Newsweek:

A machine designed for consumers dubbed the iMac (only Apple would dare to lowercase the “I” in Internet). The crowd in Cupertino, Calif.’s Flint Center–site of the historic Mac launch 14 years ago–largely consisted of Apple employees. But due to an industrial-strength cone of silence shrouding the new product, few had been aware of its existence.

As distinctively curvy as the Beetle, dressed in retro-geeky, translucent plastic, the iMac (due to ship in August) is not only the coolest-looking computer introduced in years, but a chest-thumping statement that Silicon Valley’s original dream company is no longer somnambulant.

Ten months ago, when 43-year-old Jobs temporarily assumed control of the company he cofounded in a garage in 1977, the move was widely seen as a last-ditch effort to inject excitement into a barely breathing corporate husk.

How bad were things at Apple a year ago? “This company was in a death spiral,” says chief financial officer Fred Anderson.

While the iMac wasn’t a guaranteed success (there was a lot of Sturm und Drang over its design and technology decisions), it was a Hail Mary that turned into an incredible product for the company.