History of Apple Inc.

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For more general information about the company, see Apple Inc.

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Current Apple logo introduced August 27, 1999 and remains in use today.

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer
electronics, personal computers, servers, and computer software, and is a digital distributor of
media content. The company also has a chain of retail stores known as Apple Stores. Apple's
core product lines are the iPhone smart phone, iPad tablet computer, iPod portable media
players, and Macintosh computer line. Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniakcreated Apple
Computer on April 1, 1976,[1] and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977,[2] in Cupertino,
California.
For more than three decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal
computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and
low market share during the 1990s. Jobs, who had been ousted from the company in 1985,
returned to Apple in 1996 after his company NeXT was bought by Apple.[3] The following year he
became the company's interim CEO,[4] which later became permanent.[5]Jobs subsequently
instilled a new corporate philosophy of recognizable products and simple design, starting with
the original iMac in 1998.
With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001 and iTunes Music Store in
2003, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics and media sales
industries, leading it to drop "Computer" from the company's name in 2007. The company is now
also known for its iOSrange of smart phone, media player, and tablet computer products that
began with the iPhone, followed by the iPod Touch and then iPad. As of 30 June 2015, Apple
was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization,[6] with an
estimated value of US$695 billion as of February 9, 2017.[7] Apple's worldwide annual revenue in
2010 totaled US$65 billion, growing to US$127.8 billion in 2011[8] and $156 billion in 2012.[9]

Contents
[hide]

 11975–1985: Jobs and Wozniak

o 1.1Pre-foundation
o 1.2Apple II
o 1.3Apple III
o 1.4Apple IPO
o 1.5The IBM PC
 o 1.6Xerox PARC and the Lisa
o 1.7Macintosh and the "1984" commercial
 1.7.11985: Jobs leaves Apple
 21985–1997: Sculley, Spindler, Amelio
o 2.1Corporate performance
o 2.2The Mac family
o 2.3Early-mid-1990s
 31997–2001: Apple's comeback
o 3.1Return of Steve Jobs
o 3.2Microsoft deal
o 3.3iMac, iBook, and Power Mac G4
o 3.4Mac OS X
o 3.5Retail stores
 42001–2007: iPods, iTunes Store, Intel transition
o 4.1iPod
o 4.2Moving on from colored plastics and the PowerPC G3
o 4.3Retail store expansion
o 4.4Apple and "i" Web services
o 4.5iTunes Store
o 4.6Intel transition
 52007–2011: Apple Inc., iPhone, iOS, iPad
o 5.1iOS evolution: iPhone and iPad
o 5.2Resurgence compared to Microsoft
 62011–present: Restructuring and Apple Watch
 7Financial history
o 7.1Stock
 8Timeline of Apple Inc. products
 9References
 10Further reading
 11External links

1975–1985: Jobs and Wozniak[edit]

Pre-foundation[edit]

Garage of Steve Jobs' parents' home in Los Altos, California

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had withdrawn from Reed College and UC Berkeley respectively
by 1975. Wozniak designed a video terminal that he could use to log on to the minicomputers at
Call Computer. Alex Kamradt commissioned the design and sold a small number of them through
his firm. Aside from their interest in up-to-date technology, the impetus for "the two Steves"
seems to have had another source. In his essay From Satori to Silicon Valley (published 1986),
cultural historian Theodore Roszak made the point that the Apple Computer emerged from within
the West Coast counterculture and the need to produce print-outs, letter labels, and databases.
Roszak offers a bit of background on the development of the two Steves' prototype models.
In 1976, Wozniak started attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. New
microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and the IMSAIinspired him to build a microprocessor into
his video terminal and have a complete computer.
At the time the only microcomputer CPUs generally available were the $179 Intel
8080 (equivalent to $797 in 2016), and the $170 Motorola 6800 (equivalent to $757 in 2016).
Wozniak preferred the 6800, but both were out of his price range. So he watched, and learned,
and designed computers on paper, waiting for the day he could afford a CPU.
When MOS Technology released its $20 (equivalent to $84 in 2016) 6502 chip in 1976, Wozniak
wrote a version of BASIC for it, then began to design a computer for it to run on. The 6502 was
designed by the same people who designed the 6800, as many in Silicon Valley left employers to
form their own companies. Wozniak's earlier 6800 paper-computer needed only minor changes
to run on the new chip.
Wozniak completed the machine and took it to Homebrew Computer Club meetings to show it
off. At the meeting, Wozniak met his old friend Jobs, who was interested in the commercial
potential of the small hobby machines.

Steve Wozniak's Apple I design was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as
a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.

The very first Apple Computer logo, drawn by Ronald Wayne, depicts Isaac Newton under an apple tree.
Created by Rob Janoffin 1977, the Apple logo with the rainbow scheme was used from April of that
year[10] until August 26, 1999. Steve Jobs has asserted the apple logo was inspired by the story of his
childhood.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had been friends for some time, having met in 1971, when their
mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. They began
their partnership when Wozniak, a talented, self-educated electronics engineer, began
constructing boxes which enabled one to make long-distance phone calls at no cost, and sold
several hundred models.[11] Later, Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a computer
machine and selling it.
Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, who said they would be interested in
the machine, but only if it came fully assembled. The owner, Paul Terrell, went further, saying he
would order 50 of the machines and pay US $500 each on delivery (equivalent to $2,100 in
2016).[12] Jobs then took the purchase order that he had been given from the Byte Shop to
Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor, and ordered the components he
needed to assemble the Apple I Computer. The local credit manager asked Jobs how he was
going to pay for the parts and he replied, "I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of
computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms are COD. If you give me the
parts on a net 30-day terms I can build and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my
money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you."[13][14]
The credit manager called Paul Terrell, who was attending an IEEE computer conference at
Asilomar in Pacific Grove, and verified the validity of the purchase order. Amazed at the tenacity
of Jobs, Terrell assured the credit manager if the computers showed up in his stores, Jobs would
be paid and would have more than enough money to pay for the parts order. The two Steves and
their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers, and delivered to Terrell
on time to pay his suppliers and have a tidy profit left over for their celebration and next order.
Steve Jobs had found a way to finance his soon-to-be multimillion-dollar company without giving
away one share of stock or ownership.
The machine had only a few notable features. One was the use of a TV as the display system,
whereas many machines had no display at all. This was not like the displays of later machines,
however; text was displayed at 60 characters per second. However, this was still faster than the
teleprinters used on contemporary machines of that era. The Apple I also
included bootstrap code on ROM, which made it easier to start up. Finally, at the insistence of
Paul Terrell, Wozniak also designed a cassette interface for loading and saving programs, at the
then-rapid pace of 1200 bit/s. Although the machine was fairly simple, it was nevertheless a
masterpiece of design, using far fewer parts than anything in its class, and quickly earning
Wozniak a reputation as a master designer.
Joined by another friend, Ronald Wayne, the three started to build the machines. Using a variety
of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family, selling various prized items
(like calculators and a VW bus) and scrounging, Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while
Wozniak and Wayne assembled them. But the owner of the Byte Shop was expecting complete
computers, not just printed circuit boards. The boards still being a product for the customers,
Terrell still paid them.[15] Eventually, 200 of the Apple I's were built.
Apple II[edit]
Main article: Apple II series
Wozniak had already moved on from the Apple I. Many of the design features of the I were due
to the limited amount of money they had to construct the prototype, but with the income from the
sales Wozniak was able to start construction of a greatly improved machine, the Apple II; it was
presented to the public at the first West Coast Computer Faire on April 16 and 17, 1977. On the
first day of exhibition, Jobs introduced the Apple II to a Japanese chemist named Toshio
Mizushima, who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan.
The main difference internally was a completely redesigned TV interface, which held the display
in memory. Now not only useful for simple text display, the Apple II included graphics and,
eventually, color. Jobs meanwhile pressed for a much improved case and keyboard, with the
idea that the machine should be complete and ready to run out of the box. This was almost the
case for the Apple I machines sold to The Byte Shop, but one still needed to plug various parts
together and type in the code to run BASIC.
Building such a machine was going to be financially burdensome. Jobs started looking for cash,
but Wayne was somewhat gun-shy due to a failed venture four years earlier, and soon dropped
out of the company. Banks were reluctant to lend Jobs money; the idea of a computer for
ordinary people seemed absurd at the time. Jobs eventually met Mike Markkula who co-signed a
bank loan for $250,000 (equivalent to $1,050,000 in 2016), and the three formed Apple
Computer on April 1, 1976.[1] The name Apple was chosen because the company to beat in the
technology industry at the time was Atari, and Apple Computer came before Atari alphabetically
and thus also in the phone book. Another reason was that Jobs had happy memories of working
on an Oregon apple farm one summer.[16]
With both cash and a new case design in hand thanks to designer Jerry Manock, the Apple II
was released in 1977 and was one of the three "1977 Trinity" computers generally credited with
creating the home computer market (the other two being the Commodore PET and the Tandy
Corporation TRS-80).[17] Millions were sold well into the 1980s. A number of different models of
the Apple II series were built, including the Apple IIe and Apple IIGS, which continued in public
use for nearly two decades thereafter.
Apple III[edit]
Main article: Apple III

Apple III

While the Apple II was already established as a successful business-ready platform because of
Visicalc, Apple was not content. The Apple III was designed to take on the business
environment. The Apple III was released on May 19, 1980.
The Apple III was a relatively conservative design for computers of the era. However, Steve Jobs
did not want the computer to have a fan; rather, he wanted the heat generated by the electronics
to be dissipated through the chassis of the machine, forgoing the cooling fan.
However, the physical design of the case was not sufficient to cool the components inside it. By
removing the fan from the design, the Apple III was prone to overheating. This caused
the integrated circuit chips to disconnect from the motherboard. Customers who contacted Apple
customer service were told to "raise the computers six inches in the air, and then let go", which
would cause the ICs to fall back into place.
Thousands of Apple III computers were recalled. A new model was introduced in 1983 to try and
rectify the problems, but the damage was already done.
Apple IPO[edit]
In the July 1980 issue of Kilobaud Microcomputing, publisher Wayne Green stated that "the best
consumer ads I've seen have been those by Apple. They are attention-getting, and they must be
prompting sale."[18] In August, the Financial Times reported that
Apple Computer, the fast growing Californian manufacturer of small computers for the consumer,
business and educational markets, is planning to go public later this year. [It] is the largest
private manufacturer in the U.S. of small computers. Founded about five years ago as a small
workshop business, it has become the second largest manufacturer of small computers, after
the Radio Shack division of the Tandy company.[19]

On December 12, 1980, Apple launched the Initial Public Offering of its stock to the investing
public. When Apple went public, it generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor
Company in 1956 and instantly created more millionaires (about 300) than any company in
history.[20] Several venture capitalists cashed out, reaping billions in long-term capital gains.
In January 1981, Apple held its first shareholders meeting as a public company in the Flint
Center, a large auditorium at nearby De Anza College (which is often used for symphony
concerts) to handle the larger numbers of shareholders post-IPO. The business of the meeting
had been planned so that the voting could be staged in 15 minutes or less. In most cases, voting
proxies are collected by mail and counted days or months before a meeting. In this case, after
the IPO, many shares were in new hands.
Steve Jobs started his prepared speech, but after being interrupted by voting several times, he
dropped his prepared speech and delivered a long, emotionally charged talk about betrayal, lack
of respect, and related topics.[citation needed]
The IBM PC[edit]
By August 1981 Apple was among the three largest microcomputer companies, perhaps having
replaced Radio Shack as the leader.[21] IBM entered the personal computer market that month
with the IBM PC,[22] but Apple had many advantages. While IBM began with one microcomputer,
little available hardware or software, and a couple of hundred dealers, Apple had five times as
many dealers in the US and an established international distribution network. The Apple II had
an installed base of more than 250,000 customers, and hundreds of independent developers
offered software and peripherals; at least ten databases and ten word processors were available,
while the PC had no databases and one word processor.[23] The company's customers gained a
reputation for devotion and loyalty. BYTE in 1984 stated that[24]
There are two kinds of people in the world: people who say Apple isn't just a company, it's a
cause; and people who say Apple isn't a cause, it's just a company. Both groups are right. Nature
has suspended the principle of noncontradiction where Apple is concerned.
Apple is more than just a company because its founding has some of the qualities of myth ...
Apple is two guys in a garage undertaking the mission of bringing computing power, once
reserved for big corporations, to ordinary individuals with ordinary budgets. The company's
growth from two guys to a billion-dollar corporation exemplifies the American Dream. Even as a
large corporation, Apple plays David to IBM's Goliath, and thus has the sympathetic role in that
myth.

The magazine noted, however, that the loyalty was not entirely positive for Apple; customers
were willing to overlook real flaws in its products, even while comparing the company to a higher
standard than for competitors.[24] The Apple III was an example of the company's reputation
among dealers that one described as "Apple arrogance".[25][26] After examining a PC and finding it
unimpressive, Apple confidently purchased a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street
Journal with the headline "Welcome, IBM. Seriously". Microsoft head Bill Gates was at Apple
headquarters the day of IBM's announcement and later said "They didn't seem to care. It took
them a full year to realize what had happened".[22] By 1983 the PC surpassed the Apple II as the
best-selling personal computer.[27] By 1984 IBM had $4 billion in annual PC revenue, more than
twice that of Apple and as much as the sales of it and the next three companies
combined.[28] Most Apple II sales had been to companies,[29] but a Fortune survey found that 56%
of American companies with personal computers used IBM PCs, compared to 16% for
Apple.[30] Small businesses, schools, and some homes became the II's primary market.[29]
Xerox PARC and the Lisa[edit]
Main article: Apple Lisa

Lisa

Apple Computer’s business division was focused on the Apple III, another iteration of the text-
based computer. Simultaneously the Lisa group worked on a new machine that would feature a
completely different interface and introduce the words mouse, icon, and desktop into
the lexicon of the computing public. In return for the right to buy US$1,000,000 of pre-IPO stock,
Xerox granted Apple Computer three days access to the PARC facilities. After visiting PARC,
they came away with new ideas that would complete the foundation for Apple Computer's
first GUI computer, the Apple Lisa.[31][32][33][34]
The first iteration of Apple's WIMP interface was a floppy disk where files could be spatially
moved around. After months of usability testing, Apple designed the Lisa interface of windows
and icons.
The Lisa was introduced in 1983 at a cost of US $9,995 (equivalent to $24,000 in 2016).
Because of the high price, Lisa failed to penetrate the business market.
Macintosh and the "1984" commercial[edit]
Main article: Macintosh
The Macintosh 128k was announced to the press in October 1983, followed by an 18-page
brochure included with various magazines in December.[35] Its debut, however, was announced
by a single national broadcast of the now famous US$1.5 million television commercial, "1984"
(equivalent to $3,500,000 in 2016). It was directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter
of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984,[36] and is now considered a "watershed event"[37] and a
"masterpiece."[38] 1984 used an unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh
(indicated by her white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer on it)
as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" (Big Brother).[39] These images were
an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian
future ruled by a televised "Big Brother."
For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than
US$2.5 million to buy all 39 of the advertising pages in the issue.[40] Apple also ran a “Test Drive
a Macintosh” promotion, in which potential buyers with a credit card could take home a
Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. While 200,000 people participated,
dealers disliked the promotion, the supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many
were returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold. This marketing campaign
caused CEO John Sculley to raise the price from US$1,995 (equivalent to $4,600 in 2016) to
US$2,495 (equivalent to $5,800 in 2016).[41]
Two days after the 1984 ad aired, the Macintosh went on sale. It came bundled with two
applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. Although the Mac
garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, it was too radical for some, who labeled it a mere
"toy". Because the machine was entirely designed around the GUI, existing text-mode
and command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten;
this was a challenging undertaking that many software developers shied away from, and resulted
in an initial lack of software for the new system. In April 1984 Microsoft's MultiPlan migrated over
from MS-DOS, followed by Microsoft Word in January 1985.[42] In 1985, Lotus
Software introduced Lotus Jazz after the success of Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC, although it was
largely a flop.[43] Apple introduced Macintosh Office the same year with the lemmings ad,
infamous for insulting potential customers. It was not successful.[41]
Macintosh also spawned the concept of Mac evangelism which was pioneered by Apple
employee, and later Apple Fellow, Guy Kawasaki.[citation needed]
Despite initial marketing difficulties, the Macintosh brand was eventually a success for Apple.
This was due to its introduction of desktop publishing (and later computer animation) through
Apple's partnership with Adobe Systems which introduced the laser printer and Adobe
PageMaker. Indeed, the Macintosh would become known as the de facto platform for many
industries including cinema, music, advertising, publishing and the arts.
1985: Jobs leaves Apple[edit]
Sculley and Jobs' visions for the company greatly differed. The former favored open
architecture computers like the Apple II, sold to education, small business, and home markets
less vulnerable to IBM. Jobs wanted the company to focus on the closed architecture Macintosh
as a business alternative to the IBM PC. President and CEO Sculley had little control over
Chairman of the Board Jobs' Macintosh division; it and the Apple II division operated like
separate companies, duplicating services.[44] Although its products provided 85% of Apple's sales
in early 1985, the company's January 1985 annual meeting did not mention the Apple II division
or employees. Many left, including Wozniak, who stated that the company had "been going in the
wrong direction for the last five years" and sold most of his stock.[45]
The Macintosh's failure to defeat the PC strengthened Sculley's position in the company. In June
1985, the board of directors sided with Sculley and Jobs was stripped of all duties. Jobs, while
taking the position of Chairman of the firm, had no influence over Apple's direction and
subsequently resigned. Sculley reorganized the company, unifying sales and marketing in one
division and product operations and development in another.[46][44] In a show of defiance at being
set aside by Apple Computer, Jobs sold all but one of his 6.5 million shares in the company for
$70 million. Jobs then acquired the visual effects house, Pixar for $5M (equivalent to
$10,900,000 in 2016). He also went on to found NeXT Inc., a computer company that built
machines with futuristic designs and ran the UNIX-derived NeXTstep operating system.
NeXTSTEP would eventually be developed into Mac OS X. While not a commercial success, due
in part to its high price, the NeXT computer would introduce important concepts to the history of
the personal computer (including serving as the initial platform for Tim Berners-Lee as he was
developing the World Wide Web).[47]