Today in Apple history: IBM and Apple shake and make up

October 2, 1991: As the Cold War comes to an end, hell freezes over a second time as Apple and IBM sign a deal and agree to put aside their differences. Having been bitter rivals for the past decade, the two tech giants host a press conference at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco to unveil their new partnership.

“We want to be a major player in the computer industry,” Apple CEO John Sculley says. “The only way to do that is to work with another major player.”

Apple-IBM deal ends one of Apple’s earliest rivalries

Apple and IBM’s rivalry kicked off in a big way with the launch of the IBM Personal Computer in August 1981. Despite welcoming IBM to the personal computing party in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, it didn’t take long for Apple to position the larger computer company as public enemy No. 1.

The biggest reason for this was IBM’s success in the business market, which Apple…