Filed under: Hardware, Blast From the Past, Apple History
Blast From the Past: Apple patents, ads, and catalogs
A trio of nostalgic finds covers everything from a visual history of Apple patents to the ads and catalogs that marketed these products to consumers.
Andrew McConnell received an old mail-order computer catalog from 1980, with the first 12 pages featuring Apple products. For the low, low price of $974.95USD, you could purchase a 16K Regular Apple II that weighed less than 12 pounds! Or, if you're really crazy with your money, you could spend $1123.95USD on a 48K Plus system.
The really neat thing about browsing through this catalog is seeing all the accessories available for the system at that time. A $34.95 device called Bright Pen was touted as an alternative to the keyboard or game paddle input, and seemed to be an ancestor of the Wacom tablet. Further in, another accessory called Light Pen appears to be a more expensive Wacom predecessor. SuperTalker added voiceover capabilities to the Mac and SpeechLab allowed for dictation. There was a music synthesizer, the ability to add a real-time clock for $200, basic software, and more.
RedLightRunner has compiled a page of some of the best-known Apple ads from the past couple of decades. Its earliest offering is the infamous 1984 ad and there are several early 80's and late 90's offerings there. My favorite is the ad from 1999 for the Airport Base Station. The device sails across the screen like a UFO, complete with creepy B-movie music that is sure to give some people nightmares. It's definitely not a comprehensive collection of ads - it's missing all the current ones and others from the 80's such as this ad from 1986. But, it is a great start at building a collection.
Over on the Technologizer blog, Harry McCracken has posted a visual history spanning 31 years of Apple patent filings - featuring everything from Woz's drawings of the original Apple II in April 1977 all the way to the "multi-functional hand-held device" from December 2007 which turns out to be the iPhone. It's not all the patents filed by Apple, but it's a great summary of some of the devices Apple has come up with. You can find more articles about various Apple patents here at TUAW as well.
Many thanks to all those who submitted tips!
Andrew McConnell received an old mail-order computer catalog from 1980, with the first 12 pages featuring Apple products. For the low, low price of $974.95USD, you could purchase a 16K Regular Apple II that weighed less than 12 pounds! Or, if you're really crazy with your money, you could spend $1123.95USD on a 48K Plus system.The really neat thing about browsing through this catalog is seeing all the accessories available for the system at that time. A $34.95 device called Bright Pen was touted as an alternative to the keyboard or game paddle input, and seemed to be an ancestor of the Wacom tablet. Further in, another accessory called Light Pen appears to be a more expensive Wacom predecessor. SuperTalker added voiceover capabilities to the Mac and SpeechLab allowed for dictation. There was a music synthesizer, the ability to add a real-time clock for $200, basic software, and more.
RedLightRunner has compiled a page of some of the best-known Apple ads from the past couple of decades. Its earliest offering is the infamous 1984 ad and there are several early 80's and late 90's offerings there. My favorite is the ad from 1999 for the Airport Base Station. The device sails across the screen like a UFO, complete with creepy B-movie music that is sure to give some people nightmares. It's definitely not a comprehensive collection of ads - it's missing all the current ones and others from the 80's such as this ad from 1986. But, it is a great start at building a collection.
Over on the Technologizer blog, Harry McCracken has posted a visual history spanning 31 years of Apple patent filings - featuring everything from Woz's drawings of the original Apple II in April 1977 all the way to the "multi-functional hand-held device" from December 2007 which turns out to be the iPhone. It's not all the patents filed by Apple, but it's a great summary of some of the devices Apple has come up with. You can find more articles about various Apple patents here at TUAW as well.
Many thanks to all those who submitted tips!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JaysonL said 3:52PM on 12-15-2008
Apple II - "High Resolution" Graphics: 280H x 192V
Wow! Apple's reality distortion field existed even back in those days!
Reply
elizabeth282 said 4:13PM on 12-15-2008
a bit related, just saw this on digg -- youtube video of 30 Years of Apple Products in 3 years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTZRzftZ6vA
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badtzmaru said 5:01PM on 12-15-2008
I remember looking at this kind of stuff as a kid and dreaming I could own these products. I especially love the Arithmetic Processor -- add, multiply, subtract, and divide! Who knew?
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Fritz Laurel said 4:17AM on 12-16-2008
I'm with you. This stuff was like the greatest candy ever! Just to get the catalog and look through it was like peering through the looking glass...
lrtitze said 7:49PM on 12-15-2008
The Gibson Light Pen was really quite advanced at the time. You'd be surprised who "Gibson" was.
Reply
Jordan Kennedy said 8:54PM on 12-15-2008
Ugh this makes me so mad! instead of a few ads, how about over 300 Apple Commercials plus Keynoyes at
jordankennedy.com/jk/applevids.html
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JAQ said 10:44PM on 12-15-2008
Those pens weren't like the Wacom pens you kids are thinking of. They worked in conjunction with the CRT: you pointed the pen (connected by a wire to an interface card) at a spot on the screen, and based on the timing of the screen refresh, it calculated the pen's position. Imagine a CRT Cintiq with no pressure-sensitivity and you'll be close.
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