A photographic history of Apple products [In Pictures]

New Delhi: It is hardly a surprise that people love every product that Apple makes. With a whole host of products to offer to consumers, ranging from from computers, to smartphones, to tablets, Apple as a company has grown into one of the largest tech companies in the world. Ten years ago Apple posted revenue of $5.3 billion, mere peanuts as compared to the IBM which topped all tech companies with sales of $85.8 billion. But now the tables have turned. Apple's sales have now surpassed those of HP, IBM, and even AT&T and Verizon, two companies that helped propel Apple to top of the elite club of tech companies.Apple is the largest company in the S&P 500, currently sporting a market cap of $444 billion. Exxon Mobil is second at $393 billion, followed Microsoft Corp. at $268 billion. Even though net profit is still declining, Apple reported good numbers for its Q3 2013 fiscal quarter. After multiple mixed quarters, the company managed to beat the analysts' expectations.Apple has recently announced that its flagship smartphone, iPhone 5s, and the less-expensive iPhone 5c will be available in India along with over a dozen other countries starting November 1."It is one of those iconic companies," says Richard Sylla, professor of financial history at New York University's Stern School of Business. "When I think about these companies, their products were used by all kinds of people and their leaders were considered geniuses."Recently, Jonathan Zufi, who runs the Shrine of Apple website, came out with rare collection of Apple's huge array of products, which he spent the last several years collecting and photographing. He's amassed 150,000 photos, 650 of which will appear in his new 326-page book, "Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation."Let us take a look at some of the photographs from his collection:Apple II PlusThe Apple II Plus was released in 1979 and retailed for $1,195. It shipped with 16KB, 32KB, or 48KB of main RAM, which was expandable to 64KB by means of the Language Card, an expansion card that could be installed.Newton MessagePadIn 1992, nobody had a Personal Digital Assistant. Even though nobody had one, lots of people were talking about them. But simply dismissing Newton as a failure is unfair. Microsoft gave up on Bob after about a year; Apple, by contrast, stuck with Newton for six years. It released seven distinct models and worked with companies such as Sharp and Motorola, which released their own Newton-based gizmos. The Newton MessagePad features a 20MHz ARM 610 processor, 4MB of ROM, 640K of SRAM, and infrared-beaming capabilities in a compact handheld case with a pressure-sensitive display. The original Newton MessagePad was one of the first handheld systems to attempt to recognize natural handwriting and use a basic form of artificial intelligence.The Apple LisaThe Lisa was a personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s. Apple Lisa featured a Motorola 68000 CPU, support for 2MB RAM, and support for external storage drives such as the Apple Profile. While the GUI-based system was considered a technical achievement, it was a sales failure. At an asking price of $10,000 in 1983, it cost the equivalent of over $22,000 today.Apple Disk II external storageThe Apple Disk II was the first external storage device built for the Apple II by using flexible, or “floppy” disks for data storage with a capacity of up to 140K per disk. It required a separate controller card which allowed for up to two drives per controller to be supported.StyleWriter IIThe StyleWriter II was Apple's consumer-focused inkjet printer which allowed at-home publishing with laser-quality printing.Quicktake 200Apple Mouse IIeApple Mouse IIe used a DE9 connector, and was compatible with the Apple II, II+, Macintosh 128K, 512K, and Macintosh Plus.Apple IIe JoystickApple IIe Joystick was the first gaming joystick made for the Apple II computers. The device was the next generation gaming/graphics control device which followed the Apple II and Apple IIe hand controllers.Apple VideoPhone KitReleased in 1997, the Apple VideoPhone Kit, made video conferencing a simple task. The device allowed video conferencing over a 28,000bps modem, ISDN, or Ethernet connection, and came bundled with Netscape's CoolTalk audioconferencing software.Apple II PaddlesNewton 110 developer versionThis was Apple's first attempt in making a tablet and pocket computer. Long before the iPad, Apple was deeply invested in Newton. The Newton project was only around for a few short years from 1993 to 1998 and then Apple killed funding. This is Newton 110 developer version, also known as the Clear Newton. It was one of just around 100 of the devices made specifically for developers and given out at the 1994 Mac Developers conference. The gadget recognized printed or cursive handwriting, stored notes, and also recognized graphics and the inherent symmetry in objects.Macintosh 128KThe first Mac, the Macintosh 128K, was released with the 400K Sony 3.5-inch disk drive. It had 128K of memory - at that time most computers had 64K of memory. It also had a single sided 400K drive - at that time most computers had 180K single sided drives.Apple IIc flat Panel DisplayThe black and white LCD Apple IIc Flat Panel Display for the Apple IIc had a resolution of 560x192 and used a DB-15 connector.eMate 300The eMate 300 was a personal digital assistant aimed at the education market as a low-cost laptop running the Newton operating system. The eMate was introduced on March 7, 1997 for US$800 and was discontinued along with the Apple Newton product line and its operating system on February 27, 1998.Parallel Interface BoardThe Parallel Interface Board enabled a Lisa computer to accommodate peripherals like the Apple ProFile hard disk and the Apple Dot Matrix Printer.Macintosh PlusApple released the Macintosh Plus in 1986, with 1 MB of RAM, an 800 kB 3.5” floppy disk drive, and a SSCI port. The Macintosh Plus used SIMM-30 memory modules, which allowed users to expand the memory of the device by up to 4 MB. PowerBook 160The 1992 version PowerBook 160 introduced grayscale video to the PowerBook line. It supported an external monitor using Apple proprietary VID-14 connector, and it was the first to allow more than 8MB RAM.Unifile Twiggy floppy driveApple built the Unifile Twiggy floppy drive in 1983. It was a double-sided drive that had heads on opposite sides of the spindle as against each other as conventional drives did. It also used unconventional floppy media, named “FileWare”, with two cutouts instead of one. Fileware Twiggy Disks offered the capacity of over 800k and the Unifile was announced by Apple but was never shipped before the program was canceled. They were intended to be for the Apple II and Apple III computers but the Twiggy drive was only ever used in the Lisa I. iPod miniApple released the iPod mini in February 2004. The anodized aluminum iPod mini 6GB model was the second generation of the mini music player and had an 8 hour battery life.iPadThe iPad, launched in April 2010, gave birth to a new category of devices called the tablet. The iPad had a 9.7-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology at 1024x768-pixel resolution.iPhone (1st generation)The first model of iPhone, Model A1203, was launched by Apple on January 9, 2007. The iPhone came with 4, 8, or 16 GB capacity and an aluminum back. It had 3.50-inch 320x480 display powered by 412MHz processor alongside 128MB RAM and 2-megapixel rear camera.It featured quad-band GSM cellular connectivity with GPRS and EDGE support for data transfer. On June 9, 2008, Apple announced its successor, the iPhone 3G.