Return of the Mac

Nervous Apple shareholders, who had seen the value of the company's stock continue to drop, finally prevailed on the company to lure co-founder Steve Jobs back to the fold. Jobs brought his NeXT technology and staff with him, and in a move of marketing savvy reminiscent of his success in selling the Apple II, remade the Mac into the iMac - a "cute" home computer offered in a variety of "flavors" (lime, blueberry, etc.).

With a new, more powerful operating system and strong support from software vendors, Apple not only returned to the profit margins, but made aggressive gains in overall market share.