1985–1997 · Apple

NeXT: the computer that was cool but not enough, and the comeback it made possible

Last reviewed 5 October 2026

After leaving Apple, Steve Jobs built NeXT. Its black cube sold poorly, but its software ran the first web browser and became the basis of macOS and iOS.

A new start

Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 after losing a boardroom struggle with John Sculley. He founded NeXT the same year with several Apple colleagues, aiming at universities and researchers who wanted a powerful workstation that was also easy to use.

The cube

The NeXT Computer was unveiled in 1988. Its magnesium cube case, magneto-optical drive, high-resolution display and built-in tools for software development made it one of the most admired machines of its time. Its NeXTSTEP operating system combined a Unix base with an object-oriented programming environment that let developers build applications unusually quickly.

But at about $6,500 for a basic system it was expensive for students, and late to market. NeXT sold perhaps 50,000 machines in total. Admirers often summed it up as the computer that was cool, but where cool was not enough.

Where the web began

One of those machines mattered more than all the rest. At CERN in 1990 Tim Berners-Lee used a NeXT computer to write the first web browser and the first web server. He later said NeXTSTEP’s tools made the job much easier. id Software also developed early games such as Doom on NeXT workstations.

From hardware to software, and back to Apple

NeXT stopped making hardware in 1993 and concentrated on its software, including OPENSTEP and the WebObjects framework for building websites. At the same time Jobs’s other company, Pixar, was becoming a film studio, with Toy Story released in 1995.

By 1996 Apple was struggling and needed a modern operating system. In December it agreed to buy NeXT for about $400 million. Jobs returned as an adviser, became interim chief executive in 1997 and led Apple’s recovery.

NeXTSTEP became the foundation of Mac OS X, released in 2001, and through it of iOS and every Apple operating system since. Many of the programming interfaces Apple developers still use trace back to NeXT. The commercial flop of the 1980s turned out to be the technical basis of one of the most successful companies in the world.