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"plaintext": "Below is a chronological timeline of the year's defining moments, featuring key quotes from Steve Jobs, followed by my own personal thoughts and reflections on experiencing this historic era firsthand."
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"plaintext": "January 6, 1998 — Macworld San Francisco 1998"
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"plaintext": "Steve Jobs drops his very first \"One More Thing...\" surprise at the end of a keynote, announcing that Apple expects a projected $45 million net profit for Q1. This officially breaks a multi-year streak of devastating losses and declares Apple's financial stabilization to the world. Major software updates include Mac OS 8.1 (introducing the HFS Plus file system) and QuickTime 3.0."
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"plaintext": "Apple had revenues of $1.575 billion, and Apple Computer last quarter made a $45 Million profit. I think I can tell you for sure that Apple is coming back."
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"plaintext": "March 17, 1998 — Seybold New York 1998"
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"plaintext": "Steve Jobs delivers a publishing-focused presentation introducing Apple's very first desktop flat-panel monitor, the Apple Studio Display (a 15-inch active-matrix LCD). He uses the event to recapture Apple's traditional core audience of graphic designers and desktop publishers."
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"plaintext": "May 6, 1998 — The iMac Introduction (Special Event at the Flint Center)"
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"plaintext": "Steve Jobs walks onto the stage at the Flint Center—the exact venue where the original Macintosh was introduced in 1984—and pulls the translucent, Bondi Blue iMac G3 out from under a cloth."
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"plaintext": "So we came up with a very simple strategy about eight months ago. And the strategy was: let's look at the product space as four quadrants. Let’s look at consumers and professionals, desktops and portables. And our job is to do one great product for each quadrant. Let's do four great products, and let's put all of our A-team on these four products, and let's stop doing everything else."
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"plaintext": "May 11–15, 1998 — WWDC 1998 (San Jose)"
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"plaintext": "July 7, 1998 — Macworld New York 1998"
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"plaintext": "Jobs delivers a highly energized keynote using a theme dubbed the \"Apple Hierarchy of Skepticism\" (a play on Maslow's hierarchy of needs) to show critics how Apple is checking off survival metrics one by one. He demonstrates Mac OS 8.5 (code-named \"Allegro\"), showcases a wave of new third-party USB accessories built for the iMac, and sets the official global release date for the iMac."
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"plaintext": "August 15, 1998 — The iMac Goes on Sale"
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"plaintext": "September 1, 1998 — Seybold San Francisco 1998"
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"plaintext": "September 17, 1998 — Apple Expo Paris 1998"
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"plaintext": "The year kicked off with Steve Jobs updating the world on Apple’s performance over the back half of 1996—specifically highlighting the first 51 days of momentum following the rollout of their new G3 architecture, online store, and build-to-order manufacturing approach. Who could have guessed they would swing back to profitability so incredibly fast?"
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"textContent": "Below is a chronological timeline of the year's defining moments, featuring key quotes from Steve Jobs, followed by my own personal thoughts and reflections on experiencing this historic era firsthand.\nJanuary 6, 1998 — Macworld San Francisco 1998\nSteve Jobs drops his very first \"One More Thing...\" surprise at the end of a keynote, announcing that Apple expects a projected $45 million net profit for Q1. This officially breaks a multi-year streak of devastating losses and declares Apple's financial stabilization to the world. Major software updates include Mac OS 8.1 (introducing the HFS Plus file system) and QuickTime 3.0.\nApple had revenues of $1.575 billion, and Apple Computer last quarter made a $45 Million profit. I think I can tell you for sure that Apple is coming back.\nFebruary 27, 1998 — The Death of the Newton\nSteve Jobs completely shuts down the Newton and eMate product lines. Over 130 engineers are reallocated or laid off. Jobs forces the company to abandon the PDA market entirely so 100% of Apple's engineering resources can be focused on personal computer hardware and the upcoming Mac OS X operating system strategy.\nMarch 17, 1998 — Seybold New York 1998\nSteve Jobs delivers a publishing-focused presentation introducing Apple's very first desktop flat-panel monitor, the Apple Studio Display (a 15-inch active-matrix LCD). He uses the event to recapture Apple's traditional core audience of graphic designers and desktop publishers.\nPublishing is the heart and soul of Apple, and we are building the workflows you need right into the core of the operating system. With ColorSync, we are taking the guesswork out of the production line. What you see on an Apple Studio Display is exactly what is going to come off the printing press.\nMay 6, 1998 — The iMac Introduction (Special Event at the Flint Center)\nSteve Jobs walks onto the stage at the Flint Center—the exact venue where the original Macintosh was introduced in 1984—and pulls the translucent, Bondi Blue iMac G3 out from under a cloth.\nSo we came up with a very simple strategy about eight months ago. And the strategy was: let's look at the product space as four quadrants. Let’s look at consumers and professionals, desktops and portables. And our job is to do one great product for each quadrant. Let's do four great products, and let's put all of our A-team on these four products, and let's stop doing everything else.\nMay 11–15, 1998 — WWDC 1998 (San Jose)\nComing just five days after the iMac announcement, Jobs uses WWDC to save developer relations by introducing the Carbon API. This massive software breakthrough allows developers to port their legacy classic Mac OS applications (like Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office) to the upcoming Unix-based Mac OS X with minimal code rewrites. Apple also introduces the high-performance PowerBook G3 \"Wallstreet\" laptop line.\nWe have figured out a way to give you about 80% of what you want, for about 10% of the work. We call it Carbon. It's a tuned version of the Mac OS APIs... If you modify your apps to use Carbon, they will run natively on Mac OS 8, and they will run with full memory protection, full preemptive multitasking, and advanced graphics on Mac OS X. It is the best of both worlds.\nJuly 7, 1998 — Macworld New York 1998\nJobs delivers a highly energized keynote using a theme dubbed the \"Apple Hierarchy of Skepticism\" (a play on Maslow's hierarchy of needs) to show critics how Apple is checking off survival metrics one by one. He demonstrates Mac OS 8.5 (code-named \"Allegro\"), showcases a wave of new third-party USB accessories built for the iMac, and sets the official global release date for the iMac.\nMac OS 8.5 is an incredibly deep release. We have gone into the plumbing of the OS and rewritten massive chunks of legacy code to run natively on the PowerPC chip. The finder is faster, copying files over a network is faster, and launching apps is instantaneous. It makes your existing G3 hardware feel twice as fast.\nAugust 15, 1998 — The iMac Goes on Sale\nAfter over 150,000 preorders, the iMac officially hits retail shelves globally. It sparks an unprecedented consumer buying frenzy, immediately becoming the fastest-selling computer in Apple's history and introducing a major cultural shift toward colorful consumer electronics.\nSeptember 1, 1998 — Seybold San Francisco 1998\nFollowing the massive consumer success of the iMac launch, Jobs addresses professional designers to showcase high-end performance metrics, operating system stability under Mac OS 8.5, and cross-platform network performance improvements.\nSeptember 17, 1998 — Apple Expo Paris 1998\nSteve Jobs takes the stage in Europe to celebrate the international velocity of the iMac, revealing that a staggering 29% of all iMac buyers are first-time computer owners, proving that Apple is successfully expanding the overall personal computer market size.\nThe year kicked off with Steve Jobs updating the world on Apple’s performance over the back half of 1996—specifically highlighting the first 51 days of momentum following the rollout of their new G3 architecture, online store, and build-to-order manufacturing approach. Who could have guessed they would swing back to profitability so incredibly fast?\nLooking back, I had completely forgotten that the second-generation PowerBook G3 Series (\"Wallstreet\") was actually introduced at that very same May event. It makes sense why it didn't catch my eye at the time; the iMac was just so visually arresting, and infinitely more affordable at $1,299 compared to the Wallstreet’s steep $2,299 to $3,499 price tag.\nThe excitement of the internet. The simplicity of the Macintosh. \nBoy, did it look great. I pre-ordered mine as soon as humanly possible at CompUSA to ensure I could pick it up on launch day. Because Apple left a gap of several months between the machine's initial announcement and its actual release, I spent that summer researching the hardware. I discovered I could upgrade both the system RAM and the VRAM myself, so I ordered the compatible parts ahead of time. Looking back, it feels a little wild that I actually took a screwdriver to the machine and pulled the entire motherboard drawer apart before I ever even hit the power button for the first time.\nI absolutely loved using that iMac. It eventually packed up and came with me to my first apartment in Boynton Beach, Florida, serving as my portal to the world of dial-up internet.",
"title": "1998 - bondi blue",
"updatedAt": "2026-06-03T10:12:14+00:00"
}