A podcast about the history of Apple. In each episode, hosts Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel explore the story behind a different Apple product, and consider what it tells us about the company’s game plan and where it might be heading next.
The podcast Apple Core is created by Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
Apple Maps launched alongside the original iPhone in 2007. Initially, it relied on map data from Google. But in 2012, when the two companies became smartphone rivals, Apple was forced to find an alternative data source.
Opting to build its own map platform in-house, Apple attempted to replicate a product Google had developed over many years in a matter of months. Unsurprisingly, the results were not perfect. Users around the world reported bad directions, missing landmarks, and bizarre visual glitches.
The fallout from the Apple Maps launch led to a rare apology from Tim Cook, and the departure of one of Apple’s most indispensable software engineers. But with the benefit of hindsight, the wisdom of Apple’s move into mapping has become clear. It enabled Apple to compete head-on with Android, and kickstarted Cupertino’s move into services.
MERCH STORE
Check out our merch store on Teepublic for retro-geek design t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and more:
https://www.teepublic.com/stores/apple-core-podcast
LINKS
The Verge report stating Apple’s deal with Google still had a year to run when Apple scrapped it:
https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3407614/apple-over-a-year-left-on-google-maps-contract-google-maps-ios-app
Tim Cook’s apology letter (via the Internet Archive):
https://web.archive.org/web/20121001005112/http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/
New York Times article on the brawl between Apple and Google in 2010:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/technology/14brawl.html
Wall Street Journal report on Apple’s acquisition of C3 Technologies from Saab:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304543904577398502695522974
Cult of Mac on firing of Richard Williamson:
https://www.cultofmac.com/apple-history/apple-maps-launch-disaster
Scott Forstall tells the story of his interview with Steve Jobs at NeXT:
https://macdailynews.com/2020/05/22/scott-forstall-reveals-how-his-interview-with-steve-jobs-went/
Adam Lashinsky’s Inside Apple:
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Apple-Americas-Admired-Secretive-Company/dp/1455512168/
In 1996, Apple was in serious trouble. The Mac was almost obsolete. Its multitasking was flaky, it couldn’t handle multiple processors, and it kept crashing. Sales were tanking as users switched to Windows NT in droves.
Apple appointed a new CEO, Gil Amelio, to turn things around. He tried to replace the Mac’s System 7 with a new modern operating system he called Rhapsody. Amelio’s strategy wasn’t bad, but he failed to anticipate how difficult it would be to persuade Mac users and developers to switch platforms.
Fortunately, Amelio selected NeXTSTEP as the core foundation of Rhapsody, and the acquisition of NeXT led to the fateful return of Steve Jobs. Over the following two years, Jobs ousted Amelio, fixed his flawed Rhapsody strategy, added a shiny UI that looked so good you could lick it, and rename the whole thing Mac OS X.
LINKS
Gil Amelio’s book: On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple
https://www.amazon.com/Firing-Line-500-Days-Apple/dp/0887309186/
MacWorld Expo San Francisco January 7 1997 - Steve Jobs first keynote after his return to Apple:
https://youtu.be/QhhFQ-3w5tE?si=f0IIUmN-s_Ff0n0I
WWDC, May 1998 at the San Jose Convention Center - Steve Jobs and Avi Tevanian introduce Mac OS X and Carbon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03kTC0Sm7wc
Macworld San Francisco January 2000 - Steve Jobs announces Aqua:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4V3G4NqII
Screenshot of iMovie running on Mac OS 9 with Aqua controls, before Aqua was announced for Mac OS X:
https://x.com/mac_os_9/status/1080826112408662017
Interesting article about Steve Jobs and object oriented programming:
https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-deep-history-of-your-apps-steve-jobs-nextstep-and-early-object-oriented-programming/
The iPhone in your pocket, the Mac on your desk, and even the watch on your wrist are all based on NeXTSTEP, an operating system developed by a long forgotten computer maker called NeXT.
Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985, just months after his humiliating departure from Apple. Jobs was determined to beat Apple at its own game by proving his new company was the next big thing in computing. But it didn’t work out that way. While NeXT’s iconic cube-shaped workstations gained a loyal following, they never sold in large numbers.
Despite many setbacks and failures, Jobs’ wilderness years at NeXT laid the foundation for decades of success that would follow. Apple’s acquisition of NeXT in 1997 proved to be one of the greatest mergers in business history. During his second tenure at Apple, Jobs oversaw the migration of the Mac onto his NeXTSTEP platform. Many of its quirky features, like the spinning beachball of death, are still recognizable in MacOS to this day.
LINKS
The full story of how Steve Jobs learned about 3M computers on a trip to Brown University - “What’s a megaflop?”:
https://www.folklore.org/Whats_A_Megaflop.html
The NeXT logo, designed by Paul Rand:
https://www.logodesignlove.com/next-logo-paul-rand
Try NeXTSTEP out for yourself on Infinite Mac:
https://infinitemac.org
The NeXT Computer Tim Berners-Lee used to develop the world’s first Web browser at the Science Museum in London:
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/world-wide-web-global-information-space
Check out these pics of NeXT’s HQ and *that* staircase:
https://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/pics_places/next/next_hq
NeXT cube Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
© Rama, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT#/media/File:NEXT_Cube-IMG_7151.jpg
Thanks to our sound engineer, Martin Algesten, for making us sound fabulous.
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 how and why this happened reveals a deeper truth about Apple’s evolution. Under Steve Jobs, the company toiled for years in secret to develop perfectly conceived products. Whereas, under Tim Cook, Apple has released products earlier and learned from consumer reaction. This approach could have profound implications for the future of Vision Pro.
Featuring special guest D. Griffin Jones from The CultCast and Cult of Mac. Sound engineering by Martin Algesten.
LINKS
Griffin mentioned this book - The Apple II Age: How the Computer Became Personal by Laine Nooney:
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo195231688.html
Jony Ive and the battle of the big tent:
https://www.macworld.com/article/696590/apple-expose-jony-ive-departure-apple-watch-tent.html
Apple Event September 2014 “Wish we could say more”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38IqQpwPe7s
Apple Event March 2015 “Spring forward”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2dVrpUxUhM
Graham wrote an article about the evolution of watchOS:
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/radical-evolution-of-watchos
Griffin’s YouTube video about how he uses Vision Pro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im3_yq-LxMQ
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 proved wildly popular, but the launch did not go smoothly. One month later, Jobs had to rush back from a family vacation in Hawaii to deal with “Antennagate,” a media frenzy over concerns about dropped calls. The institutional learnings Apple acquired from this PR nightmare continue to inform iPhone launches to this day.
LINKS
Original Gizmodo iPhone 4 leak coverage via the Internet Archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100421020922/https://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone
https://web.archive.org/web/20100423034754/http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone
Gourmet Haus Staudt:
https://gourmethausstaudt.com
The guy who sold the iPhone 4 prototype to Gizmodo did a Reddit AMA:
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/the-guy-who-sold-apples-lost-iphone-4-prototype-spills-all-on-reddit
WWDC 2010 Keynote - iPhone 4 launch:
https://youtu.be/EP81hZ_HdXU?si=DT2FHhmYWq-IZh5N
Gizmodo Antennagate coverage:
https://gizmodo.com/video-clearly-shows-antenna-defect-on-iphone-4-web-brow-5575347
Jonathan Mann Antennagate song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4
Antennagate press conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8tXyfjfnB0
AnandTech iPhone 4 review:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2
Kara Swisher’s Burn Book includes her account of asking Steve Jobs what he planned to do in the next ten years:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Burn-Book/Kara-Swisher/9781982163891
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 from Safari.
So, how did Safari deliver this knock-out blow? In this episode we go back to an era when Apple championed standards, interoperability, and open source. We’ll learn why Steve Jobs argued passionately against proprietary platforms. And we’ll discover how Apple handed its crown jewels over to a bitter rival.
This is a David versus Goliath story of a plucky little web browser that went on to conquer the world.
LINKS
Full video of MacWorld SF 2003, where Steve Jobs introduced the first Safari beta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTF9wnTPpK0
Don Melton, former director of internet technologies at Apple, explains how Safari got it’s name.
https://donmelton.com/2012/12/19/when-i-first-heard-the-name-safari/
Clip of Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2007, where Steve Jobs introduces Safari for Windows.
https://www.cnet.com/videos/steve-jobs-announces-safari-for-windows/
Webkit.org
https://webkit.org
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 bleeding-edge technologies like Assist, which enabled users to control the device using natural language, much like Siri today.
Although Steve Jobs scrapped the Newton on his return to Apple in 1998, its legacy lives on to this day. Apple’s investment in the Newton’s processor paid off big-time, providing vital working capital during the company’s darkest hour, and spawning a line of processors that powers every Mac, iPhone, and iPad today.
Featuring special guest D. Griffin Jones from The CultCast and Cult of Mac.
LINKS
Doonesbury “Egg Freckles” cartoon:
https://newtonglossary.com/terms/egg-freckles
Apple Knowledge Navigator Video:
https://youtu.be/umJsITGzXd0?si=1VNFsKBqXjt4bLeQ
Michael Tchao pitched the idea of the Newton to Apple’s CEO, John Sculley:
https://web.archive.org/web/20211112015207/https://www.wired.com/2013/08/remembering-the-apple-newtons-prophetic-failure-and-lasting-ideals/
How Newton’s handwriting recognition software was acquired on a trip to: Moscow:
https://www.cultofmac.com/436469/today-in-apple-history-steve-jobs-visits-the-soviet-union
How Griffin uses his MessagePad 2000 for playing Dungeons and Dragons:
https://www.cultofmac.com/825770/using-an-apple-newton-today/
Inkwell - Newton handwriting recognition in Mac OS X:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkwell_(Macintosh)
Newton and the ARM processor:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/09/05/apple-arm-have-been-crucial-to-each-others-survival-for-three-decades
eMate 3000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300
Apple Newton Messagepad 2000 image:
Ralf Pfeifer, GNU Free Documentation License
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Newton.jpg
Apple eMate 300 image:
Felix Winkelnkemper, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Newton_eMate_300_(cropped).jpg
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 specially designed to meet Jobs exacting presentation requirements.
Thanks to the power of Quartz, the Mac OS X graphics layer, the frame rate and silky-smooth 3D transitions of Keynote blew other presentation packages like PowerPoint out of the water.
Keynote formed the basis of Apple’s iWork office productivity suite we know and love today.
In this episode, we chart the thirty-year history of Apple office productivity apps, and consider what it tells us about the company’s changing business model.
LINKS
Concurrence screenshots
https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Concurrence
Steve Jobs launches Keynote at MacWorld 2003
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTF9wnTPpK0
Roger Rosner demos iWork ’05 at MacWorld 2005
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLxI40utsLM
Apple announces completion of iWork suite with the addition of Numbers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pb_OIBW4Ys
iPad launch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTNbKCAFHJo
Steve Jobs announces iWork with iCloud in his last keynote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPMjUtfQPks
Plan for iWork overhaul announced at WWDC 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIigp_bxUcQ
Eddy Cue announces complete rewrite of all iWork apps with full file compatibility at a Special Event in October 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FunXnJQxYU
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 required. So he persuaded VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, to jump from a great height while holding an iBook, during a live keynote event.
Based on industry-standard WiFi technology, the story of AirPort's launch, development, and eventual demise, provides a valuable insight into how Apple thinks about emerging standards and adopts them in its products.
LINKS
iBook & AirPort launch at MacWorld New York 1999
https://youtu.be/Fve4x6VFiF8?si=CpzUPli3nrnXOJzi
49:20 iBook Introduction
1:03:20 "One More Thing" - AirPort
1:10:30 AirPort TV Ad
1:14:15 Phil Schiller's AirPort death drop
AirPort Base Station Teardown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4vy5K7_FW4
AirPort Card Image @ Ashley Pomeroy 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort#/media/File:Apple_AirPort_7877.jpg
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 failed projects and retrofitting them onto the aging System 7. The result was Mac OS 8. It wasn't a long term solution, but it did buy his engineers the time they needed to complete Mac OS X.
Mac OS 8 proved to be a smash hit, selling 1.2 million copies in its first two weeks. The story of how this happened reveals an often overlooked side of Jobs - his ability to let go of his perfectionism and focus on what was possible, making pragmatic compromises that help to move platforms forward.
Credits
MacOS 8 Packaging Photo: ShrineOfApple
https://shrineofapple.com/blog/2011/10/08/mac-os-8/
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 follow, including Apple Health and Apple Fitness+. And by partnering with Nike, Apple broadened the appeal of its brand, learned how to successfully roll out services, and raised its marketing game. Nike+iPod Sport Kit set a template for product launches that Apple still follows to this day.
LINKS
Apple press release for Nike+iPod Sport Kit launch
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2006/05/23Nike-and-Apple-Team-Up-to-Launch-Nike-iPod/
Design of launch event at Chelsea Piers
http://www.denton-cardewdesign.com/nike-apple-nyc/66dsmmf6qqc89hcyu8lc0gk21cgdnr
Puma RS Computer Shoe
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/11/18136072/puma-1986-rs-computer-running-shoe-rereleasehttps://about.puma.com/en/this-is-puma/archive-stories/history-of-rs
Nike+ Air Zoom Moire
http://sz9.es/kickstories-nike-air-zoom-moire
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.
