Apple QuickTake 100 (1994)
Although best known for its computers and smartphones, Apple has a long history of experimenting with various consumer devices before they become mainstream. During Steve Jobs’ absence from the company, Apple partnered with Kodak to create the QuickTake 100, which, despite a $749 price tag back in 1994, was considered a very affordable consumer-level digital camera at the time.
It boasted a 0.31 MP sensor and only had enough storage on board (1MB) for eight 24-bit color, 640×480 images, so easy access to a computer to regularly offload images was a necessity. Several upgraded models of the QuickTake would be released in the years that followed. Steve Jobs returned as Apple’s CEO in 1997 and put an end to the company’s digital camera pursuits—at least until the iPhone arrived.
