Apple

Apple's iMac computer was unveiled in 1998, and Sunday marks its 20th anniversary.

CEO Tim Cook celebrated the milestone for the company's all-in-one computer with a tweet commemorating the occasion.

20 years ago today, Steve introduced the world to iMac. It set Apple on a new course and forever changed the way people look at computers. pic.twitter.com/GbKno7YBHl — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 6, 2018

The computer was first unveiled on May 6, 1998, by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The original model was a then-radical "all-in-one" design, a CRT monitor, motherboard and CD-ROM drive housed in a colorful translucent egg-shaped housing, versus the more traditional desktop tower tethered to an external monitor. The system had a 233-MHz PowerPC processor, a 4GB hard drive and sold for $1,299 in the US. Despite the May unveiling, it didn't ship until August of that year.

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The original iMac was the first big collaboration between Apple chief designer Jonny Ive and Jobs, the company's legendary cofounder who had been brought back the year before (after being fired in 1985). The iMac's success was a key catalyst in the Jobs-led renaissance for Apple: iTunes, Apple Stores, iPods and iPhone would all debut in the following decade, beginning Apple's stunning reversal from struggling also-ran to the world's most profitable corporation.

Since the original model, Apple's iMac line has continued to evolve into its current 21-inch and 27-inch flat-panel models that have substantially more power and storage. Traditionalists bemoaned the original model's lack of a floppy drive, but Apple has long since dropped optical drives from its Macs, too.

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