Apple today is one of the strongest brands in the world, of course, built on their products such as the iPhone, iPad and of course where it all began – the MAC computer. Founded by glasses wearers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, they have focused their lenses on consumer products rather than optical products – but it is never too late and you never know what is going to come out of the Apple Campus at “Infinite Loop” next. Perhaps some fashionable white spectacles with a brand new user interface.
The big leap forward for Apple really came in 1984 with their huge investment in the famous “1984” ad that launched the MAC computer in a breakthrough ad first shown during the Superbowl of that year. The theme of the ad was breaking the mould both in terms of product and advertising, with a story driven 1-minute film that ended with text that was displayed and spoken, “On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984.”
Glasses also featured heavily in the ad itself, as the storyline crescendoed and finally “Big Brother” was revealed – and he was wearing not one pair of glasses, but two pairs of spectacles!
In the early days when Apple was still known as Apple Computer, the logo retained it's the colour scheme of 6 colours progressing through the apple. In order to further the publicity, and presumably, because glasses were near and dear to the founders’ hearts – they also commissioned some custom glasses that replicated the Apple logo and became known purely as the Apple Glasses.
It is believed that Steve Wozniak had 30 pairs of these glasses made by an artisan spectacles manufacturer, and they have today become hugely collectable and possibly one of the rarest sets of glasses in collections. Not even Elton John has one of these pairs of glasses in his spectacles collection!
Both Steve’s continue to wear spectacles today but have not been seen wearing the Apple glasses for many years- preferring a more sedate and functional style of glasses for their public appearances.
The original Apple Glasses come up for auction infrequently – the last time was in 2001 – and it is not known if either of the Steves continues to wear the glasses at home or perhaps in their online persona. Most of the spectacles were given away to employees and friends when they were originally introduced to the world – and of course, they are not prescription glasses but rather stained lenses acting as sunglasses or novelty glasses.
The glasses that Steve Jobs wears today reflect a more mature style, with him preferring rimless glasses or saddle bridge styled spectacles. This is a common theme among spectacles wearers that need to wear eyeglasses all of the time, as the rimless glasses are significantly lighter especially when the glasses are made with thin lenses – and the saddle bridge style adds a lot of comfort when the weight of the glasses is born by the nose pieces.
It is likely that Steve gets his glasses custom made, but similar styles are available from Lunor and sometimes from online glasses suppliers. Steve Wozniak’s glasses are a much more standard spectacle design and can be found on many online glasses stores as well as from industry suppliers. The glasses lenses he wears today are varifocal or bifocal as age is catching up with him as well!
Perhaps it is time for a redesign of the original Apple Glasses but now into a prescription eyeglasses style with the option for multifocal, varifocal or bifocal lenses. This could complete the circle in the Infinite Loop regarding glasses and eyeglasses!