Have an Apple someday…..
The love affair started in the year 1991 when fresh out of the college I got a chance to work in a company with a name of Icon. It took me some days to realize why on the earth was the company named Icon. The company was dealing with computers and were dealers for Apple Computers Inc., USA.
I was just a Univ pass out and have done my share of computer courses which covered DOS, Dbase, Lotus 1-2-3 etc. I was no expert but could hold my own. Hence when I got through my interview taken by Wg Cdr V.K.Sethi I was told to report to HO for induction/training. I was informed by my then Boss that I am supposed to sell a Computer named Macintosh manufactured by Apple Computers. Those were the days with no Google in our life and hence I tried to gather what so ever information I could on Apple Computers.
The training at HO was actually an eye opener. I knew absolutely nothing on the product I was suppose to start my career on. And that was actually the blessing in disguise. The Macintosh (known fondly as Mac) was actually meant keeping people like me in mind. I was given some Mac OS based exposure on a Macintosh SE. A very funny looking machine with 9” Monitor integrated and a 3.5” Floppy Drive. Those of you who are not aware, in the year 1991 there only 5.25” Floppy drive which were bigger then CD of today. But the most amazing was a very strange looking thing with even a stranger name called Mouse. Those were the days when PC (known as IBM Compatible) were operated on DOS totally through command lines.
So here I was starting my sales career on a product, which had just about 2-3% market share in this country. Do I regret the decision no I absolutely not infact I thank god for the decision. So we were selling Apple Macs and that too with operating system that was operated by a Mouse. It was so user friendly that when we used to approach the top bosses the chances were that we would have bad vibes coming from their IT guy. Later I got a chance to see what the Apple actually was famous for. We managed to get a supply order for a Multimedia Video editing solution in the year 1992. We supplied the top of the line Mac Quadra with believe it or not 32MB RAM and 40 MB Hard Disk. Quadra was a brut of a machine using 68040 processor. And guess what, it also had an external CD Drive. The size of the CD Drive was bigger then Mac Mini of today. Also I must mention that every Mac used to come up with what we called today as LAN. They had Apple Talk in built and hence putting Macs on a network was piece of cake.
So this is how my fascination for Mac started. The sales were difficult and limited but were always so rewarding. The satisfaction that the customer had after buying the Mac was a sight to watch. He would do the sales for us and hence we continued to get lot of reference orders.
In the year 1995 Microsoft came with a operating system called Windows 95. The OS looked exactly like Mac OS and we laughed after seeing the first sight of that. It also required Mouse, now a known name, to be mandatory with every PC. So what was new we thought. But as Intel and Microsoft were Market leader hence people went crazy with this new OS.
Hence a product that dared to change the world of computing actually did manage to do so but indirectly. People were using Windows everywhere but the passion and finesse of Mac OS was never there. The Mac would have a smiling Mac picture welcoming you after switching on indicating that every thing is all right with the device. It would have a sad Mac stating that the Mac OS is bad. It played a lovely sound (it still does) when it was switched on. It had a single button mouse, which does more, then what a double button was supposed to do on Windows PC. The Desktop, which is such a common word today, was born with Mac. The small pictures indicating the commands were known as Icons (hence the logic behind my first company’s name). It was just so perfect. You cannot help falling in love with a Mac.
However the Mac started loosing market rapidly and though the innovation continued but still the success kept eluding the company. They did bought that good-looking iMac which was launched in bright colors. Guess what it had some thing called a USB port for the first time in a PC. This was followed by iBook with again a first called Airport, a wifi device for the first time in a laptop.
As they say you cannot have good people lying down for long, therefore Apple came with a product called iPod. A product is now a revolution in itself. A portable music player that could play a file format called MP3. So it gave back company the success and cash back to fight another battle. Apple was very smart in their second innings and this time they bought products in more logical manner. Mac Mini was launched at a ridiculously low price. Mac Mini was a size of Tiffin Box and was shipped with no Monitor, keyboard & mouse. Then came the most important move. The company joined hand with Intel and the Macs started using Intel processors. This gave users option to load Windows on Mac as well.
So things are now looking bright like they were actually supposed to be. The Mac Books are selling in good numbers. Newly launched Air is one of the most good-looking laptop in the world. New iMac still put other PC to shame. When Apple decided to launch iPhone, the telecommunication industry went to stand still. There were people standing in queue for hours and nights at Apple stores to get their first iPhone.
And me, yes I am back at selling my favorite brand again. I am a partner in a company that is still called Icon. I still feel excited to open a new box to see a brand new model of Mac. The best part is that this love story is actually written on a silky white keyboard of a Mac Book that is currently owned by me. I start my day listening to my iPod daily when I go for a morning walk since last 3 years.
Thanks a lot Apple for adding so much pleasure and happiness in our life. I know that lots of people love you as much but cannot express their feeling. Keep adding new products and we will keep buying those.
The love affair started in the year 1991 when fresh out of the college I got a chance to work in a company with a name of Icon. It took me some days to realize why on the earth was the company named Icon. The company was dealing with computers and were dealers for Apple Computers Inc., USA.
I was just a Univ pass out and have done my share of computer courses which covered DOS, Dbase, Lotus 1-2-3 etc. I was no expert but could hold my own. Hence when I got through my interview taken by Wg Cdr V.K.Sethi I was told to report to HO for induction/training. I was informed by my then Boss that I am supposed to sell a Computer named Macintosh manufactured by Apple Computers. Those were the days with no Google in our life and hence I tried to gather what so ever information I could on Apple Computers.
The training at HO was actually an eye opener. I knew absolutely nothing on the product I was suppose to start my career on. And that was actually the blessing in disguise. The Macintosh (known fondly as Mac) was actually meant keeping people like me in mind. I was given some Mac OS based exposure on a Macintosh SE. A very funny looking machine with 9” Monitor integrated and a 3.5” Floppy Drive. Those of you who are not aware, in the year 1991 there only 5.25” Floppy drive which were bigger then CD of today. But the most amazing was a very strange looking thing with even a stranger name called Mouse. Those were the days when PC (known as IBM Compatible) were operated on DOS totally through command lines.
So here I was starting my sales career on a product, which had just about 2-3% market share in this country. Do I regret the decision no I absolutely not infact I thank god for the decision. So we were selling Apple Macs and that too with operating system that was operated by a Mouse. It was so user friendly that when we used to approach the top bosses the chances were that we would have bad vibes coming from their IT guy. Later I got a chance to see what the Apple actually was famous for. We managed to get a supply order for a Multimedia Video editing solution in the year 1992. We supplied the top of the line Mac Quadra with believe it or not 32MB RAM and 40 MB Hard Disk. Quadra was a brut of a machine using 68040 processor. And guess what, it also had an external CD Drive. The size of the CD Drive was bigger then Mac Mini of today. Also I must mention that every Mac used to come up with what we called today as LAN. They had Apple Talk in built and hence putting Macs on a network was piece of cake.
So this is how my fascination for Mac started. The sales were difficult and limited but were always so rewarding. The satisfaction that the customer had after buying the Mac was a sight to watch. He would do the sales for us and hence we continued to get lot of reference orders.
In the year 1995 Microsoft came with a operating system called Windows 95. The OS looked exactly like Mac OS and we laughed after seeing the first sight of that. It also required Mouse, now a known name, to be mandatory with every PC. So what was new we thought. But as Intel and Microsoft were Market leader hence people went crazy with this new OS.
Hence a product that dared to change the world of computing actually did manage to do so but indirectly. People were using Windows everywhere but the passion and finesse of Mac OS was never there. The Mac would have a smiling Mac picture welcoming you after switching on indicating that every thing is all right with the device. It would have a sad Mac stating that the Mac OS is bad. It played a lovely sound (it still does) when it was switched on. It had a single button mouse, which does more, then what a double button was supposed to do on Windows PC. The Desktop, which is such a common word today, was born with Mac. The small pictures indicating the commands were known as Icons (hence the logic behind my first company’s name). It was just so perfect. You cannot help falling in love with a Mac.
However the Mac started loosing market rapidly and though the innovation continued but still the success kept eluding the company. They did bought that good-looking iMac which was launched in bright colors. Guess what it had some thing called a USB port for the first time in a PC. This was followed by iBook with again a first called Airport, a wifi device for the first time in a laptop.
As they say you cannot have good people lying down for long, therefore Apple came with a product called iPod. A product is now a revolution in itself. A portable music player that could play a file format called MP3. So it gave back company the success and cash back to fight another battle. Apple was very smart in their second innings and this time they bought products in more logical manner. Mac Mini was launched at a ridiculously low price. Mac Mini was a size of Tiffin Box and was shipped with no Monitor, keyboard & mouse. Then came the most important move. The company joined hand with Intel and the Macs started using Intel processors. This gave users option to load Windows on Mac as well.
So things are now looking bright like they were actually supposed to be. The Mac Books are selling in good numbers. Newly launched Air is one of the most good-looking laptop in the world. New iMac still put other PC to shame. When Apple decided to launch iPhone, the telecommunication industry went to stand still. There were people standing in queue for hours and nights at Apple stores to get their first iPhone.
And me, yes I am back at selling my favorite brand again. I am a partner in a company that is still called Icon. I still feel excited to open a new box to see a brand new model of Mac. The best part is that this love story is actually written on a silky white keyboard of a Mac Book that is currently owned by me. I start my day listening to my iPod daily when I go for a morning walk since last 3 years.
Thanks a lot Apple for adding so much pleasure and happiness in our life. I know that lots of people love you as much but cannot express their feeling. Keep adding new products and we will keep buying those.
2 comments:
Wow..Now that's why they say, the ever growing IT industry, great to read about your start from those "no-google" days,so unimaginable now.
That was very interesting, a personal story with the story of Mac. I think the resurfacing of Apple was with Steve Jobs joining back as Apple's CEO. That's when the iPod came on scene, right?
Great post man. Hope the macs continue to sell and sell more and hope they become affordable! :D
N
Post a Comment