APPLE COMPUTER, INC. ANNUAL REPORT 1984
Steven P. Jobs [Chairman]
Steven P. Jobs [Chairman]: APPLE COMPUTER, INC. ANNUAL REPORT 1984. Cupertino, CA: Apple Computer, Inc., 1984. Original edition. Slim quarto. Perfect bound printed wrappers. 44 [xxiv] pp. One double fold out “Apple Factory: one 128 Macintosh every 27 seconds”. Fully illustrated with color photographs and financial charts. Tasteful design and typography executed in the Apple corporate style by Chiat/Day. A lightly handled, nearly fine copy.
9 x 11 annual report with 44 pages of corporate analysis, financial data, and random middle fingers to IBM throughout. A 24-page black and white illustrated appendix of user testimonials follows the legally mandated financials, with photos and testimonials from Ted Turner, Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Lin, Peter Martins, Milton Glaser, Jim Henson, Dianne Feinstein, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Ciano, Lee Iacocca, and David Rockefeller.
Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976 to develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. It was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. in 1977 and sales of its computers, including the Apple II, grew quickly. It went public in 1980 to instant financial success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring innovative graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh, announced with the critically acclaimed advertisement "1984.” The high price of its products and limited application library caused problems, as did power struggles between executives. In 1985, Wozniak departed Apple amicably, while Jobs resigned to found NeXT, taking some Apple co-workers with him.
In 1982, Apple had issued an request for proposal that led to the hiring of Hartmut Esslinger's frog design, and the development of the Snow White design language. Used by Apple Computer from 1984 to 1990, the scheme has vertical and horizontal stripes for decoration, ventilation, and to create the illusion that the computer enclosure is smaller than it actually is. The Apple IIc computer, and its peripherals, launched in 1984, were the first to sport the new style, which would be used with only minor evolutions for the rest of the decade.
In 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh, the first personal computer to be sold without a programming language. Its debut was signified by "1984", a $1.5 million television advertisement directed by Ridley Scott that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. This is now hailed as a watershed event for Apple's success and was called a "masterpiece" by CNN and one of the greatest TV advertisements of all time by TV Guide.
And now let’s bring on Thomas C. Hayes to find out what’s generating all this commotion. Hayes filed this article for the Business section of the New York Times on February 25, 1984 under the typically dry Times headline “STRONG SALES SEEN IN '84 FOR APPLE'S MACINTOSH:” “More than 600 business computer buyers put Apple Computer Inc.'s new Macintosh through its paces at a trade show here this week.
”After 40 minutes on the machine, Robert Dieter, an executive of the Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of San Diego, was still not sure which microcomputer maker would get the big order he expects to place for Home Federal's 160 branches. But, he said, ''Whatever it is has to be easy to use, and this is easy to use.'' And he added, ''I'm impressed.''
”Many industry analysts, however, say the jury is still out on the Macintosh. Some accuse Apple of arrogance in not making the Macintosh and its three sisters in the Lisa series compatible with the International Business Machines Corporation's personal computer. Apple may yet pay for that arrogance, analysts warn. Although more than 150 companies are writing software for the Macintosh, few programs are available now. And until they are developed, the product's success will remain in doubt.
”Nonetheless, one month after Apple's chairman, Steven P. Jobs, introduced the machine before a cheering crowd of 2,600 at the company's annual meeting, it is clear to many that the Macintosh appears to be on its way, at least, to a very big first year. James McCamant, co-editor of the California Technology Stock Letter, estimates that Apple could sell as many as 500,000 Macintoshes by the end of September, the close of its fiscal year, if the company can make them that fast. He expects Apple's sales to climb to about $1.5 billion, or more than 50 percent above last year's $982.8 million.
”Apple, however, is far more conservative about its prospects. A spokesman, Barbara Krause, declined to give production figures for Macintosh, but estimated that the company would sell 200,000 to 250,000 units by the end of the calendar year. Apple last week added a second shift to its highly automated production plant in Fremont, Calif., pushing its daily potential output to more than 2,000 units.
”The enthusiasm building for the Macintosh has helped Apple recapture a bit of the momentum it lost to I.B.M. last year, according to Infocorp, a research concern in San Jose, Calif. It forecasts that Apple will finish 1984 with 25 percent of the market for desktop computers in the price range between $1,000 and $10,000. The Macintosh is priced at $2,495.
”Apple's 25 percent market share would compare, Infocorp said, with 27 percent for I.B.M. At the end of last year, I.B.M.'s share was 24 percent and Apple's 25 percent. One thing in Apple's favor, analysts say, is the fact that sales of I.B.M.'s PCjr, which was introduced last Nov. 1, have disappointed some dealers. Many report excess inventories and are cautious about future orders.
”Perhaps most surprising are the strong endorsements of the Macintosh by large dealers in business computers and dozens of consultants to major corporations, many of whom attended the Office Automation Conference here this week. ''It's poised for a stunning success,'' said Don Tapscott, a computer systems consultant for the Systems Group, which is based in Toronto. But many analysts read Apple's emphasis on small and medium- size businesses and the education market as a lack of will to do battle with I.B.M. among the billion-dollar corporations. That decision could have been a reaction, at least in part, to Apple's disappointment with its Lisa system last year, according to Stephen A. Caswell, editor of an industry newsletter.
”The Macintosh does present problems for business users, he added. Its memory, at 128,000 characters, is too small to run multifunction programs such as the Lotus 1-2-3. Additionally, it does not include among its type fonts the 10-point style favored for business correspondence. However, several companies are working on software improvements that promise to make the Macintosh highly appealing to businesses in about six to nine months, Mr. Caswell says. There will be programs to manage several functions at once, including dialing telephone calls, connecting with existing computer systems and recalling and adding information from a variety of computer files, he said.
”Many companies, after looking at the Macintosh, have concluded that the more powerful Lisa 2, with its greater memory and speed, is better than the Macintosh. ''The Lisa's are really a better buy for large companies,'' he said. ''They are really 'Big Mac's,' the 'Mac' for big business,'' said Seymour Merrin, president of Computerworks Inc. in Westport, Conn. The most expensive Lisa, the 2/10, carries a price tag of $5,500.
”Still, the Macintosh has the potential to succeed with big business as well as home users.''The information system directors at the Fortune 500 companies who are looking comparatively at technology will be hard-pressed to recommend the I.B.M. PC for future purchases over the Macintosh and Lisa series if they haven't already adopted I.B.M. as a standard,'' said Dr. James H. Carlisle, president of Office of the Future Inc. in Guttenberg, N.J. He is a consultant to the First Boston Corporation, the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Xerox Corporation.
”If Apple can build an industry around it and develop a way for companies to tie it into their existing systems, the Macintosh will not only parallel the success of the I.B.M. PC but by far surpass it,'' said Mr. Tapscott, the consultant. ''Right now, though, it is not a very useful machine because of the limited software.'' He added that as more programs become available, many employees will buy a Macintosh for use at home. This trend, he said, will put pressure on corporate managers to find a place for the Macintosh as they plan information processing strategies for the future.
”Richard L. Bradley, an executive with National Training Systems, a company in Santa Maria, Calif., that trains people to use computers, said the Macintosh may prove difficult for people already accustomed to computers because it requires a more intuitive approach than the sequential, logical operations of existing computers. He added, however, that this will make the Macintosh more accessible for people encountering computers for the first time.
”For now, Apple says its biggest problem is keeping up with demand. Dealers report delays of five weeks or more in filling orders. ''I'd love to have product,'' said Neal Riemer, sales manager for Love Computers Inc. in Glendale, Calif., one of the largest of 130 Apple dealers in southern California. ''It's driving me up the wall.'' [The New York Times Archives]