Apple Company History begins with the creation of the 1st Macintosh in 1984. The original machine had a measly 124K of memory. In 1987, Steve Wozniak steps down as CEO but remains an Apple employee. The company then introduced the first color Mac, the Macintosh II. In 1994, Apple released PowerPC-based computers. (Also Read:The Most Disgusting Films Ever Made )
Founders of the Apple Company
Steve Jobs
The iPod has become one of the most iconic products of the 21st century, and Steve Jobs reinvented the company for the 21st century. He also introduced iTunes, a digital music player that converts music into the MP3 format. By 2001, the iPod was the leading player in the market. Apple’s iTunes store sold more than one billion songs and videos.
In May 1998, Jobs introduced the iMac, which was a computer with high-end processing at an affordable price. This computer ushered in a new era of high-fashion computing. Its translucent design stood out in the PC industry, which had relied on black boxes for more than a decade. It was a huge success, reintroducing the Mac platform to a new generation of users and attracting tons of developers to it. In 1999, Apple also released the iBook, which was designed with students and professionals in mind.
After the ’90s, Apple’s market share began to decline. Many industry experts predicted the company’s demise. But in 1996, Apple’s CEO, Gil Amelio, made a crucial decision: he would buy NeXT Software, a company founded by Jobs. This decision resulted in Jobs’s returning to the company as CEO, but this time as a part-time consultant. He also made a deal with Microsoft and made the first version of Microsoft’s Office software for Macs.
Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. He later attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he spent a semester studying eastern religions. In the summer of 1974, he joined the Homebrew Computer Club. While there, he met Steve Wozniak, who was developing a small computer. The two quickly became fascinated with the marketing potential of such a product, and they started the Apple Computer Company.
In June of 2009, Steve Jobs announced a leave of absence from Apple, allowing him to focus on his health and reorganize the company’s executive team. He was frail and had a serious illness. The news shocked the Apple community, and many worried that Jobs would never return to work again. But Jobs did not let his health stop him from doing what he loved.
In 1984, Apple released its first Macintosh computer. Unlike other computers, this device had a mouse and on-screen icons. However, it was not very popular among businesses, and its lack of a quality printer led to its failing to sell well. It was also the beginning of Steve Jobs’ downfall at Apple. At the time, Jobs was the chairman of the board.
Apple’s board had instructed Sculley to contain Jobs. The board had also been warned by Jean-Louis Gassee that Jobs was planning to stage a boardroom coup to force Sculley out. However, the board eventually overruled this attempt, and Jobs resigned as CEO of the company. After a few months, he took a number of Apple employees with him to start his own company, NeXT.
Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, and philanthropist. His inventions include the Apple computer and the iPhone. He also created the Apple iBook reader and the iPod. Today, he is an important figure in technology and business.
Wozniak grew up in San Jose, Calif. He attended the University of California at Berkeley but dropped out before finishing his degree and joined Hewlett-Packard. Steve Jobs and Wozniak met at a computer hobbyist group called the Homebrew Computer Club. This group was a forum for discussing hardware, software, and video games. Both Wozniak and Jobs believed that personal computing was about to get hot.
Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple during this time. However, he struggled to get Apple’s products out the door. He sought professional management and major funding to get Apple’s products out into the world. He also convinced public relations specialist Regis McKenna to work on the company’s public relations efforts. He also got an investment from Michael Markkula, who had worked for Intel for many years. Markkula later became Apple’s biggest shareholder and a key board member.
After leaving Apple, Wozniak founded several technology ventures. One of these was CL 9, which created universal remote controls. Another venture was Wheels of Zeus, which developed GPS technology. He also founded Acquicor Technology with other Apple alumni. Jobs and Wozniak stayed close until Jobs’ death in 2011, and they kept in touch.
Today, iTunes is a computer program for converting songs and other audio materials into MP3 digital format. In 2003, Apple introduced the iPod, an MP3 player. It quickly became a market leader. Another recent product that Apple has launched is the podcast. Podcasts are audio and video materials downloaded for portable playback. Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular.
Wozniak also designed the first Apple computer, the Apple Lisa. In 1979, he was awarded a U.S. patent for a microcomputer and was able to introduce an icon-rich interface navigable with a computer mouse. This revolutionary interface has since become the model for most consumer operating systems.
The company’s success led to the creation of the Mac and iPhone. Steve Jobs was the co-founder of the company but was not the company’s CEO. He was only thirty-one at the time, and many board members thought he was too young to be a CEO. Eventually, he was replaced by Mark Sculley, another Apple co-founder.
In 1991, Apple and IBM announced an alliance to develop new hardware and software. The two companies established Taligent, Inc., which would develop the next-generation RISC chip called the PowerPC. In addition, they also created Kaleida Labs to develop multimedia software.
Ronald Wayne
Ronald Wayne was a businessman in the electronics industry who partnered with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to found the Apple Computer Company. During the company’s early years, Wayne provided administrative support and administrative oversight. Wayne’s business acumen and experience in the computer industry made him a great choice for the role.
He was an early Apple employee and created the company’s logo. Later, he worked for Atari and an electronics company in Salinas, California. He also owned a stamp shop in Milpitas, California, in the late 1970s. Eventually, the shop was broken into, and Wayne decided to move the business to Nevada.
After Steve Jobs secured his first contract with The Byte Shop, Wayne was worried about his personal debts. Jobs had taken out a loan for $15,000 to fulfill the contract with The Byte Shop, a notorious Bay Area computer store. Despite the fact that Wayne had several assets, he was worried that the company wouldn’t be able to recoup the money. He was also worried that he wouldn’t be able to return the money in case the deal went bad.
Ronald Wayne was a technologist and investor who co-founded Apple Computer. His net worth is around $400,000. In 1976, he sold a 10% stake to Steve Jobs for $880. Today, this stake would be worth about $200 billion. Despite this, Wayne was a key part of Apple’s early history, but he didn’t remain around for very long.
The story of Ronald Wayne is quite remarkable. The company was founded only a few weeks after Wayne sold his 10% stake to Steve Wozniak for $800. Wayne is a former colleague of Steve Wozniak and sold his stake to him for $800. Wayne also drew the company’s first logo. Later, he replaced the original apple logo with a bitten apple.
It is possible to learn more about the Apple company by reading the personal papers of Ronald Wayne. Wayne’s papers, preserved since 1976, offer a rarely-seen perspective on the early days of Apple. He may be the third founder of Apple, but many people don’t know him.
Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne were mentors to each other, and Steve Jobs met Ron Wayne while he was freelancing in the video game industry. Wayne impressed Steve Jobs with his entrepreneurial skills. While Wayne didn’t work directly with Steve Jobs, he was the tie-breaker between Jobs and Steve Wozniak when they were talking about the Apple-1 microprocessor.
Steve Jobs invited Wayne to a presentation in San Francisco. He was met at the airport by Steve’s chauffeur and put up in a luxury room at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Later, he shared a meal with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. (Also Read: Who is Vladmir Putin?)
