RETRO
APPLE PIPPIN
Remembering the tech of yesteryear
DATE OF LAUNCH MARCH 1996 (JAPAN), JUNE 1996 (UNITED STATES)
These days, Macs are increasingly seen as capable games machines thanks to their powerful Apple silicon chips, but this ain’t Apple’s first games rodeo. No, the company took a big swing at the market with the launch of its internet-connected Pippin console in the mid-’90s, but it was nowhere near the success Apple was hoping for. It launched in the US with a high price of $599, yet just a year later, the console was a flop in a market already dominated by the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. Consumers couldn’t understand why they needed a console to surf the internet, while there was little software available for developers to write games on.