Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy when Steve Jobs returned. The iMac G3 was his first big swing — a translucent, egg-shaped computer in Bondi Blue that told the world Apple was back.
The Story
By 1997, Apple was in freefall. Years of mismanagement had left the company with a confusing product lineup, ballooning costs, and a shrinking market share. The board brought Steve Jobs back as "interim CEO" — a role he accepted grudgingly, insisting he had better things to do.
Jobs immediately cut 70% of Apple's product line and focused resources on four products. One of them would become the iMac.
He hired Jony Ive, a young British designer who had been at Apple for years but had never been given real authority. Together, they created something nobody had seen before: a computer where the monitor and CPU lived in one translucent, curved housing that came in colors. Not beige. Colors.
The original iMac came in "Bondi Blue" — a specific shade of teal inspired by Australia's Bondi Beach. Later came Strawberry, Blueberry, Lime, Tangerine, and Grape. People bought iMacs to put on display in their homes, not just to use.
The "i" in iMac originally stood for "internet" — the machine was designed for the emerging internet age, with built-in Ethernet and a simplified setup process. The idea was that anyone could be online in minutes.
Jobs' launch presentation was pure theater: he walked onstage, whipped off a cover, and let the translucent machine speak for itself. The audience gasped. Apple sold 800,000 iMacs in the first 5 months.
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."— Steve Jobs
Key Specs
Fun Facts
The iMac G3 had no floppy disk drive — a controversial decision that Jobs defended as forward-thinking.
It popularized the USB port in the consumer market; almost no PCs used USB before the iMac made it mainstream.
Jony Ive's design was inspired by the translucent candy of his childhood.
Jobs initially insisted the iMac should have a handle — not because users would carry it, but so it felt "approachable."
Legacy
The iMac G3 saved Apple. More than that, it established the design-forward philosophy that would define every Apple product for the next 25 years — from the iPod to the iPhone to the MacBook.