Departika, a graphic and web design studio

The Industry

A Look Back for the Mac-ophiles

Back in June of 1997 James Daly gave Apple a bit of advice in a Wired article entitled, “101 Ways to Save Apple”

James Daly was pretty spot-on. Quite interesting to read this article that was written when the term “mp3” was most well known by German engineers listening carefully to Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner. Ok, so mp3 was well out of the R&D phase by June of ’97, but it was well before mp3 was a part of the average internet user’s lexicon. Winamp 1 had just been released the month before.

But the real question is, did Apple pay attention to what he had to say, or did they just do it on their own? A somewhat interesting read for any Mac enthusiast nonetheless.

Some of my favorite excerpts from the article:

7. Don’t disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products (especially software), staff it with Apple salespeople, and display everything like you’re a living, breathing company and not a remote, dusty concept.

Apple stores anyone?

8. Buy a song. Last year, it would have been “Respect” by Aretha Franklin. This year, maybe it’s “Ain’t too Proud to Beg.”

An itunes store premonition?

14. Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack. The original Macs stood out because of their innovative look. Repeat that. Get the folks at Porsche to design a box. Or Giorgio Giugiaro. Or Philippe Starck. We’d all feel better about shelling out the bucks for a Power Mac 9600 if we could get a tower with leopard spots.

They took notice on that one. Their product design has been setting trends now ever since those damn jelly bean iMacs from ‘98. I’m glad we’ve moved into an appreciation for minimalist design. I like the leopard foreshadowing in there too.

18. Stop being buttoned-down corporate.


19. Get rid of the cables.

Check and check.

23. Create a new logo. The corporate graphic of the multicolored apple was tired in the 1980s, now it’s positively obsolete. Plaster the new logo on hats and T shirts to be worn conspicuously by Andre Agassi, Nicolas Cage, and Ashley Judd.

Minimalist white…I wonder if the kids today even recall the rainbow Mac logo.

31. Build a PDA for less than $250 that actually does something: a) cellular email b) 56-channel TV c) Internet phone.

Only took them 10 years, but the iphone is now a reality.

50. Give Steve Jobs as much authority as he wants in new product development. Let Gil Amelio stick to operations. There’s no excitement at the top, and Apple’s customers want to feel like they’ve joined a computer revolution. Even if Jobs fails, he’ll do it with guns a-blazin’, and we’ll be spared this slow water torture that Amelio has subjected us to.

Probably the best suggestion ever, props to Jobs for what he has done for Apple.

62. Build a computer that doesn’t crash.

99.9% is good enough eh?

98. Testimonials. Create commercials featuring real-life people in situations where buying a Mac (or switching to a Mac) saved the day.

Switch ads what?

101. Don’t worry. You’ll survive. It’s Netscape we should really worry about.

Amen! And thank God for FireFox!