus shows the enthusiasm of those heady days.

3 

Malone, Michael S. Infinite Loop: How Apple, the World’s Most Insanely Great Computer Company, Went Insane. New York: Doubleday, 1999. A company history, including a great deal of information on the corporate politics that surrounded Jobs during the time shortly before he was pushed out of the company, as well as his return.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Kimmel, Leigh Husband. "Apple Computer." The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1990_1027.
APA 7th
Kimmel, L. H. (2009). Apple Computer. In M. Berman (Ed.), The 1990s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Kimmel, Leigh Husband. "Apple Computer." Edited by Milton Berman. The 1990s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.