iMac G3 (Fruit Colors)

Arriving January 5, 1999, just months after the original Bondi Blue model had already proven itself a smash hit, the second-generation iMac G3 expanded Apple's translucent design language into a rainbow of five vivid fruit-inspired colors: Blueberry, Grape, Lime, Strawberry, and Tangerine. Running the PowerPC G3 at speeds from 266 up to 400MHz across its various revisions and shipping with Mac OS 8.5.1, this update refined nearly everything about the original formula while doubling down on the very color-and-translucency aesthetic that had made the first iMac so instantly recognizable. Faster processors, improved graphics, and expanded storage options addressed some of the earlier criticisms about the original model feeling underpowered for its price, while the expanded color lineup let Apple market the iMac almost like a fashion accessory, a strategy virtually unheard of in computing before this point. The fruit-colored iMacs became inescapable cultural icons of the late 1990s, appearing constantly in movies, television shows, and advertisements as visual shorthand for cutting-edge, youthful technology, and their translucent plastic aesthetic influenced an entire generation of consumer product design well beyond computing, from staplers to kitchen appliances. Reviewers who had been skeptical of the original Bondi Blue model's radical departures largely came around by this point, praising the improved performance headroom and appreciating that Apple had used real-world feedback to iterate quickly rather than resting on the first model's success. The lineup also helped Apple continue distancing USB from its earlier reputation as a neglected standard, since the growing installed base of iMacs across schools, homes, and offices meant peripheral makers now had every incentive to support USB broadly, an effect that reshaped the entire PC peripheral industry, not just Apple's. Sales continued to be extremely strong, reinforcing that the original iMac's success was no fluke and that consumers genuinely responded to friendly, colorful, well-performing all-in-one computers rather than the beige business machines of years past. The fruit-colored iMac generation cemented the platform as Apple's flagship consumer product and gave the company sustained financial momentum through 1999, buying crucial time and capital for further innovation. Today these colorful machines remain among the most recognizable and nostalgically beloved computers ever made, instantly evoking the turn-of-the-millennium moment when Apple's comeback story shifted from surprising to undeniable.