Apple Core

In 2003, Steve Jobs said: “Some people have a problem with open source software. We think it’s great.” It wasn’t just talk. Apple would go on to contribute LLVM and WebKit, two projects that became influential far beyond Apple’s own platforms. WebKit even served as the foundation for Google Chrome. So why doesn’t anyone think of Apple as an open source company? That question turns out to have an i...

Apple Podcasts is one of the world’s most popular podcast players, with almost 25% market share. The app launched in 2012, but Apple’s support for podcasting goes back much further.  The term “podcast” was originally coined in 2005 as a concatenation of iPod and broadcast. Initially, Apple wasn’t pleased with this abuse of its trademark, and sent out angry cease and desist letters. But it didn’t t...

In 2013, Apple launched a radical redesign of the iPhone’s user interface. iOS 7 represented more than just a fresh new look. It marked a major shift in Cupertino’s design philosophy, which arose from a bitter boardroom bust-up between two of Steve Jobs’ most trusted lieutenants. Since the launch of the Macintosh in 1984, Jobs had pioneered the use of skeuomorphism, a design motif where apps adopt...

Sherlock was introduced in 1998, as a tool for finding files on Mac OS 8.5. It used advanced search technology harvested from the carcass of Apple’s failed next generation operation system, Copeland. Sherlock revolutionized search on the Mac, enabling users to search within files for the first time. But its file searching prowess is not the reason Sherlock is remembered today. By competing with a...

In 2011, Steve Jobs made his final public appearance, presenting his plans for a second Apple campus to Cupertino City Council. He proposed a circular building, one mile in diameter, surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds that concealed a subterranean parking garage.  With a whopping $5 billion budget and a prestigious international architect attached to the project, Jobs’ ambition was to bu...

In this special episode we interview Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac, and author of New York Times best-selling biographies of Tim Cook and Jony Ive. During his three-decade career, working first at MacWEEK, then Wired News, and now as the editor of his own tech news website, Cult of Mac, Leander attended all the legendary Steve Jobs keynotes and interviewed some of Apple’s most senior execu...

Apple Maps launched alongside the original iPhone in 2007. Initially, it relied on map data from Google. But in 2012, when the two companies became smartphone rivals, Apple was forced to find an alternative data source. Opting to build its own map platform in-house, Apple attempted to replicate a product Google had developed over many years in a matter of months. Unsurprisingly, the results were n...

In 1996, Apple was in serious trouble. The Mac was almost obsolete. Its multitasking was flaky, it couldn’t handle multiple processors, and it kept crashing. Sales were tanking as users switched to Windows NT in droves. Apple appointed a new CEO, Gil Amelio, to turn things around. He tried to replace the Mac’s System 7 with a new modern operating system he called Rhapsody. Amelio’s strategy wasn’t...

The iPhone in your pocket, the Mac on your desk, and even the watch on your wrist are all based on NeXTSTEP, an operating system developed by a long forgotten computer maker called NeXT. Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985, just months after his humiliating departure from Apple. Jobs was determined to beat Apple at its own game by proving his new company was the next big thing in computing. But it did...

These days, Cupertino describes Apple Watch as “the ultimate device for a healthy life.” But it didn’t start out that way. When Tim Cook originally launched the product in 2014, he positioned it as an “intimate way to connect and communicate.” Over its ten year history, Apple Watch has pivoted more radically than any previous Apple product. The user interface has transformed to such an extent that...

When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, it surprised no one. Tech blog Gizmodo had already spilled the tea two months earlier by publishing photographs of a lost prototype. Jobs was furious, but he found a way to turn the situation to his advantage.  The design of the iPhone 4 set the standard for all subsequent models. And with innovative new features like FaceTime and the Retina Dis...

Safari is one of Apple’s most enduring and popular apps, with versions running on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Vision Pro. But it wasn’t always the behemoth we know today. When it launched in 2003, Safari faced fierce competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, a bruiser of a browser with over 95% market share. Safari didn’t seem to stand a chance. And yet, just twelve years later, Microsoft ga...

Apple launched its first handheld computing device way back in 1993. With no internet access, flaky handwriting recognition, and an eye-watering price tag, the Newton MessagePad never stood much chance of success. But the writing was really on the wall with the arrival of the PalmPilot, a cheaper, more compact alternative, with a breakthrough text input system. Inspired by the “Knowledge Navigator...

Steve Jobs was famous for his keynote presentations, which combined showmanship with beautifully designed slides to generate his trademark ‘reality distortion field.’ But what few people knew at the time was, he didn’t use a Mac to produce those slides. Not until 2002, at least. Instead he relied on a little-known app called Concurrence on his trusty NeXT computer. Jobs loved this app so much, he...

In 1999, Steve Jobs needed one more product launch to complete the four-computer matrix he introduced on his return to the company three years earlier. That product was the iBook—a portable version of the hugely popular iMac G3. iBook had a striking design with eye-popping colors. But what really set it apart was AirPort, Apple’s proprietary version of WiFi, which ushered in the age of wireless co...

When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded in 1997, Apple was in disarray. After two failed attempts at a next-generation operating system, the Mac had been stuck on System 7 for years.  The acquisition of Jobs' company, NeXT, offered a solution, with its NeXTSTEP operating system, which would form the basis of Mac OS X. But that was still three years away, and the Mac platform was al...

Apple’s interest in fitness products goes way back. In 2006, before Apple Watch was even a twinkle in Tim Cook’s eye, Steve Jobs took the stage with Nike CEO Mark Parker at an ultra-exclusive venue in New York City to announce the Nike+iPod Sport Kit. With a sensor that went into special Nike running shoes, and a receiver that plugged into your iPod, Nike+iPod was a pioneering product that helped...