<P> Compaq, who had previously held the third place spot among PC manufacturers during the 1980s and early / mid-1990s, initiated a successful price war in 1994 that vaulted them to the biggest by the year end, overtaking a struggling IBM and relegating Apple to third place . Apple's market share further struggled due to the release of the Windows 95 operating system, which unified Microsoft's formerly separate MS - DOS and Windows products . Windows 95 significantly enhanced the multimedia capability and performance of IBM PC compatible computers, and brought the capabilities of Windows to parity with the Mac OS GUI . </P> <P> In 1997, upon return to Apple as interim CEO, Steve Jobs terminated the Macintosh clone program while simplifying the computer product lines . If measuring market share by installed base, there were more than 20 million Mac users by 1997, compared to an installed base of around 340 million Windows PCs . </P> <P> In 1998, the release of the iMac G3 all - in - one was a great success, selling 800,000 units in 139 days, providing a much needed boost to the ailing Macintosh platform . The introduction of the Power Macintosh and iBook laptop completed "four - square product matrix" (desktop and portable products for both consumers and professionals), with the iBook ranking as the most popular laptop in the U.S. market for 1999 . </P> <P> In 2000, Apple released the Power Mac G4 Cube, their first desktop since the discontinued Power Macintosh G3, to slot between the iMac G3 and the Power Mac G4 . Even with its innovative design, it was initially priced US $200 higher than the comparably - equipped and more - expandable base Power Mac G4, while also not including a monitor, making it too expensive and resulting in slow sales . Apple sold just 29,000 Cubes in Q4 of 2000 which was one third of expectations, compared to 308,000 Macs during that same quarter, and Cube sales dropped to 12,000 units in Q1 of 2001 . A price drop and hardware upgrades could not offset the earlier perception of the Cube's reduced value compared to the iMac and Power Mac G4 lineup, and it was discontinued in July 2001 . </P>

Apple invented the mouse and the macintosh first introduced the mouse technology to the public