The first Apple Retail Store opened 10 years ago today and since opening their very first store Apple haven’t looked back. Now with over 320 stores open worldwide and employing over 30,000 staff, Apple is surely sitting on the crest of their very own self built wave.
To celebrate the retail stores 10th anniversary I thought it would be a good idea to look at some of the products Apple were offering back in 2001 (cutting edge at the time) and some of the items they currently offer in their stores today. There’s also a video of Steve Jobs below giving viewers a sneak peek of the very first Apple Retail Store at Tysons Corner, VA.
Apple Retail Store Product Lineup Comparison – 2001 vs 2010
2011 – 15″ MacBook Pro
2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
4GB Memory (expandable to 8GB)
500GB Hard drive (expandable to 750GB or solid state drive up-to 512GB)
Screen resolution 1440 x 900
2001 – 15″ PowerBook G4
500MHz PowerPC G4 processor
256MB memory (expandable to 1GB)
20GB Hard drive (expandable to 30GB)
Screen resolution 1152 x 768
2011 – 27″ iMac 
3.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor
4GB memory (expandable to 8GB or 16GB on select models)
1TB Hard drive (expandable to 2TB)
Screen resolution 2560 x 1440
2001 – 15″ CRT iMac
600MHz PowerPC G3 processor
128MB memory (expandable to 1GB)
40GB Hard Drive (not expandable)
Screen resolution – Built-in 15-inch shadow-mask CRT (13.8-inch diagonal viewable image size); 0.28-mm dot pitch
2011 – iPod Touch 
64GB Flash drive (max)
Screen resolution – 3.5 inch 960 x 640
Battery – 40 hours play time
User input – Multi-Touch display
2001 – iPod
5GB or 10GB Hard drive
Screen resolution – 2 inch 160 x 128
Battery – 10 hours play time
User input – Click wheel
So there you have it, some of Apple product comparisons from ‘Then’ and ‘Now’.
Technology has come a mighty long way in 10 years, who knows what the next 10 years hold!
Here’s just a few of the products that didn’t even exist in Apple’s portfolio in 2001, and perhaps weren’t even on the agenda apart from a tiny little thought in the mind of Steve Jobs, maybe not even he knew these products were going to exist back in 2001. They don’t need an introduction!
iPad
MacBook Air
I will leave you with a video of Steve Jobs in 2001 showing off the very first Apple Retail Store…enjoy!
Nice post, you’re right it’s quite amazing how technology has progressed over the last 10 years. What will an iPad look like in 10 years, that’s if they are still around
I remember getting the very first iPod and being totally amazed at it. I got it for my birthday and looked at in awe as I unwrapped it thinking about how I could now carry around my entire music collection. No doubt the iPad & iPhone will look just as old in 10 years time.
It’s so great to look back & see the changes in technology. It’s funny how much Apple devices have changed. I work in the iPhone repair, iPod repair & iPad repair industry and I can’t imagine trying to repair or take apart those older Apple devices!