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Since the iMac is being billed as the easiest way to get up and running on the Internet, it will come with an improved America Online program for Macs that AOL will release in time for the iMac's debut. "Having a revitalized, aggressive Apple in the marketplace is terrific for us," says Robert Pittman, president and CEO of AOL Networks. "More interest generated by computers helps us, more focus on consumers helps us, and easier-to-use, consumer-friendly computers help us. The new iMac is all that wrapped into one."
The biggest drawback for some buyers may be the lack of a floppy-disk drive (most software comes on CDs now anyway) and the 33.6-Kbps modem is poky even for a low-end machine. But many analysts think the iMac will be a winner. "It's a spectacular machine," says independent market analyst Pieter Hartsook. "Apple has been living off its user base for years, but this is going to attract people who don't even own a computer." Eric Lewis, an analyst for International Data Corp., agrees: "It will give consumers a reason at least to take a look at Macs, which they haven't done for some time."
Apple's style-conscious designers spent weeks refining everything from the color (they call it Bondi blue, after an Australian beach) to the size of the translucent baffles on the front (they wanted to give it the illusion of depth but not be too transparent). They even consulted an expert in candy making to learn how to reliably reproduce its tricky color on production lines. If the final result strikes some users as looking more like a beach toy than a computer, that's just fine with design chief Jonathan Ive. "Steve said, 'Don't make it look like a computer,'" Ive says with a smile.
Why didn't Apple do something this bold before? Apple board member William Campbell, CEO of Intuit, says the answer is simple: "They didn't have Steve." Jobs is for once uncharacteristically modest. "A crisis," he says with a shrug, "is a wonderful time to make some changes."
That might also include the CEO's chair. Jobs still insists he's only keeping it warm until a full-time boss is hired, which would allow him to return to Pixar, his software-animation company. But finding someone who is willing to work in his shadow is proving difficult.
Still, whoever gets the job will find the mood inside Apple considerably improved. Last month Jobs announced the company's first back-to-back profitable quarters since 1995, and employees are buzzing about the new ad campaign tweaking Intel's Pentium chips. Executives are talking hopefully of wooing back the software developers who gave up on the Mac market, and everybody hopes that the consumers who shied away from buying Macs because of concerns about the company's health will now give them another look. "Apple is back," insists senior vice president Mitchell Mandich. "Morale's up, and people are excited again. They know what we're focused on." He says the new iMac will even "help us be cool again." Cool is good. But having a double-digit market share again would be even better.