Despite mixed reviews from the tech press, the iMac was a major commercial success at a time when Apple desperately needed a hit product.[2] The iMac ultimately sold more than six million units, being revised multiple times and appearing in 13 different colors and patterns.[citation needed] The iMac was "designed to make it easy for home users to connect to the Internet."[3] A commercial, dubbed "Simplicity Shootout", pitted seven-year-old Johann Thomas and his border collie Brodie, with an iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with an HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds,[4] whereas Adam was still working on it by the end of the commercial.
As the prices of flat screen liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) began to fall, Apple conceived of an update to the iMac. Inspired by a sunflower, the iMac G4 put the computer in a semi-hemispherical base, with the display sitting above it on a stainless steel arm. The arm allowed the display to be easily tilted, rotated, and raised and lowered by a touch. The exuberant colors of the old iMac were replaced by stark white.[citation needed]
Ever-increasing screen sizes led Apple to make the iMac G5 a more conservative design, with the components of the computer attached to the back of the display and raised above the resting surface with an aluminum foot.[citation needed]