1996


 * January 9: The AppleVision 1710 Display is released.
 * January 15: The Universal Serial Bus (USB) 1.0 specification is released.
 * January 27: The PowerBook Duo 280c is discontinued.
 * January 31: Chairman Mike Markkula calls an emergency meeting of the Apple Board of Directors, in which Michael Spindler is replaced as CEO by Gil Amelio.
 * February 1: The Macintosh Performa 580CD and 5200CD are discontinued.
 * February 2: Gil Amelio resigns from National Semiconductor to become CEO of Apple Computer.
 * February 14: The Macintosh Performa 6310CD is released in Asia and Europe.
 * March 11: Mac OS 7.5.3 is released.
 * March 14: The Newton MessagePad 130 is announced. The Color StyleWriter 1500 and 2500 are released.
 * March 25: The MessagePad 130 is released.
 * March 28: The Pippin Atmark game console, based on Apple Computer's Pippin platform, is released in Japan.
 * March 29: Apple Computer announces its Game Sprockets API for game development.
 * March 31: Apple Computer shuts down its eWorld service at 12:01 am.
 * April 1: The Macintosh Performa 475, 550, 575, Power Macintosh 5300 LC, and Macintosh Performa 6116CD are discontinued.
 * April 13: The Power Macintosh 5200/75 LC is discontinued.
 * April 15: The Power Macintosh 5260 is released.
 * April 22: The Macintosh Performa 5400CD, 5420CD, and 6320CD are released. The 120 MHz version of the Power Macintosh 7600, and the 132 and 150 MHz versions of the Power Macintosh 8500 are released. The Power Macintosh 8200 is released in Europe. The LaserWriter Select 360 is discontinued.
 * May 13-17: The 1996 Worldwide Developers Conference is held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in California, where OpenDoc is discussed. Cyberdog 1.0 is released as OpenDoc's "killer app".
 * June 15: The LaserWriter 16/600 PS is discontinued.
 * October 28: The eMate 300 and MessagePad 2000 are announced.
 * November: Apple Computer considers purchasing Be, Inc.; Steve Jobs calls Apple CTO Ellen Hancock to advise against the purchase.
 * December 20: Apple Computer announces that it would acquire NeXT, bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple as a consultant.