EWorld

Last updated
Logo of eWorld EWorld logo.svg
Logo of eWorld

eWorld was an online service operated by Apple Inc. between June 1994 and March 1996. The services included email (eMail Center), news, software installs and a bulletin board system (Community Center). Users of eWorld were often referred to as "ePeople." [1]

Contents

Based on a similar service from America Online, eWorld was expensive compared to other services and not well marketed, and failed to attract a high number of subscribers. The service was only available on Apple's Macintosh and Apple IIGS and had limited support on the Newton MessagePad handheld devices, though a PC version had been planned.

History

eWorld version 1.0 installation came as a set of two floppy disks. EWorld installdisks.png
eWorld version 1.0 installation came as a set of two floppy disks.

In the early 1990s, online services were becoming widely popular, just as Apple was looking into replacing their aging online service known as AppleLink. AppleLink had originally been developed at the urging of Jon Ebbs, Apple's head of support, who convinced the management that they could lower support costs using an online service. AppleLink had initially been available only to dealers when it launched in 1985, but was later opened to developers and became the de facto internal e-mail service within Apple.

The "back end" of AppleLink was hosted by GE Information Services who charged Apple about $300,000 a year, as well as charging the end users up to $15 for daytime access to the system. Apple had tried to negotiate a better rate on several occasions, but GE knew that switching would cost Apple even more, and refused to lower the costs.

Nevertheless, Apple began to implement changes. Before the advent of eWorld, Apple had started a consumer-oriented online support service known as AppleLink Personal Edition. Related to the older system in name only, this service was run by Quantum Computer Services, who earlier had established the Q-Link online service for the Commodore 64 personal computer. [2] Quantum's Steve Case moved to California for three months to convince Apple to let Quantum run their new consumer service. In 1987, Apple allowed Quantum to run the service and granted them use of the Apple logo. Apple received a 10% royalty for all the system's users while Quantum generated revenue by running the service.

The ideologies of the companies soon clashed. Quantum wanted to bundle the AppleLink software with new Macs and distribute it through direct marketing. At the time Apple did not believe in giving away non-system software for free. That, coupled with Apple's strict design guidelines, caused Quantum to eventually terminate their contract. Steve Case had, however, negotiated a rather beneficial contract, granting Quantum rights to the use of the Apple logo and preventing Apple from marketing its own online service.

In 1991, Quantum was renamed America Online and the service was opened up to PC and Macintosh users. Apple wanted out of their contract with GE, which was costing them far more money than it was saving, and wanted to provide their own Mac-only competition to AOL's service. They canceled their GE contract and formed an Online Services Group. The group licensed the original AppleLink Personal Edition software from AOL and developed it into what would be known as eWorld. The group also struck a deal with AOL to help develop the service and spent 1993 working on the new software and various services to be offered. According to an AOL press release on January 5, 1994, eWorld was "created using technology licensed from America Online. The two companies have been collaborating to build the platform for Apple’s online services since December 1992, when America Online granted Apple a non-exclusive license to use the company’s interactive services platform." [3]

On January 5, 1994, Apple announced eWorld at the 1994 Macworld Conference & Expo, where they invited attendees to become beta testers for the service. On June 20 of that year, the service went into full operation. The eWorld service was a combination of the vast technical and support archives of the previous AppleLink services and a more traditional community service like AOL and CompuServe. The eWorld service was only accessible from Macs and in parts, Newton OS-operated devices. A Windows version was promised to appear in 1995; it never left the early beta stage.

Features

The main screen of the eWorld service EWorld Main Screen.png
The main screen of the eWorld service

The primary portal of the service was the eWorld software. The software was based around a "town hall" metaphor where each of the service’s branches was an individual "building". Over 400 media and technology companies created information products on the service. Several Mac software and hardware companies opened up virtual forums on the service to provide customer support and general product information to subscribers. The main eWorld portal also encompassed a wide variety of news and information services. [4]

In addition to information access, two heavily used areas of eWorld were the eMail Center and Community Center. The Community Center offered chat rooms and an online BBS where thousands of ePeople (eWorld users) congregated to chat about various subjects. The eMail Center was a virtual post office. The service also housed support and Apple technical documents.

The eWorld Web Browser, introduced in eWorld 1.1 as part of its ‘Internet On-Ramp’ features, let users browse web pages on Internet websites. The browser had features for FTP uploading, web images and settings to configure a default homepage address. Though separate from the main eWorld application, the browser worked only through an eWorld connection, not through any other network or online service. [5]

eWorld's unique user experience was developed by Cleo Huggins, manager of human interface group in the development team. Cleo also coined the name eWorld. The signature illustrations were created by Mark Drury. The development team was led by Scott Converse, and the product management team by Richard Gingras. The eWorld project at Apple was led by Peter Friedman.

Demise

The service cost $8.95 per month, which included two free night-time or weekend hours. Subsequent hours were $4.95 with weekday hours (6 am–6 pm) costing $7.95. Apple kept the price high originally to keep the demand moderated but never dropped the price when the demand did not materialize. After the first year of service, eWorld had 90,000 subscribers. In 1995, limited Internet service was made available, [6] and as of September 1995 the service had 115,000 subscribers, compared to 3.5 million subscribers of AOL (including one million outside the United States).

Apple's marketing and promotion efforts were at best indifferent. The service was only available on the Macintosh, along with e-mail and system update support on the Newton handheld. Apple was in a challenging financial position at the time and CEO Michael Spindler told the Online Services Group that significant marketing for the service could not be provided so eWorld shipped on new Macs with only an icon on the desktop and a brochure in the box. There was also little if anything in the way of media marketing for the service. The promised Windows version of eWorld was not launched following a decision by Apple's senior management to position eWorld as a unique service for Macintosh owners.

Apple's management decided that the product was doomed to fail in a market where AOL had such a commanding lead. The company was also cutting costs. In June 1995, the company had over $1 billion in backorders and posted a $68 million loss in the fourth quarter of 1995. In January 1996, Spindler was asked to resign as CEO, replaced by former CEO of National Semiconductor Gil Amelio. Several products and projects were scrapped in an effort to put the company back into the black.

On March 31, 1996, at 12:01 am Pacific Time, the service was officially shut down. Remaining eWorld subscribers were offered incentives to switch to AOL, which had already been hosting Macintosh-oriented content within the Mac Forums of its Computing Channel. The eWorld/AppleLink technical support archives moved to Apple's website. When the Online Services Group was disbanded, many of its members left Apple. Peter Friedman eventually formed chat community website TalkCity with Chris Christensen and Jenna Woodul. Scott Converse became a senior executive at Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment Division. James Isaacs joined Danger Inc. (acquired by Microsoft in 2008). Richard Gingras and Jonathan Rosenberg joined the newly formed broadband access venture @Home Network. [7]

As of February 2024, 28 years after its discontinuation, attempting to access the eWorld.com website still automatically redirects to the apple.com homepage. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AOL</span> American internet portal

AOL is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AIM (software)</span> Instant messaging service

AIM was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netscape Navigator</span> Web browser by Netscape released in 1994

Netscape Navigator is a discontinued proprietary web browser, and the original browser of the Netscape line, from versions 1 to 4.08, and 9.x. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and was the dominant web browser in terms of usage share in the 1990s, but by around 2003 its user base had all but disappeared. This was partly because the Netscape Corporation did not sustain Netscape Navigator's technical innovation in the late 1990s.

Netscape Communications Corporation was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California, and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was once dominant but lost to Internet Explorer and other competitors in the first browser war, with its market share falling from more than 90 percent in the mid-1990s to less than one percent in 2006. An early Netscape employee, Brendan Eich, created the JavaScript programming language, the most widely used language for client-side scripting of web pages. A founding engineer of Netscape, Lou Montulli, created HTTP cookies. The company also developed SSL which was used for securing online communications before its successor TLS took over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CompuServe</span> 1969–2009 American online service provider

CompuServe, Inc. was an American online service, the first major commercial one in the world. It opened in 1969 as a timesharing and remote access service marketed to corporations. After a successful 1979 venture selling otherwise under-utilized after-hours time to Radio Shack customers, the system was opened to the public, roughly the same time as The Source.

An online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider, a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, an official government site, social media, a wiki, or a Usenet newsgroup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prodigy (online service)</span> Online service that operated from 1984 to 2001

Prodigy Communications Corporation was an online service from 1984 to 2001 that offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services. It was one of the major internet service providers of the 1990s.

AppleLink was the name of both Apple Computer's online service for its dealers, third-party developers, and users, and the client software used to access it. Prior to the commercialization of the Internet, AppleLink was a popular service for Mac and Apple IIGS users. The service was offered from about 1986 to 1994 to various groups, before being superseded by their short-lived eWorld and finally today's multiple Apple websites.

Apple Open Collaboration Environment (AOCE) is a collection of messaging-related technologies introduced for the Classic Mac OS in the early 1990s. It includes the PowerTalk mail engine, which is the primary client-side interface to the system, the PowerShare mail server for workgroup installations, and a number of additional technologies such as Open Directory, encryption, and digital signature support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet Explorer for Mac</span> Web browser for Apple computers developed by Microsoft from 1996 to 2003

Internet Explorer for Mac was a proprietary web browser developed by Microsoft for the Macintosh platform to browse web pages. Initial versions were developed from the same code base as Internet Explorer for Windows. Later versions diverged, particularly with the release of version 5, which included the cutting-edge, fault-tolerant and highly standards-compliant Tasman layout engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet Explorer 4</span> Web browser for Windows released in 1997

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) is the fourth, and by now, discontinued, version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser that Microsoft unveiled in Spring of 1997, and released on September 22, 1997, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions available for the classic Mac OS, Solaris, and HP-UX and marketed as "The Web the Way You Want It".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozilla Application Suite</span> Discontinued Internet suite

The Mozilla Application Suite is a discontinued cross-platform integrated Internet suite. Its development was initiated by Netscape Communications Corporation, before their acquisition by AOL. It was based on the source code of Netscape Communicator. The development was spearheaded by the Mozilla Organization from 1998 to 2003, and by the Mozilla Foundation from 2003 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FirstClass</span> Client–server software

FirstClass is a client–server groupware, email, online conferencing, voice and fax services, and bulletin-board system for Windows, macOS, and Linux. FirstClass's primary markets are the higher-education and K-12 education sectors, including four of the top ten largest school districts in the United States.

PlayNet was an American online service for Commodore 64 personal computers that operated from 1984 to 1987. It was operated by the PlayNet, Inc of Troy, New York.

Barry Martin Schuler is an American Internet entrepreneur and former chairman and CEO of America Online Inc. He is best known for leading the AOL team that simplified the online service provider's user interface, making it possible for millions of consumers to gain easy access to the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkeley Macintosh Users Group</span> Largest Macintosh users group, active 1984-2000

The Berkeley Macintosh Users Group, or more commonly "BMUG", was the largest Macintosh User Group. It was founded in September 1984 by a group of UC Berkeley students including Reese Jones and Raines Cohen as a focal-point for the nascent Apple Macintosh user community. With more than 13,000 members, or "BMUGgers" at its peak in 1993, the group was the largest, and generally understood to be the most important, Macintosh users group. A few of the notable members include John "Captain Crunch" Draper, the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, notorious murderer Enrique Zambrano, early hacker-chaser Cliff Stoll, Inktomi founder Eric Brewer, and may prominent computing journalists like John Dvorak, Ilene Hoffman, Leo Laporte and Adam Engst. An example of the group's omnipresent blue-floppy-disk lapel pin is held in the Smithsonian Institution's American History collection. BMUG's history and activities were closely linked with the MacWorld Expo meetings, traditionally held in San Francisco each January and Boston each August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple Pippin</span> 1996 video game console platform

The Pippin is a defunct open multimedia technology platform, designed by Apple Computer. According to Apple, Pippin was directed at the home market as "an integral part of the consumer audiovisual, stereo, and television environment".

MobileMe is a discontinued subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were gradually transitioned to and eventually replaced by the free iCloud, and MobileMe ceased on June 30, 2012, with transfers to iCloud being available until July 31, 2012, or data being available for download until that date, when the site finally closed completely. On that date all data was deleted, and email addresses of accounts not transferred to iCloud were marked as unused.

InterCon Systems Corporation was founded in April 1988 by Kurt D. Baumann and Mikki Barry to produce software to connect Macintosh computers in environments that were not Macintosh-exclusive. At the time, there was no real concept of the Internet and there was still a question of whether the TCP/IP protocols or OSI protocols would be adopted widely. Over the next 9 years, the company grew from three employees to over 100 and sold software in the US, Europe and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MSN Dial-up</span> Internet service provide operated by Microsoft

MSN Dial-up is an Internet service provider operated by Microsoft in the United States and formerly also in several other countries. Originally named The Microsoft Network, it debuted as a proprietary online service on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of Windows 95. In 1996 and 1997, a revised web-based version of the ISP was an early experiment at interactive multimedia content on the Internet.

References

  1. ↑ "Remember eWorld". eWorld — a walkthrough. Archived from the original on 2020-08-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ Segaller, Stephen (1998). Nerds: A Brief History of the Internet. New York: TV Books. p. 277.
  3. ↑ McCracken, Harry (May 24, 2010). "A History of AOL, as Told in Its Own Old Press Releases". Technologizer. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ Robertson, Tim (1998-04-01). "How MyMac almost became eWorld". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  5. ↑ "Apple's eWorld arrives!". TidBITS. 1994-06-20.
  6. ↑ "e-World adds Internet as battle for users hots up". Computer Shopper. May 1995.
  7. ↑ LeFebvre, Rob (2013-06-20). "19 Years Later, eWorld Is Dead; Long Live eWorld 1". Cult of Mac. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  8. ↑ "Remembering eWorld, Apple's Forgotten Online Service". technotif. 2014-08-21. Archived from the original on 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.