Apple: A History of Game-Changers

Not too long after you read this, the WWDC keynote will have been done and dusted. WWDC is all about developers and doesn't have much of a track record of unexpected, game-changing announcements.

We have had game-changers announced, you only need to look back to last year and the iPhone 3G. But we were all expecting that, it having been heavily rumored.

Hardware also doesn't get much of a show at WWDC keynotes. We had the iPhone 3G in 2008, the first Intel Mac Pros in 2006, new displays in 2004 and 2003 showed off the PowerMac G5 .

The WWDC 2009 keynote will almost certainly feature news of the next gen iPhones, but that might be it for hardware. The imminent MacBook announcement will probably have to wait.

No rumors are predicting anything earth-shattering, even the MacTablet has gone off the rumor radar (again).

(Now for the segue.) Of course, game changers don't come along often anyway. However, Apple does seem to have the monopoly on these "game-changers. Whereas that other company up in Seattle... well, how many times has it done anything revolutionary? Once?

Apple's big moments

Apple ][

As one of the first home computer not for geeks and with its success in education, for many people of the late '70s, the Apple ][ was the first personal computer they either heard of or experienced. It probably symbolizes the start of the personal computer revolution.

Mac

Like Apple ][ helped show the masses computers could be for them, the Mac introduced the masses to the GUI interface and the mouse. What's more, it came in a neat little portable package and put the "personal" into personal computers.

Newton

Although ultimately doomed and not the first PDA, the Apple Newton defined the future of PDAs (a term in fact coined by John Sculley, then CEO of Apple), and was for many people the first they heard of handheld PDAs.

iPod

The iPod was a revolution waiting to happen, and Apple was the company who could and did do it. Before the iPod, digital music players were a good idea but rather clumsy to use. The iPod changed all that, redefining user-friendliness in the music player market. Unsurprisingly, sales went off the charts.

iTunes Music Store

In some ways, you could say the iTMS has been Apple's biggest revolution of all. At a time when music piracy via online means was going through the roof, Apple managed to engage the trust of the labels and then swing the music buying public back to paying for their music. An extraordinary achievement.

iPhone

Just where were smartphones headed before the iPhone? Where did "user-friendliness" rate before it? Like the Mac and iPod before it, the iPhone came along and redefined what a device - smartphones in this case - should be. All other smartphones are now measured against the iPhone.

App Store

One way to identify a revolution is by seeing whether it's copied or not. Every man and his dog who makes smartphones is jumping on the app store bandwagon. In the App Store, Apple has created a whole new - and streamlined - way for developers to get their apps to the end-user. The App Store has made a lot of unheard of developers quite rich, but not because their product was good, but because the App Store made it so simple to get the app to the consumer.

Microsoft's big moment

Licencing the OS

As an Apple fan, unfortunately, I must admit, this one Microsoft event overshadows all of Apple's. With some 90% of the world's personal computers running a Windows OS, Microsoft created a zillion dollar industry united under the one OS. We might not like to admit it, but that did more to advance the computer revolution than anything anyone else has done.

But Apple will be remembered

When you look at these moments though, which will be remembered? Anyone who was old enough in 1984 will never forget the impact of the Mac. As will those of us here when the iPhone arrived.

Apple will always be remembered as the leader of technology revolutions. It has done more than probably any other company to make technology enjoyable to use.

It will be remembered as the company that produced the game-changers.

Microsoft will be remembered as a monolithic company that dominated the computer industry, but no one will remember its revolutionary contribution. (I would have said contributions, but really, what else has it done that was revolutionary?)