Throwback Thursday: From the iMac to iHeadphones? How Will Apple Join the Wearable Device Market

Photo Credit: macsinmovies.blogspot.com

Check out the throwback photo above of a popular cartoon promoting Apple's iMac G3. But have you ever wondered why most Apple products have the letter "i" in front of the name? (i.e. iPhone, iPad, iTunes, etc.)

It all started in May of 1998 when the iMac was first announced (iMac G3 Introduced). The infamous lower case "i" is said to have stood for "Internet", meaning their products were Internet-friendly, which was a big deal back when PC's were first gaining popularity.

Today, it is used as more of a brand recognition strategy (Apple Support Communities). People all over the world associate "iAnything" as an Apple product right away. 

In more recent news, there is on-going buzz about Apple and their potential acquisition of Beats by Dre, the major mogul of high quality audio technology. But the big question is still, "Why?" Why would Apple spend 3.2 billion dollars on audio technology? 

Photo Credit: thenewsnerd.com

One thought is that they are in the process of developing "iHeadphones", or in other words, Internet connected headphones that can connect to your phone through WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity and stream music straight to your headphones with quality sound. “If Apple can incorporate the Beats product into its wearable computing system...then the deal could pose a threat to Google, Facebook, and other companies that are forging ahead on smart glasses and watches,” according to Time. (Who will Apple BEAT with Beats-Apple deal: 4 Things Apple Could Do). 

What do you think about Apple's potential acquisition and how it plays a role in the Internet of Everything phenomenon? In the future, will a Virtual Agent -think Siri- be able to respond through wireless headphones (like Beats) and read back your emails, or send your friend a text saying your running a little late? How will all of these separate wearable devices play well together? 

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Throwback Thursday: This Day in Technology History

Happy Throwback Thursday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

As I was roaming the web this week, trying to find an interesting Throwback story, I came across a website called thisdayintechhistory.com. It's a fascinating website because, for everyday of the year it shares significant moments, from years ago, that impacted the technology industry. 

The day that caught my attention and inspired me to write a blog was August 8, 1980. Almost exactly 33 years ago, the Project Chess team at IBM presented a prototype microcomputer to their corporate management , in hopes to get the green light for their project. To their surprise, the management team gave approval for this project and with the personal computer market rapidly emerging at the time, the Project Chess team was only given a year to complete this project. And that is what they did. One year and four days after pitching their prototype, IBM introduced their first personal computer, the IBM PC Model 5150. Corporate management gave such a short time frame to get this computer on the market because they did not want to fall behind. It allowed them to remain relevant in the industry and they thought once the Model 5150 was out, it would buy them some time to develop a "real" PC.

Photo Credit

Compromising quality for rapidity yielded unintended consequences that changed the computer industry for years. This computer that they developed in a year ended up being one of the top selling computers on the market and became the standard for computers to follow. Isn't it funny how what was suppose to be a strategy to buy them some time to make a quality computer, ended up putting them at the top of the market for about 20 years! Of course, this model was not the best computer and had many technical issues because of the time constraint. But in that time, everyone thought it was, even software programmers developed software that compromised the reliability and compatibility of their software.