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Hardware => Computer Hardware => 1980s => Topic started by: chrisNova777 on March 19, 2017, 12:33:11 PM
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http://www.macworld.com/article/1050115/macs/30timeline.html
article provides insight into the first 30 years of Apple!
1980
March: Apple FORTRAN is introduced. It becomes a catalyst for high-level technical and educational applications.
May At the National Computer Conference, Apple announces the Apple III, which features a new operating system, a built-in disk controller, and four peripheral slots. Rushed production and poor direction from Steve Jobs lead to missed ship dates, performance problems, and disappointing sales (price: $4,300-$7,800).
December: Apple goes public. Morgan Stanley and Hambrecht & Quist underwrite an IPO of 4.6 million shares of Apple common stock priced at $22 per share. It’s the largest initial public offering since Ford’s, in 1956.
In Other News: Ronald Reagan is elected president; Ted Turner launches CNN; the United States defeats the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” game at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
1981
January: Steve Jobs joins Raskin’s Macintosh project.
February: Chiat/Day gets Apple’s advertising account after it buys Regis McKenna’s ad operations.
March: Mike Markkula replaces Mike Scott as president; Jobs succeeds Markkula as chairman. Scott becomes vice chairman.
July: Apple launches a TV ad campaign with talk-show host Dick Cavett as its spokesman.
September: Apple’s first mass storage system, the 5MB ProFile hard disk, is introduced (price: $3,499).
In Other News: U.S. hostages are freed from Iran; Walter Cronkite signs off as CBS Evening News anchor; MTV debuts.
1982
July: Apple rolls out the Apple Dot Matrix printer (price: $2,195).
September: Steve Wozniak sponsors a weekend-long outdoor rock concert—the US Festival—near San Bernardino, California.
December: Apple becomes the first PC maker to reach $1 billion in annual sales.
In Other News: An artificial heart is transplanted into a human for the first time; the space shuttle Columbia completes its first mission; Joe Montana leads the San Francisco 49ers to their first Super Bowl title.
1983
January: Apple introduces the Lisa (price: $9,995).
April: Apple hires John Sculley, former president of Pepsi-Cola, as its new president and CEO.
May: Apple joins the Fortune 500.
November: AppleWorks, an integrated package containing word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications, hits the market.
December: Apple releases the ImageWriter printer (price: $675).
In Other News: Sally Ride becomes the first U.S. woman astronaut in space; the compact disc is introduced; Tokyo Disneyland, the first Disney theme park outside the U.S., opens.
1984
January: The landmark “1984” commercial introduces the Macintosh during Super Bowl XVIII (won by the Los Angeles Raiders).
January: The Mac makes its debut at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting (price: $2,495).
January: The first issue of Macworld, featuring Steve Jobs on the cover, hits newsstands (price: $4).
January: Microsoft releases Word 1.0 for Mac.
September: Apple ships the Macintosh 512K (price: $3,195).
In Other News: Federal regulators break up Bell System; President Reagan is re-elected, defeating Walter Mondale; the Supreme Court rules that taping TV shows on VCRs is not a violation of copyright law.
1985
January: The first Macworld Expo is held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
January: Following the previous year’s Super Bowl success, Apple-embossed seat cushions cover Stanford Stadium, site of Super Bowl XIX. The game features a commercial titled “Lemmings”—which bombs.
January: Apple releases the Apple LaserWriter (price: $7,000).
April: Apple introduces the ImageWriter II, the HD-20 hard disk, and the Apple Personal Modem.
April: FileMaker 1.0, developed by Nashoba Systems and published by Forethought, makes its Mac debut.
April: Apple releases System 2.0.
April: Apple officially discontinues the Lisa, now named the Macintosh XL.
July: Aldus releases PageMaker, a page-layout application that ushers in the desktop-publishing era.
September: Following clashes with John Sculley, Steve Jobs resigns from Apple. He forms a new computer company, Next.
September: Microsoft introduces Excel for Mac.
In Other News: Microsoft ships Windows 1.0; Coca-Cola changes the formula of its soft drink, releasing “New Coke”; the price of a first-class postage stamp rise 2 cents to 22 cents.
1986
January: Apple releases System 3.0.
January: Apple releases the Macintosh Plus. The first Mac to include a SCSI port, it was aimed at answering complaints that the original Mac wasn’t expandable (price: $2,600).
In Other News: Steve Jobs invests $10 million in a Lucasfilm division named Pixar; a Mac Plus makes a memorable cameo in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; the first Nintendo video games arrive in the U.S.
1987
January: New desktop communications products include the AppleShare file-server application (price: $799) and the AppleTalk PC Card (price: $399).
March: The Macintosh II—which is both the first color Mac and the first NuBus Mac—debuts (price: $3,989-$5,498).
March: Apple releases System 4.0.
April: QuarkXPress debuts.
July Microsoft releases PowerPoint 1.0. The Mac version of the presentation software appears some three years before its Windows counterpart.
October: Apple releases System 4.2 and Finder 6.0, combining both in System 5.0.
In Other News: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets nearly 23 percent in a single day on Black Monday; 93,173 people attend WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome, the largest indoor gathering in U.S. history; the world population tops 5 billion.
1988
January: Microsoft launches Windows 2.03, featuring Mac-like icons and overlapping windows.
March: Apple files a federal lawsuit against Microsoft claiming copyright infringement.
June: Apple releases System 6.0.
In Other News: George Bush defeats Michael Dukakis in the U.S. presidential election; Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is stripped of his 100-meter-dash gold medal after testing positive for steroids; U2 wins an Album of the Year Grammy for “The Joshua Tree.”
1989
February: The Beatles’ Apple Corps recording company sues Apple Computer for marketing products with music-synthesizing capabilities, claiming a violation of a 1981 trademark-coexistence pact. It won’t be the last legal dispute between the two Apples.
June: Microsoft releases Office 1.0.
September: Apple releases the Macintosh Portable (price: $6,500).
In Other News: The Berlin Wall falls; Seinfeld debuts, as does The Simpsons ; “Dilbert” begins appearing in syndication.