Filed under: Internet, Apple History
Apple.com, a retrospective
TUAW reader Tyler noticed that Google is celebrating its 10th anniversary by digging up its searchable archives from 2001. He took a peek at some Apple history and shared the find with us. The archives dip into the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which I decided to use to dig up a series of archived Apple.com sites. You can surf all the way back to 1996 ... a land where Apple was still Apple Computers, the rainbow apple was still in effect, and web pages were all stuck to the left side of the screen.
According to Wikipedia, the Apple.com domain was registered in 1987 (and hacked in '97, as a marginally NSFW prank). Unfortunately, the Internet Archives only go back to '96, so that's what we're working with (if you, for whatever reason, have an image of the Apple website in the late '80s, please do make my day and send it in). Also according to Wikipedia, the 1987 registration made Apple.com the 64th oldest .com domain. These wiki-facts may or may not appear on this semester's final exam.
In addition to being a fun trip through web design history, it's a good refresher on the Apple timeline. Revel in the release of the iPod, iTunes 3, and the blazing-fast 700 Mhz iBook. In the process, you'll gain a full appreciation for the current refresh of the Apple site. If you want to save some surfing time, check out the gallery of some gems from my dig. Of course, intrepid Apple explorers can venture into the cave and see for themselves.
Thanks, Tyler!
Gallery: Apple.com retrospective
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
yoo.chul.chung said 7:16AM on 10-08-2008
Considering that the World Wide Web escaped from the lairs of CERN only in the '90s, it might be a tad difficult to find an '80s Apple web site ... (I can see how easy it can be to forget that there's more to the Internet than just the WWW :)
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Ondroo said 7:18AM on 10-08-2008
Is it just me or is the gallery link just "http://" in rss feeds?
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yoo.chul.chung said 7:21AM on 10-08-2008
Considering that the World Wide Web escaped from the lairs of CERN only in the '90s, it might be a tad difficult to find an '80s Apple web site ... (I can see how easy it can be to forget that there's more to the Internet than just the WWW :)
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AriX said 7:25AM on 10-08-2008
It's funny: Apple actually still has these files online. http://images.apple.com/t/2006/us/en/i/1.gif - And then you can take that and change the year, so http://images.apple.com/t/2001/us/en/i/1.gif (only works for some years) And then for the third tab (image 3) http://images.apple.com/t/2001/us/en/i/3.gif or (change the URL from 2001 to 2002 and 2002 to 2003, I can't post any more URLs)
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DeadParrot said 7:35AM on 10-08-2008
Ummm.
Apple couldn't have a web site before the first public web browser (1993). Before 1993, apple.com was probably used for such things as email, ftp, usenet, gopher and other old school protocols. So good luck finding a late 80's web site.
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JonathanW said 7:38AM on 10-08-2008
"have an image of the Apple website in the late '80s"
Umm, no: the *web* only "went public" in Aug '91, so Apple's first home pages would be in the early 90's.
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TH said 7:39AM on 10-08-2008
(if you, for whatever reason, have an image of the Apple website in the late '80s, please do make my day and send it in).
You do know that that would be a quite interesting feat, given that the web was released into the world in 1991.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_wide_web#History)
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mbd said 7:56AM on 10-08-2008
Uhh, the web wasn't around in the late 80's, so I don't think you'll have much luck finding an archive of Apple's website from then...
Actually, of interest (from Wikipedia's entry on the World Wide Web), "A NeXTcube was used by Berners-Lee as the world's first Web server and also to write the first Web browser, WorldWideWeb, in 1990. "
Note too that the WWW didn't really hit its stride till Mosaic came out in 1993, and it took some time for commercial orgs to pickup and put websites up...
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Jash Sayani said 8:23AM on 10-08-2008
"Web design history".... Sounds interesting, but I am working on Web-design future with jQuery and CSS.....
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noiselull said 8:54AM on 10-08-2008
I found a more complete gallery at thoughtdifferent.com where they have an older page.
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Chris Aubeck said 9:20AM on 10-08-2008
There's no reason to use "circa" in the gallery when you aren't guessing the year.
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jonathan ober said 1:08PM on 10-08-2008
The one thing I noticed (as a web designer) is aside from glossy one year, tabs or other design elements...the layout didn't change much. I think this is mostly because Apple has gotten it right with their site. Although it was only recently, within 3 years that they really outdid themselves with larger images of product, the nice easy to find info and a store that we all love to hate see donned with the dreaded note.
how come no one has a note image?
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dave said 5:21PM on 10-08-2008
I don't have an image of it, but I remember the really old Apple website having a Star Trek feel with a large image on the left, and a brushed metal look. I'll dig thru some old marketing materials I found after our move, and see if there's any pictures.
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Mr.Clicky said 6:12PM on 10-08-2008
the Wayback Machine will ever be only so-so interesting when only half the images on any given page are present. Bit like having a library full of books with every 10th page ripped out...
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Cay said 8:05PM on 10-08-2008
It's quite funny how linux.org looks a lot like 1997's apple.com :P
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Zyber said 9:21PM on 10-08-2008
O, how times have changed......
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tBone said 11:56PM on 10-08-2008
Anyone else bothered by this "a land where Apple was still Apple Computers"?
They have never been known as Apple ComputerS. It was Apple Computer.
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charles said 8:10PM on 11-29-2008
Apple.com 80's photo is so hard to find. I hope someone could find one.
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