Inspiration from beyond hairdressing – The Big Apple

Living the iLife with Apple is standard practice for millions the world over but today's iconic must-have gadgets were a very long time coming

As you lovingly caress the sleek lines of your latest iPurchase and wax lyrical about the capacity of your iMac take a moment to reflect on the David and Goliath struggle that made them possible. The cutting edge white retail spaces are a world and over three decades apart from Apple's humble beginnings. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were a couple of college drop outs who shared an interest in beer and electronics. They turned their membership of the ‘Homebrew Computer Club' into a hothouse for envisioning the future of computing and they turned a garage into their first production plant. While 'Woz' was the engineer, Steve Jobs saw the marketability of personal computers and they started to think small in order to think big. In 1976 the first 50 Apple Is were sold for $666.66 and the pair had liquidated all their worthwhile possessions (one Volkswagen Camper Van, one Hewlett Packard programmable calculator) to fund their future. Incredibly Hewlett Packard turned down the offer to purchase their designs and the company simply mushroomed. By 1980 it had gone public but the Apple was starting to rot at the core. At the time Jobs was all about design and Wozniak all about functionality. When Wozniak was severely injured in a plane crash in 1981 it rocked the partnership and now there was a whole Board of Directors to deal with too. Jobs ended up resigning over internal power struggles in 1985, by which time IBM had started to bruise Apple's market lead. Jobs purchased PIXAR films from George Lucas and signed a deal with Disney for distribution rights. In 1995 Toy Story was released and computer animation was changed forever. Jobs ultimately returned to the company he founded in 1997 and heralded a fresh era in Apple's fortunes.

Future by design

Now Jobs had plenty of people to take care of functionality and Apple had a long history of moderate success but his flair for form was about to transform all our futures. The fate of Apple was sealed with the launch of the iMac and its design played a significant part in its success. The rounded lines and Bondi Blue colouring was the vision of a young Industrial designer called Jonathan Ive. Originally from Chingford he had pursued a design role at Apple aged only 25. Jobs was swift to recognise his talents and Ive will go down in history as the man who designed the iMac, G3, G4, iPod and iPhone. When iMac was released in 1998 it became the fastest selling personal computer in history. Since the late 1990's, the distinctive feel and design of each Apple product has delivered Apple straight into the hands of a design savvy and visually aware generation, who are happy to use Apple to broadcast their discerning style choice. One hundred million iPods have been sold since they were introduced in November 2001, showing that Apple truly is a product of the people.