The iMac is credited with saving Apple during its darkest days. Designed by Sir Jony Ive, it is the first Apple machine I remember really being conscious of. The colorful range of computers first went on sale in the U.S in August 1998 and by April 2001 five million had been shipped. On AppleInsider, William Gallagher reflected on the device’s staggering success.

This machine took the innovation Apple had done before, it took the company’s ethos of strong design and a complete appliance-like tool, and it shouted about it all. Where the Mac had literally said “Hello,” the iMac figuratively said, “look at me.” And people listened. The iMac was announced by Steve Jobs on May 6, 1998, but it didn’t go on sale in the US until August 15 that year. Two weeks later, it was released in Europe and Japan. Two years, eight months, and four days later on April 19, 2001, Apple announced that it had shipped its five millionth iMac. That makes approximately 5,112 iMacs sold every day. It’s one iMac every 1.183 seconds. No wonder it saved the company.