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The first iMac was disruptive

Last updated on April 8, 2013

Dan Pallotta at the Harvard HBR Blog Network enumerates many points that demonstrate investor irrationality regarding Apple’s recent stock slide. The piece is well-supported, but I’d take issue with one point. In pointing out how Steve Jobs (after his return), like Tim Cook, did not introduce any disruptive products in his first year as CEO. Pallotta notes

[B]ear in mind that four years elapsed from the time Steve Jobs took back the reins until the iPod was introduced.

That’s true, but if Pallotta considers the iPad mini disruptive, then he must also consider the iMac, introduced soon after Jobs’ return in 1998, disruptive.  The first iMac was a bold design. It retired the floppy drive and it jump-started USB. It’s also surprising that one who is such an astute student of Apple history fails to mention that Apple did, in fact, invent a Time Machine.