iTools, Apple's 2000 internet strategy

From the «scrappy underdog» department:
Title: iTools, Apple’s Original ‘Internet Strategy’, From January 2000
Author: John Gruber
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2025 02:48:41 +0000
Link: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2000/01/05Apple-Unveils-Internet-Strategy/

From the Apple Newsroom archive, dateline “Macworld Expo, San
Francisco — January 5, 2000”:

Apple today took the wraps off its highly anticipated Internet strategy,
introducing a new category of Internet services called iTools; a completely
redesigned Apple.com web site featuring iReview and iCards; and a multi-year
partnership and investment with Earthlink for Internet access (see related
release).

iTools is a revolutionary new category of Internet services that takes
advantage of Apple’s unique technology on both ends of the Internet — the
operating system on the client side (Mac OS 9) and the services software
running on Apple’s Internet servers (iTools). Providing the software on both
ends of the Internet offers Apple the unprecedented ability to offer services
impossible to implement solely on Internet servers.

“Our new iReviews, iCards and the revolutionary iTools offer amazing new ways
for Mac users to take full advantage of the Internet,” said Steve Jobs,
Apple’s iCEO. “Mac users can now do things on the Internet that Wintel users
can only dream of.”

It’s striking in hindsight how much Apple, circa 2000, was unabashedly the
scrappy underdog. If an announcement is truly highly anticipated you don’t have
to describe it as “highly anticipated”. And that Jobs quote, including the
colloquial “Wintel”.

And from the feature list:

Mac.com, an email service run by Apple. Mac.com gives users an exclusive
address on the Internet and works with standard POP email clients, such as
Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Communicator. Mac.com users can easily
set up automatic replies and forwarding of their email to other email
addresses, and configure Outlook Express for their Mac.com mailbox from a
simple web page.

So I misremembered the timeline of how I got into my bifurcated Apple Account
situation earlier today[1] (but I was correct in that post to be uncertain of
the timeline). My @mac.com address did predate the debut of the iTunes Music
Store, but I’ve had it since iTools was announced in January 2000, not when
.Mac (worst Apple name ever?) was announced in July 2002. (Thanks to Thomas
Brand[2] for reminding me.) The branding evolution is:

iTools[3] (2000) → .Mac[4] (2002) → MobileMe[5] (2008) → iCloud[6] (2011)

It took Apple a decade to get from iTools to iCloud, but iCloud has proven to
be a winner. It’s interesting to think of the “internet moment” circa 2000 with
the “AI moment” today. Circa 2000, the hot new companies didn’t make computers
or devices, and they didn’t make software that ran on consumer devices. They
made websites and web apps that ran in browsers on devices.

The bear case against Apple then was that they’d missed the boat on the big new
thing, and their core strengths were no longer relevant. Pretty much the same
bear case now re: AI. The difference is that Apple today is not only not a
“scrappy underdog” — they’re the most valuable company in the world.
★ [7]

Links:
[1]: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/11/about-migrating-apple-account-purchases-between-accounts (link)
[2]: https://mastodon.mit.edu/@Eggfreckles/113988325606848730 (link)
[3]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2000/01/05Apple-Unveils-Internet-Strategy/ (link)
[4]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2002/07/17Apple-Launches-Mac/ (link)
[5]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2008/06/09Apple-Introduces-MobileMe-Internet-Service/ (link)
[6]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2011/06/06Apple-Introduces-iCloud/ (link)
[7]: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/11/itools (link)