Back in 1985, Apple created an internal network for managing support for dealers and developers. It was called AppleLink.

It was run by GE’s online service, and Apple was paying GE to run the backend, while Apple managed the actual services. At its peak, AppleLink had had 50,000 registered users, 38,000 of which were external to Apple. Looking to phase this out, mostly to save money, Apple wanted to purchase or build its own online service.

Soon after, Apple created AppleLink Personal Edition, a similar tech-support system for consumers, with Quantum Computer Services running the backend. Quantum Computer Services soon became America Online, or AOL, with a young Steve Case at the helm. 1987 saw Quantum running AppleLink PE, with Apple getting a percentage of the fees Quantum was charging users of the service.

This is the story of how AppleLink evolved into eWorld. My favorite bit:

“What we didn’t know is that AOL had already prepared it’s bankruptcy papers – this deal ultimately saved them. Steve Case had a great poker face,” said Peter Friedman, then vice president and general manager of Apple Online Services, now CEO of LiveWorld.

Good read.