Feeling old yet?
On Wednesday, the Apple Mac, or Macintosh as it was known until circa ‘99, officially hit 40 years old — a milestone for the revolutionary personal computer that will undoubtedly have a few of its early adopters feeling their age this week.
The Steve Jobs-developed Apple Macintosh 128K hit stores on January 24th, 1984, branded as a means to transform computing from a pursuit reserved for experts to a “computer for the rest of us”, with an iconic and Orwellian Super Bowl ad directed by Ridley Scott airing 2 days before the launch.
Small Mac
Apple’s longest-running product has been on quite a journey since that first computer, as different iterations of the Mac have attracted wide-ranging audiences, from college students to rival company CEOs. Today, the Mac range is obviously not a core focus like the iPhone, but the category remains crucial for maintaining the all-important ecosystem, ensuring all of your Apple devices integrate seamlessly. And, while it's easy to dismiss 8% of Apple’s revenue on paper, Macs still represents an eye-watering $29bn in sales.
The earliest Mac set customers back $2,495 at the time — or some ~$7,000 in today’s money — suggesting there may be a substantial future for Apple’s new Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499.
