Steve Jobs famously kicked off 2003 by declaring it “ The Year of the Laptop . ” The Apple CEO never made a similar resolution about 2004 , but there ’s little uncertainty as to which Apple - made portable gimmick dominated the last 12 calendar month .
For Apple , 2004 was the Year of the iPod .
From the beginning of the year , which regard the introduction of the iPod mini , to the final month , which brought the innovation of the iPod picture and the iPod U2 Special Edition , Apple ’s euphony player grabbed more than its parcel of headlines . In fact , the iPod has become so critical to Apple ’s fortunes that the company reorganized its corporate anatomical structure into separate iPod and Macintosh division . The iPod division is led by Apple Senior Vice President Hardware Engineering , Jon Rubinstein , while Apple ’s Macintosh effort will be led by Executive Vice President Worldwide Sales and Operations Tim Cook . In its fiscal fourth tail alone , Apple sold 2 million iPods , lead the way to a $ 106 million quarterly profits and a $ 276 million profits for 2004 .
Apple ’s important ball of the hard - disk drive MP3 player market — at one point , the companionship had to delay ecumenical consignment of the iPod miniskirt so that it could catch up to necessitate — has not gone unnoticed . By the end of the year Creative Technology Chief Executive Officer Sim Wong Hoo “ announce warfare ” on the iPod . ( Playlist Magazine’sChristopher Breen offer a further look at the iPod ’s dominant 2004 in his review of the year in digital music . )
The iPod may have been the top story in 2004 , but it was hardly the only story to come out of Cupertino . Apple made news throughout the year with updates and tone ending touch on its intact ware line .
Flat City
After the iPod , the makeover performed on the iMac was likely Apple ’s most substantial release in 2004 . The redesigned all - in - one desktop — unveiled at the Apple Expo Paris in September — boast a fast processor and a significant rhytidoplasty . It retain the categorical CRT screen premise in the second - multiplication iMac , but the actual computing machine components move from the dome at the base of the computer to the back of the display .
On the interior , the newfangled iMac get in with either a 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz G5 processor as well as a Front Side Bus architecture and documentation for 400MHz DDR RAM . Like its Power Mac G5 vis-a-vis , the iMac also feature Serial ATA - based interior storage . The new machine comes with a 17- or 20 - column inch concealment , with the mellow - end example featuring a videodisk - burn SuperDrive .
The Impact : Unlike other PCs that attempted a similar invention only to thread up with a bulky finished product , the vamp iMac retained the sleek look of its herald . And analyst hailed the iMac ’s compounding of feeling and power , saying the newfangled exemplar showed that Apple remains serious about its Macintosh products .
No 3-Peat
When Steve Jobs insert the first Power Mac G5 2GHz model at the Worldwide Developers Conference in the summertime of 2003 he made a bold warrant — Apple would release a 3GHz model within a twelvemonth . Unfortunately for Apple — and for Mac exploiter awaiting the watershed clock rating — that did n’t happen in 2004 .
Whatdidhappen was a Power Mac G5 revision that boosted the Power Mac ’s top upper to 2.5GHz . The ground for the lack of a 3GHz model ? Apple executives explained that moving to the raw 90 micromillimeter mainframe technology need for a 3GHz machine was more complicated than anyone originally have a bun in the oven .
analyst agreed with Apple , say the entire industry slay a wall when it came to the 90 micromillimeter applied science . Peter Kastner , executive vice United States President and principal inquiry officer of the Aberdeen Research Group , commended IBM for stupefy as much upper out of the chip as it did , comparing the Power PC ’s speed increase to what Intel has been able to get out of its 90 nanometer chip .
The Impact : Does a 3GHz Power Mac await Mac users in 2005 ? That ’s the question many Mac drug user are require heading into the newfangled year . Apple , as always , remains rigorous - lipped , with the last password on the subject field coming Apple Director of Power Mac Product Marketing Tom Boger in June 2004 when he admonish about carry a 3GHz machine “ any time soon . ” But that was six months ago . And Apple executive know as well as anyone that expectation could go up as 2005 move on .
The Laptop Life
compare to the iMac overhaul , Apple ’s portable line saw more minor change in 2004 . But the laptop were n’t discount — the professional - spirit level PowerBook G4 finished the year with a top speed of 1.5GHz , while the consumer - targeted iBook reach 1.33GHz .
Besides increases to CPU speed , the PowerBooks also made AirPort Extreme wireless networking and an interior Bluetooth faculty stock issue . The 15 - inch and 17 - in models added an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics scrap for improved graphics performance .
The iBook line of reasoning undergo several rewrite culminate in the release of 1.33GHz mannikin in mid - October . The iBooks feature an available SuperDrive videodisk burner and work up - in AirPort Extreme across the product blood line . That same revision also enclose a 12 - in 1.2GHz iBook G4 that , with its $ 999 Leontyne Price tag , gave Apple a laptop computer that sold for less than $ , 1000 .
The Impact : Apple ’s ego - proclaimed Year of the laptop computer may have ended , but portable computers stay an important part of Apple ’s business concern . The ship’s company sold 1,665,000 laptop computer in its 2004 financial year — slightly more than the 1,625,000 iMacs and Power Macs it sold .
Express Yourself
It might calculate like a laptop computer power brick , but AirPort Express , introduced in June , acted as a portable 802.11 g base post for mobile Mac exploiter . The palm - sized root word place had other USA , too — at home , user could use it to connect their home stereos to their iTunes Music Library .
The one drawback that many picked up apace was that the new gimmick had no interface , which was ok if you were using your computer close to the abode stereo , but a trouble if your computer was far forth . Several companionship have since come out with software and hardware devices to help drug user master their music and Airport Express — notably , Rogue Amoeba ’s Slipstream , Shirt Pocket ’s netTunes , and Keyspan ’s Express Remote .
The Impact : Drawbacks apart , AirPort Express force Apple ’s wireless networking offerings into an exciting unexampled domain . The gadget ’s impact will be feel long after 2004 is a remote memory .
Xserve Makes its Mark
Apple ’s Xserve 1U rackmount server made its crisscross in 2004 with an acclivity at January ’s Macworld Expo that added a G5 processor . The Xserve ’s associate product , Xserve RAID , underwent several update throughout the year , climax with it reaching a full capacity of 5.6 tebibyte .
The Xserve received much of its celebrity from projects like Virginia Tech ’s monumental deployment of machine . But the accolades did n’t stop with academe . In early December , Oracle uncover that it was so impressed with the Xserve RAID that it had deployed the solution internally .
The Impact : Home substance abuser ’ eyes may glaze over whenever public lecture turns to the Xserve . But Apple ’s upgrades are allow its waiter ware to compete with Intel box in the high - terminal endeavor market .
The Big Picture
Apple revamp its displays , assume a thin aluminum bezel to match the look of the Power Mac and PowerBook . The ADC connection also disappeared ; instead , the new monitors have a individual cable’s length breaking out into DVI , USB , FireWire , and power connections . However , the most eye - catch addition to the display phone line was Apple ’s massive 30 - inch Apple Cinema Display HD . Capable of 2,560 - by-1,600 - pixel firmness of purpose , the monitor necessitate its own graphic microprocessor chip — the Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL card — since no existing graphics card had enough power to drive it .
The Impact : Unless you delete high-pitched - definition television , the most important encroachment you ’d feel from the 30 - in Apple Cinema Display HD would come about if it hang over on you . More significant is the shift from ADC to DVI — it allows PowerBook users and users of older Macs to hook up to the new 20- and 23 - in displays decently out of the box , without the penury for a bulky and expensive DVI - to - ADC converter .
