Amaya Toman Before the iPhone, the most iconic product from Apple's workshop was the Macintosh computer. In the eighties of the last century, when the first Macintosh saw the light of day, but the Cupertino company did not own the corresponding trademark. What was Apple's journey to owning the Macintosh name like?
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The year was 1982. A letter personally signed by Steve Jobs arrived at McIntosh Laboratory, which was based in Birmingham at the time. In the mentioned letter, the co-founder and head of Apple asked the management of McIntosh Laboratory for permission to use the Macintosh brand. McIntosh Laboratory (originally just McIntosh) was founded in 1946 by Frank McIntosh and Gordon Gow, and was engaged in the manufacture of amplifiers and other audio products. The name of the company was clearly inspired by the name of its founder, while the name of Apple's future computer (which was still in the development and research stage at the time of Jobs' application) was based on the variety of apples that the creator of the Macintosh project Jef Raskin fell in love with. Raskin reportedly decided to name computers after a variety of apples because he found female computer names too sexist. At the same time, Apple knew about the existence of the McIntosh Laboratory company, and due to concerns about a possible trademark dispute, they decided to use a different written form of the names of their future computers.
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There was no consensus at Apple about the Macintosh project. While Jef Raskin originally envisioned a computer that would be accessible to everyone as much as possible, Jobs had a different idea - instead, he wanted a computer that would be the best available in its category, regardless of its price. One of the things they both agreed on was the name of the computer. "We are very attached to the Macintosh name," wrote Steve Jobs in his letter to McIntosh Laboratory president Gordon Gow at the time. Apple believed that it would be able to conclude an agreement with McIntosh Laboratory, but just in case, it still had the name MAC as an abbreviation for Mouse-Activated Computer in reserve for its future computers. Fortunately for Apple, Gordon Gow showed a willingness to negotiate with Jobs, and offered Apple permission to use the name Macintosh after paying a financial sum - which was said to be around hundreds of thousands of dollars.
