Apple Computer is 30 years-old today
Apple celebrates its 30th birthday today and is currently riding high following a boom and bust ride in the industry.
The company was founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne and originally operated out of Jobs's garage.
Apple's first offering was the Apple I personal computer, which sold for $666.66 and was showed off at the now-famous Homebrew Computing Club. The Apple I was essentially just a motherboard and was hardly a computer by today's standards.
The company first tasted success with the Apple II in 1977, but the real breakthrough came with the development of its revolutionary graphical user interface.
The Apple Lisa was the first machine to use the GUI in 1983, although its $9,995 price tag and a lack of software stopped it from being a success.
In 1984, Apple released its first revolutionary Macintosh computer. The 'Mac' was the first computer using a GUI to be commercially successful. The addition of desktop publishing software and a laser printer that was reasonably priced helped push it forward as the tool for publishers.
Jobs quit the company in 1985 following a power struggle and went off to form NeXT which was ultimately a doomed project.
Apple thrived in the laptop market in 1991 with the introduction of the Powerbook 100. Designed by Sony, this was a far cry from Apple's cumbersome Macintosh Portable launched in 1989.
However, at that time Bill Gates's work on Microsoft's Windows saw it being taken up by consumers and businesses looking to exploit its choice of software.
Apple tried to sue Microsoft for the theft of its intellectual property in the design of the Windows OS. What followed was a long legal battle that was eventually thrown out by the courts and signalled the start of Apple's loss of position as a market leader.
In 1994, Apple joined forces with Motorola and its traditional rival IBM to work on a new a new system called the PowerPC.
The idea was to use IBM's processing power with Apple's software to create a Windows PC killer. This project led to the creation of the Power Macintosh in 1994.
In 1997 the company purchased Jobs's NeXTstep software, which became the forerunner of the modern OS X and saw Jobs's return to Apple.
The iMac followed in 1998 and this reintroduced Apple's reputation for good design. With 800,000 units sold in 1998, the company had its first profitable year since 1993 and began its fight back.
In 2001, Apple radically redesigned its operating system to release Mac OS X. The company also opened its own US stores.
In late 2001 the first iPod portable MP3 player made its debut and the company now dominates the market with the later versions of the product.
Its iTunes music software logged more than one billion downloads in February further boosting the company's once flagging fortunes.
The company's most surprising recent announcement has been its switch to producing Macintosh computers using Intel chips traditionally used in Windows PCs.
Apple celebrates its 30th birthday today and is currently riding high following a boom and bust ride in the industry.
The company was founded on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne and originally operated out of Jobs's garage.
Apple's first offering was the Apple I personal computer, which sold for $666.66 and was showed off at the now-famous Homebrew Computing Club. The Apple I was essentially just a motherboard and was hardly a computer by today's standards.
The company first tasted success with the Apple II in 1977, but the real breakthrough came with the development of its revolutionary graphical user interface.
The Apple Lisa was the first machine to use the GUI in 1983, although its $9,995 price tag and a lack of software stopped it from being a success.
In 1984, Apple released its first revolutionary Macintosh computer. The 'Mac' was the first computer using a GUI to be commercially successful. The addition of desktop publishing software and a laser printer that was reasonably priced helped push it forward as the tool for publishers.
Jobs quit the company in 1985 following a power struggle and went off to form NeXT which was ultimately a doomed project.
Apple thrived in the laptop market in 1991 with the introduction of the Powerbook 100. Designed by Sony, this was a far cry from Apple's cumbersome Macintosh Portable launched in 1989.
However, at that time Bill Gates's work on Microsoft's Windows saw it being taken up by consumers and businesses looking to exploit its choice of software.
Apple tried to sue Microsoft for the theft of its intellectual property in the design of the Windows OS. What followed was a long legal battle that was eventually thrown out by the courts and signalled the start of Apple's loss of position as a market leader.
In 1994, Apple joined forces with Motorola and its traditional rival IBM to work on a new a new system called the PowerPC.
The idea was to use IBM's processing power with Apple's software to create a Windows PC killer. This project led to the creation of the Power Macintosh in 1994.
In 1997 the company purchased Jobs's NeXTstep software, which became the forerunner of the modern OS X and saw Jobs's return to Apple.
The iMac followed in 1998 and this reintroduced Apple's reputation for good design. With 800,000 units sold in 1998, the company had its first profitable year since 1993 and began its fight back.
In 2001, Apple radically redesigned its operating system to release Mac OS X. The company also opened its own US stores.
In late 2001 the first iPod portable MP3 player made its debut and the company now dominates the market with the later versions of the product.
Its iTunes music software logged more than one billion downloads in February further boosting the company's once flagging fortunes.
The company's most surprising recent announcement has been its switch to producing Macintosh computers using Intel chips traditionally used in Windows PCs.
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