Codenamed “Centossa”, the Apple IIsi was the swan song of the Apple II line: dating back to the first half of 1988 and envisioned as an heir of the IIgs.
The Apple IIsi predates the Mac IIsi with whom it shares not only the name but also some form elements and is probably one of the lesser-known Apple products of the Eighties. Its mastermind is Jean-Louis Gassèe, head of R&D after Jobs’ departure and it is just one of the many projects which were started after the successful launch of the Mac II in 1987.
The industrial design of Apple IIsi is of course heavily based on the form factor of the Apple IIgs for hardware reasons, but also shines on its own, thanks to the work of Ken Wood and Robert Brunner of the Palo Alto studio Lunar Design. In fact this was probably one of the jobs that helped Brunner later becoming the head of a reformed Apple IDG (Industrial Design Group), envisioning new guidelines and a brand new direction after the frogdesign era.
Bri
Interesting. New to me. I’m curious about the two designers from the Palo Alto Lunar Design studio. -That would have been around the time that Jobs had been to XEROX/PARC. Any connection there, or just coincidence?
Nicola D'Agostino
Jobs went (twice) to PARC abit of a while before, at the beginning of the Eighties but I will surely write more about Robert “Bob” Brunner, who helped Apple immensely with his tenure at Cupertino’s IDG.
And about not knowing about the existence of the Apple IIsi again the date, well, this time of the published piece here on the Stories of Apple website, plays quite a pivotal role… ;-)
nda