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Jobs unveils Apple's new G3
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January 5, 1999: 3:46 p.m. ET
Yosemite is here and it's rounded; iMac expands to array of colors
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Apple Computer co-founder and interim Chief Executive Steve Jobs showed Tuesday that he could still incite fervor in the faithful as he unveiled the company's new line of desktop computers at the San Francisco Macworld Expo.
Investors greeted Jobs' announcement that the company will report its fifth consecutive quarter next Wednesday with Macworld's traditional enthusiasm, pushing Apple shares (AAPL) up 1-5/8 to 42-7/8.
During morning trading, the stock touched a new 52-week high of 43-15/16.
Yosemite revealed
The 1999 line of G3 desktop Macintoshes, formerly code-named "Yosemite," will take advantage of both Motorola and Intel copper-based microprocessor technology to offer what Jobs called "the most powerful PC in the world."
The new computers are available immediately, Jobs said.
As per speculation, the new models will peak at 400 megahertz and will retail for between $1,599 and $2,999. Current G3 Power Macintoshes peak at 333 megahertz and sell at comparable prices.
The new G3 line will also incorporate ATI Technologies ' (ATYTF) Rage 128 graphics accelerator - an industry exclusive, according to Jobs - and will support Silicon Graphics Inc.'s (SGI) Open GL 3-D graphics library as a software standard.
Jobs then reiterated his desire to work more closely with SGI (SGI) in the field of computer graphics industry standards, yielding the stage to SGI Chairman and CEO Rick Belluzzo for a few minutes.
"We think the Mac platform is important, we think it is relevant," Belluzzo said, adding that his own strategy for SGI will be to make the company - usually associated with high-end graphics and computing workstations - more "mainstream, relevant and significant" to the consumer market.
In terms of expandability, the new G3 line follows the iMac's lead, abandoning the SCSI standard as "too slow."
Instead, the computers will rely on the Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports used on the iMac for peripheral connectivity, as well as a built-in FireWire port for interfacing with such devices as digital camcorders or high-end disk drives.
Just crazy about the style
Jobs also answered the most burning question about the new G3 line: What do they look like?
Taking a cue from the popular iMac design, the new models make use of rounded edges and organic contours, creating a "cheerful" effect with ornamental loops projecting from top and bottom corners. The lower projections serve as the tower-configured box's footprint, while the upper loops double as handles.
Front and rear surfaces are the iMac's translucent Bondi blue, while the rest of the box is icy white.
Probably the most revolutionary - and controversial - design element of the new G3 is the hinged side or "secret door," through which users can access and reconfigure the computer's entire interior [700K QuickTime movie].
Jobs noted that the door is equipped with a locking mechanism, preventing children or other unauthorized persons from interfering with the computer's workings.
Other surprises
The other major design-oriented surprise of the day was Jobs' announcement that the iMac is now available in a range of colors - lime, blueberry, grape, peach and strawberry.
"Megabytes, gigabytes, people don't care about that stuff," he said. "They want to trust us to give them a really great computer. They care about expressing themselves."
He noted that the iMac has now sold 800,000 units since its Aug. 15 launch, of which 32 percent were to first-time computer buyers and 13 percent were from converts from the Windows-Intel platform.
To take advantage of the interest, Jobs said Apple will cut the iMac retail price $100 to $1,199.
Jobs also teased his audience's appetite for Apple's upcoming operating system upgrade, OS X (10), which he promised "will premiere in less than a year."
However, he announced the launch of Mac Server, the first software package to make use of OS X innovations. Mac Server will include both Apache Digital Corp.'s Web server and Apple's own WebObjects application server, as well as full BSD/Unix and Java compatibility.
Elsewhere on the software front, Jobs expressed his great pleasure at the number of Macintosh applications - 1,355 released since the iMac launch.
In particular, he singled out Apple's new dedication to becoming "the world's best gaming platform" with the new G3's expanded graphic capabilities and speed.
Guarded response to Microsoft
As for the company's relationship with software behemoth Microsoft, Jobs was also enthusiastic, saying it was "terrific about 99 percent of the time . . . the other 1 percent, we argue."
To demonstrate Microsoft's continuing support for the Macintosh platform, Microsoft General Manager Ben Waldman outlined innovations in its products for the Macintosh platform and its "MacTopia" Web site.
"Steve showed that computers can be stylish," Waldman said. "At Microsoft (MSFT), we also believe software should have style and software should have taste."
However, the Macworld audience's enthusiasm did not seem to extend to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, greeting Waldman's mention of the product with only sporadic applause. 
-- by staff writer Robert Scott Martin
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