The Success Of The 1980s - 1491 Words

The 1980s was an exciting time in the history of computer science. A variety of companies were competing in the computer market, including Apple, IBM and Microsoft. At the time, Apple owned 20% of the PC market, but the direction of the company went downhill after Steve Jobs was forced out of the company in 1985 over the commercial failure of the Apple Macintosh PC (Entrepreneur, 2012). The company had made enough mistakes that computer retailers had lost all faith in Macintosh (Kroenke, Using MIS 2013, 2014). The problem was only compounded by the fact that Apple hired on a long series of CEOs who failed to manage the company properly (Kroenke, 2014). In 1996, Steve Jobs returned to Apple with the help of Gil Amelio, a company board†¦show more content†¦It took people awhile to realize that Apple products were not only well-designed but also seamlessly integrated. For the first time ever, Apple made products that were compatible with Microsoft computers (LePage, 2006) . The primary integration software was iTunes, which ran smoothly on both Microsoft and Macintosh operating systems (LePage, 2006). The new Apple software was particularly adept at streamlining the data transfer process. One could quickly rip music from a CD into their iTunes library or purchase multiple songs from the iTunes store without being asked to enter a password or credit card number for every purchase. Furthermore, one could easily upload (or sync) data—such as music, pictures and PDF files—onto an iPod or iPhone by simply plugging the device into a computer with a USB cable. It was just as easy to download files from an iPod or iPhone into the computer as it was to upload them. Even though Apple products still cost a bit more than average, people were actually willing to pay a little more to save time and avoid frustration. Although the superior functionality of products locked in the customers Apple already had, it was brilliant marketing that enticed people to buy from Apple in the first place. The first iPod was one of the chicest music players on the market. It was classy because people could navigate the iPod easily without using clunky buttons (LePage, 2006). Jobs embedded touch-sensitive scrolling pads on iPods and