Press

On April 1st, Apple Computer Inc. celebrates its 30th anniversary. The year has been marked with points of celebration including the launch of the several new Intel-based Apple computers including the Mac mini, first in the U.S. and then gradually to the rest of the world - as recently as March 28 in India.

The Intel-based Mac mini is a fitting unveiling to represent Apple’s continued ability to adapt, reinvent, and revolutionize. It is that business and technology moxie that has spawned one of the most loyal customer bases in the history of brand name consumer products.

As noted by Wired News reporter Leander Kahney in an article on Mac loyalty, as a group Apple enthusiasts are “more loyal, more dedicated than users of any other computer.”

The Mac mini was originally introduced in January 2005 as Apple’s first true foray into the lower-end computer market. Apple’s first monitor-less system in more than six years, the mini was in part targeted to allow PC owners to be baptized into the Mac universe for less than $500 and allow them to continue to use their existing monitor and USB peripherals.

The one drawback for the Mac mini was the limited hard drive capacity and peripheral ports, shortcomings that were easily fixed with consumers marrying the Mac mini to the third party NewerTech miniStack.

Named the “Accessory of the Year” by 123Macmini and raved about by Macworld and MacAddict magazines, the miniStack from Newer Technology Inc. is engineered to the exact footprint and aesthetics to seamlessly give the Mac mini up to 500GB of additional storage capacity, three extra USB ports, and two additional FireWire ports.

“NewerTech’s miniStack really revolutionized the possibilities for the Mac mini. Together the miniStack and the Mac mini created a perfect combination of power, performance, and price,” says Jamie Dresser, product manager at Other World Computing, a distributor of Mac and iPod upgrades and peripherals.

Earning a dedicated core audience for the Mac mini throughout 2005, Apple reinvented the baseline product as an Intel-based computer hub for home entertainment in February of 2006.

Available in single-core and dual-core processor configurations, the new Intel-based mini by no means defined Apple but instead symbolized just one example of the company’s astounding ability to express diversity while staying true to its loyal customer-base.

And, like its predecessor the new Intel-based Mac mini benefits from third party partnership to fully realize its potential value to customers.

Renewing its vows with Apple’s Mac mini customer base, NewerTech unveiled the upgraded miniStack V2 as the ideal upgrade accessory for making the Intel-based mini a true entertainment center hub.

“NewerTech provides solutions for today’s technology users,” explains Newer Technology Inc. president Larry O’Connor. “Apple makes fantastic computers, we don’t want to compete with those products because they’re already great. We provide support products to make those great products better.”

The support of Apple computers by third party partners can be credited for part of Apple’s thirty years of incredible success.

Other World Computing is known for having served the Mac universe since 1988, meaning it supplies support products and upgrades for the computers Apple manufactures.

OWC, as it is known in the technology circuit, offers memory upgrades, processor upgrades, hardware and software, and external storage solutions like the NewerTech miniStack V2 through its Internet portal www.macsales.com.

The sense of support to the Mac community is so strong at OWC that the company even developed and distributes a free application XPostFacto by programmer Ryan Rempel that allows Apple’s newest operating system OS X to run on older Apple Mac computers that Apple itself might no longer offer support for. XPostFacto can be downloaded for free at www.macsales.com.

By Apple customers having companies like Other World Computing as unaffiliated resources for ongoing support products like memory-, laptop battery-, and processor upgrades; Apple itself is able to dedicate its resources to developing new product innovations – thus, partly, how Steve Jobs and company have been able to stay ahead of the game for 30 years.

“Other World Computing provides support and innovative products that keep old Macs like new and tap the potential stored in new models, and we pride ourselves on that. We are proud to provide extensive technical support to Macintosh and iPod users throughout the world, and most of all we are proud to be a productive and proactive part of the Apple community,” says OWC sales manager Jen Soule.

At heart, the 30-year anniversary that rings true come April 1 is a reflection of far more than one great technology company. Taking nothing away from the deserved success of Jobs and Apple, the 30-year anniversary is more than the acknowledgement of when a company was founded; it is the realization of when a community was born.

Called the Apple community or the Mac universe, on April 1 it marches forward hand-in-hand with its namesake corporate inspiration with no signs of slowing. Just as Apple continues to reinvent and diversify while ever faithful to its customers; so does the community expand and diversify while staying ever faithful to Apple.

“It’s a win-win-win relationship,” summarizes O’Connor. “Apple Computer Inc, Other World Computing, NewerTech, and the Apple community of loyal customers all benefit from each other. That’s true success – when everyone wins.”