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On this day in 1996, Apple acquired NeXT (Updated)
Updated to clarify that 10.0 was the first official client version of Mac OS X, and that Mac OS X Server shipped prior to its release. On this day, December 20, just fifteen years ago, Apple paid $400 million to purchase NeXT. That's the move that brought Steve Jobs back to the company he helped to found, and it was the beginning of the incredible run of success that continues to this day. According to CNET's coverage on that day, the company was shopping for an operating system to replace the aging Mac OS. It had recently abandoned the Copland system project and was negotiating with Be and other companies. With the purchase of NeXT, Apple bought the core of what is now Mac OS X. It also gained WebObjects, the powerful Web app development tool that had been licensed to 275 corporate customers by the time of the sale to Apple. In addition to WebObjects, Apple also gained the powerful programming environment known as OpenStep. That was the core of the NeXTSTEP operating system, and is the heart of what became Cocoa for Mac OS applications. In fact, Cocoa classes start with the acronym NS, which stands for either the NeXT-Sun creation of OpenStep or for NeXTSTEP. In retrospect, it's humorous to look at then-chairman and CEO Gil Amelio's comment that "Apple expects to ship products with the NeXT operating system in 1997." The client version of Mac OS X didn't actually ship in a non-beta version until 10.0 "Cheetah" hit the market on March 24, 2001. Mac OS X Server 1.0 shipped in March of 1999, but it wasn't really recognizable as the Mac OS X we know today; it was a hybrid of NeXTSTEP UI elements and Mac concepts, and lacked the Carbon APIs. That $400 million dollar investment paid off in spades for Apple, both in the technology that it acquired and in bringing back Steve Jobs to save the company. It's hard to believe that everything that's happened in Apple's modern era started just 15 years ago, but it's true: OS X, and eventually the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were all made possible by Apple's purchase of NeXT, and Steve Jobs' return to his company.
Steve Jobs and the quality of leadership
Hearing the news that Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO took me back to the mid-nineties, when I was managing a large software project in London. Our company was a pretty big Apple customer, and it was decided that the newly installed CEO Gil Amelio would drop by, shake some hands and discuss Apple's future at our conference table. Amelio is a smart and impressive man, and he's known for leading the team that developed the first commercial CCD sensors while working for Fairchild Semiconductor. He later became CEO of another chip manufacturer, National Semiconductor, where he was instrumental in restructuring the company and helping it to regain profitability. Amelio was there to give us confidence after Apple had been pretty bruised under John Sculley and Michael Spindler. It wasn't an encouraging visit. I remember Amelio going on and on about the past problems at Apple, and how he was going to fix them. Click here for an Apple video of 'the speech.' He had a long list of fixes, but what was lacking was a coherent, compelling vision. He was going to do 'something' about the clones, finally replace System 7, and settle down all the politics and warfare between Apple divisions. I had some specific questions, but he dodged them. It wasn't convincing, and I wondered if Apple was going to pull itself out of what seemed a certain death spiral. After killing Copland and failing to make a deal for the BeOS, Amelio invested in NeXT and brought Steve Jobs back to Apple. At the end, Amelio got Apple back to making a small profit, after years of losing millions. It was a tiny victory, but certainly not a turn-around. Amelio was finally ousted from Apple in July 1997 via a boardroom coup engineered by Jobs. The rest is history. I never met Steve Jobs. But every day he has touched my life. When I check my mail, prepare a presentation, edit a photo, or answer my iPhone, it all happens because Steve had an idea of how I wanted to work. I don't know of any single company or products that have had an equal impact. Gil Amelio had lots of plans, but plans are not a vision. Jobs laughs at market research, avoids focus groups, and trusts his gut when designing what customers want. That is, what they will want. Other companies try and copy Apple features and designs but usually come up short, because, like Amelio, they had lists instead of a dream. Jobs is now on the next part of his journey through life, a journey we will all take, sooner or later. It's hard to define exactly the magic that Steve brings to Apple, but it is unique and it is successful. Smart as he was, Gil Amelio could not summon the magic, or as it turned out, much lasting enthusiasm. Thank you to Gil Amelio for bringing Steve Jobs back. Thanks to Steve for bringing Apple back.
TUAW 1996
Welcome to the TUAW newsletter for April 1st 1996. We're really glad that our subscriber base is growing, and that you are continuing to read our daily coverage of all things Apple, including Mac and Newton. We've got a lot in store for this issue, and would love to hear your comments back, so be sure to leave us a note in the attached forum thread to let us know how you liked it.Happy Birthday, Apple!Yes, today Apple turned 20 years old. While the company has been struggling for the past year, we can only hope that a turnaround is imminent. We've definitely seen some improvements, like that shiny new Newton MessagePad 130 that Apple released a few weeks ago, but we can't help but think that Apple is missing something. Either way, Apple is still an innovative company that holds true to their slogan of bringing "The Power to Be Your Best" to the consumer and professionals that rely on their products everyday. Rumor Alert: Is Apple working on a new OS?Our sources familiar with Apple's plans tell us that Apple is actively working on a project that will eventually replace the Mac OS. According to insiders, the code name for the project is Copland. We're also hearing word that Copland will feature amazing new features like protected memory, better performance, less crashes, and be completely PowerPC native. Becoming PowerPC native will be a huge issue as the PowerPC Macs only started shipping two years ago. Apple's CEO stepping down? Who's stepping up?We've recently heard that Apple's board of directors have replaced CEO Michael Spindler with Gil Amelio. From sources, we've heard that Apple will begin a massive layoff of employees -- not good for the company. Here's hoping Gil can turn the ship around. Apple releases update to Newton MessagePadJust a couple weeks ago Apple released a new MessagePad that looks promising. The MessagePad 130 features an ARM 610 processor that runs at 20Mhz, an 8MB ROM, 1.2MB RAM, and 1.5MB flash memory for storage. There is the same 320x240 screen that we've come to love on these portable wonders, and there is a backlight included on this model. It runs the 2.0 version of the Newton OS, which has been available on the MessagePad 120 since last year. The device is powered by 4 AA batteries (or a rechargeable pack), and only weighs 1 pound! This device looks promising and we can't wait to get our hands on it. You can get your MessagePad for $800USD. **For more Apple news, be sure to sign up for The Unofficial Apple Webmailer available on TUAW.com, or you can see more Apple news on their website.**
Why is everyone picking on Apple?
A spate of bad news surrounding Mobile Me and iPhone 3G quality problems paired with renewed vigor from competitors Microsoft, Dell, and Nokia has Apple running out of slack from the normally fawning press (TUAW certainly not withstanding). Forbes has a story about why Apple seems to have lost its luster recently. The New York Times is waxing nostalgic with a retrospective article titled Apple Imperfect. The National Post cites TechCrunch's Michael Arrington saying Apple is "rotting" and "flailing badly at the edges." Consider the parable of the friend. Say you have a good friend, who's trustworthy, reliable and generally happy to be around you. If that friend suddenly isn't glad to see you anymore, swears at the elderly and starts drinking cheap bourbon from a hip flask in meetings, you'd say something, right? At least you'd worry that your friend was on the wrong path. That's where we find Apple today: A friend on the wrong path. Many have noted that a lack of transparency in admitting its mistakes is hurting its credibility. The fact that it's making mistakes in the first place is generally forgivable, but we've been spoiled by Apple's pristine track record of consistently delivering quality. As consumers, we want the quality back. If anything, our expectations are even higher now to properly correct the various perceived injustices we've suffered. Taking the long view, Apple will pull out of its funk. Knowing Steve Jobs, it will do so in a spectacular fashion, too, with new products, product improvements, or both. Apple isn't suffering from a lack of talent or innovation. It's suffering from management problems that any company of its size faces on a daily basis: scheduling new products, preventing employee burnout, and managing logistics. We're nowhere near Apple's nadir under Gil Amelio, over a decade ago. In fact, investors don't seem to be fazed at all, with stock prices rebounding to their levels in May. Apple may already be back.
