The unlikely journey began on April 1, 1976, when the shaggy-haired Steve Jobs and his gadget-loving companion Steve Wozniak officially formed Apple Computer Co. by signing a two-page partnership agreement.
Jobs, who was a 21-year-old college dropout, and Wozniak, a 25-year-old employee at Hewlett-Packard, each had a 45% share in Apple, while their 41-year-old advisor, Ron Wayne, received the remaining 10%.
The startup faced a rocky beginning while attempting to create a personal computer in the Los Altos, California, home of Jobs’ parents, leading Wayne to sell his share for $2,300. This decision turned out to be a monumental miscalculation, as his stake would now be worth $370 billion, given Apple’s current market value of $3.7 trillion.
Yet, Apple nearly fell apart before constructing its legendary empire.
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After a tumultuous split in 1985, the tech giant orchestrated a remarkable deal that welcomed back its ousted cofounder in 1997. Initially reluctant to return, Jobs accepted a temporary adviser role and soon became CEO, driving a wave of innovation that yielded the iPod, iPhone, and iPad in just a decade.
Here’s a recap of Apple’s journey so far:
Founded in 1976, Apple achieved its first major success in June 1977 with the launch of the Apple II, priced at $1,298 (approximately $7,000 today, adjusted for inflation).
With soaring sales, Apple went public in late 1980 at $22 per share, equivalent to just 10 cents a share after accounting for stock splits. A $2,200 investment for 100 shares at the IPO price would be worth over $5.5 million today.
Apple’s next significant milestone occurred during its annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, where Jobs cited the opening lines of Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and unveiled the first Macintosh — a groundbreaking machine that introduced the public to the computer mouse and graphical interface.
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This unveiling took place just two days after Apple teased the Macintosh with a 60-second commercial directed by Ridley Scott, which drew inspiration from George Orwell’s “1984” during that year’s Super Bowl. The ad generated immense excitement and is often credited with elevating Super Bowl commercials into an artistic and cultural phenomenon.
Despite its groundbreaking features, the Macintosh (named after an engineer’s favorite type of apple) retailed for $2,500 (approximately $7,900 today), which contributed to its underwhelming sales performance.
This disappointment led to layoffs and budget cuts under CEO John Sculley, a former PepsiCo executive who Jobs had helped bring to Apple in 1983. A year after the Macintosh’s launch, the relationship between Sculley and Jobs had deteriorated into a power struggle, with Apple’s board siding with Sculley. Consequently, Jobs resigned in September 1985, feeling deeply betrayed and selling all but one share of his Apple stock.
Following Jobs’ departure, Apple produced successful versions of the Mac with Sculley in charge.
However, Apple’s elegantly designed computers couldn’t compete with the thriving market for lower-priced PCs running on Microsoft software. The aggressive adoption of features mimicking the Mac’s graphical interface sparked a seven-year legal battle that culminated in a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dismissed Apple’s copyright claims.
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Before this setback, Apple dismissed Sculley in mid-1993 and replaced him with Michael Spindler, who lasted until early 1996, when he too was ousted amid growing financial losses.
In a desperate measure, Apple appointed Gil Amelio, a board member who had successfully revived National Semiconductor, as the new CEO.
Most of Amelio’s strategies fell short except for one — a surprising $428 million acquisition of an operating system from NeXT, the computer startup Jobs had founded after leaving Apple.
Initially wanting only to spend a few months advising Amelio in 1997, Jobs was focused on his family while also serving as CEO of Pixar, which he had purchased from “Star Wars” director George Lucas for $5 million in 1986.
However, plans shifted dramatically in July 1997 when Apple terminated Amelio, allowing Jobs to execute a remarkable turnaround.
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By August 1997, Jobs had reconciled with his longtime rival, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and facilitated a deal that included a $150 million cash infusion from Microsoft. This investment enabled Jobs to launch a new series of brightly colored, translucent computers known as the “iMac.” The ‘i’ in iMac represented a new five-point philosophy emphasizing “internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire.”
Jobs unveiled the first iPod in October 2001, a music storage device that could hold up to 1,000 songs. Apple sold 450 million iPods in various designs, effectively killing the CD format and ushering in the age of music streaming.
In what would become his landmark achievement, Jobs took the stage in San Francisco on January 9, 2007, announcing he would present three groundbreaking products: a touchscreen iPod, a revolutionary mobile phone, and an internet communicator. Then came his astonishing revelation: “These are not three separate devices. This is one device! And we are calling it the iPhone.”
Since then, more than 3 billion iPhones have been sold, and the device continues to account for over half of Apple’s annual revenue of $416 billion, nearly 15 years after Jobs’ passing from cancer. Apple’s reliance on the iPhone can be attributed, in part, to the company’s struggle to launch another captivating product under the guidance of Jobs’ chosen successor, Tim Cook.
Nonetheless, Apple’s valuation is tenfold greater than its $350 billion market cap at the time of Jobs’ death — evidence that Cook has been an effective steward of the legacy left by a visionary who championed a campaign celebrating “the ones who see things differently.”
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