Apple Inc: The History of Apple Computer Company
Apple Inc: Apple was founded as an Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976. The company was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Co o sell Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. The name was later changed to Apple Computer Inc. in 1977 and then to just Apple Inc. in 2007.
The original logo for Apple was designed by Wayne. It featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree with a scroll unrolling from the bottom of the tree with the words “A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought … alone.” This logo was used until August 26, 1976, when Jobs commissioned graphic designer Rob Janoff to create a new logo for the company. The result was the now-famous stylized “bitten” apple logo with a rainbow scheme that was used until 1998 and then toned down due to the Macintosh G3 iMac release. Since then, various versions of this logo have been used with different colors depending on the product being announced or marketed (e.g., different colored apples for different iPod models).
In 1984, following a long legal battle with Xerox over their graphical user interface (GUI), which Xerox had developed at their Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Apple released Macintosh—the first commercially successful personal computer with a GUI to be sold without licensing fees or royalties. The Macintosh would go on to revolutionize home computing and spawn several generations of popular follow-up models throughout the 1980s and 1990s such as the Macintosh Plus, Mac SE/30, and PowerBook lines. By 1992, however, competition from Microsoft Windows PCs coupled with internal management issues began to eat into Macintosh’s market share leading Apple to release several unsuccessful follow-ups such as the Macintosh LC III, Centris 610/650, and Quadra 950 before finally striking gold again with 1993’s critically acclaimed Power Macintosh 6100/66 which helped turn things around for the company.
The late 1990s saw continued success for Macintosh with the introduction of groundbreaking all-in-one computers like the iMac G3 which helped make computers more accessible to mainstream consumers. Around this time is also when Jobs returned to lead Apple after his stint heading up NeXT—a computer company he founded in 1985 after he was ousted from his position at Apple during an internal power struggle culminating in him selling all but one of his shares in 1989 for $70 million. Under Jobs’ renewed leadership starting in 1997, Apple undertook several initiatives aimed at revitalizing its lagging Mac line including working closely with Microsoft—its biggest former rival—to develop new software applications like Office for Mac as well as releasing popular consumer devices like iPod digital music player in 2001, iPhone smartphone in 2007 and iPad tablet computer in 2010. These new products not only helped bring new life into Macintosh sales but also established entirely new product categories that continue to generate billions of dollars in revenue for Apple to this day.
Today, Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world with a market capitalization of over $2 trillion as of April 2021. It has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1976 and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post!
