In 1996, the Apple brand bordered on bankruptcy. It was just another computer company without any real point of difference. Steve Jobs had been gone for over a decade. Years of overlooked opportunities, flip-flop strategies, and a mind-boggling disregard for market realities caught up with the company. The Windows 95 launch by Microsoft had severely eroded Mac’s technology edge. Apple was rapidly becoming a minor player in the computer business with shrinking market shares, price cuts, and declining profits.
The return of Steve Jobs
Apple looked like it would not survive, as it was a poorly run organization through the early 1990s. Executives made terrible decisions with inconsistent strategies and, most importantly, there was no brand idea for what they should be. After Steve Jobs came to Apple in 1997, he shifted the focus to rebuilding around the brand idea of “Apple makes technology so simple that everyone can be part of the future.” Steve Jobs took a consumer-first approach in a market dominated by an obsession with gadgets, bits, and bytes.
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