How one of the biggest tech companies started in a garage, here’s the story of Apple.

Apple is the world’s most important technology company, the best example of the myth of the start-up that was born in a garage and grew to become a multinational. This is how an initiative by two geeks determined to create a cheap computer for other enthusiasts in the 70s has become the company with the highest market value in the world.

The late 70s. Southern California is a paradise for the growing American middle class. A new generation of hippies is emerging, those who were children at the time of Woodstock ’69. A generation that has discovered technology and computers as tools for work and creation.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs met in 1971 when they were 22 and 16 years old, respectively. They formed a friendship that would last for decades. Wozniak, better known as “Woz”, designed a computer that anyone could assemble at home, something quite normal in this decade when PCs with monitors and keyboards were still a novelty reserved for companies.

That computer used a new and cheap processor called MOS 6502. So he programmed a version of BASIC for this chip and began to design a computer that would keep the price low and be fully compatible for programmers and enthusiasts.

On April 1, 1976, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and an Atari executive at the time named Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company. The first product they would market would be the Apple I.

Apple I was nothing more than a motherboard with integrated circuits, a processor and all the necessary circuitry. Fifty units of this computer were manufactured and it ended up being sold in a small computer distributor.

By August 1976, Woz had already finished the first prototype of the Apple II, a similar computer but presented in a box with an integrated keyboard and a design more in line with a product that could be sold on a shop shelf or by catalogue, and it was a sales success.

Apple III arrived in 1980. In 1983 Apple Lisa was launched with a mouse and a graphic interface. Up until this point, the computers were all based in one way or another on the original idea of Apple I.

January 1984: the birth of the Macintosh, the Apple boom

Apple, which had been a public company since the mid-1980s and had a good name in the world of computers, presented a product in January 1984 that would set the course for the company: the Macintosh 128K.

The compact computer format, 9-inch screen and integrated floppy disk drive was innovative, with an industrial design never seen before and integrating an operating system with a graphical interface that could be controlled with a mouse and keyboard already present in the Apple Lisa.

It was a critical and sales success, considered the pioneering computer in the era of personal computing.

The era without Steve Jobs

The differences and disagreements between Steve Jobs and John Sculley – who was president of PepsiCo until 1977 and then CEO of Apple – became increasingly apparent regarding the direction the company should take.

In April 1985 Sculley decided to remove Jobs as head of the Macintosh division, which led to a failed mutiny led by Jobs in an attempt to remove Sculley as CEO. Jobs resigned that same year.

Knowing his influence over Apple was over, Jobs began to plan what would be his next venture, NeXT Inc., hiring several Apple employees. NeXT was initially financed with part of the $70 million that Jobs made after selling all his Apple shares except one.

The Sculley era almost bankrupted Apple

It’s not that during the Sculley era and its successors as CEO Michael Spindler and Gil Amelio Apple didn’t have good computers for sale such as the Macintosh XL, Macintosh Plus, Macintosh Portable or the PowerBook laptops, but the company lost the personal and professional computer business to IBM.

At the end of 1996, just a few weeks before Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, the board of directors decided to buy NeXT for 400 million dollars, Steve Jobs’ company which, although not very successful, had software that was fundamental for the future of Apple.

Steve Jobs returned and with him came the “i” era: iMac, iBook, iTunes, iPod…

With the return of Steve Jobs at the head of the company, the idea of a consumer-focused Apple also returned, with new projects that broke the established rules and a commitment to design never seen before.

In just one year, Jobs restructured the company, canceling most of its projects and laying off more than 3,000 people. This, together with the sale of its entire inventory, meant that the company made a profit that same year, in addition to the $170 million that Microsoft invested.

In 1998 and in record time, even though the project was already underway, they presented the first iMac, a consumer computer with a completely innovative design that used elements such as translucent plastics and a color scheme that would be the trademark of the company during the 2000s.

This was followed by products such as the iBook, a new laptop with Wi-Fi connectivity, and the aluminum PowerBooks.

2001 was one of the decisive years for Apple’s future. Not only were the first physical Apple Stores unveiled, but at the end of the year one of the revolutionary products in the world of technology was presented: the iPod, a music player that became a status symbol.

It wasn’t until 2003 that Apple launched the iTunes Store, a shop where you could buy songs for 99 cents to load onto your iPod. Until then, users had to “rip” their CDs to get their music onto their iPods.

By 2005, iPod sales had skyrocketed and Apple was researching touchscreen technologies. Although the original plan was to create a tablet PC that years later turned out to be the iPad, Apple saw an opportunity to launch a mobile phone.

In 2007 Apple introduced the first iPhone, a revolutionary mobile phone and internet device whose legacy changed the way people communicate and interact.

Apple changed the world of mobile phones with the introduction of the first iPhone

The iPhone was an instant success. In 2008, the 3G model was launched, compatible with 3G networks for faster internet browsing, and it went on sale in more countries, including Spain.

The iPhone revolution also brought the App Store, a store where developers can distribute their own applications on Apple devices, and which has changed the way society behaves.

It was Tim Cook’s era: services, services, services (and China)

Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011 at his home in Palo Alto, California.

Cook, an executive forged at Compaq who Jobs convinced to work at Apple, became the company’s chief operating officer with the task of optimizing factory work and organizing its inventory.

This optimization is responsible for Apple making more money per device sold. One of its great achievements and the great advantage over the rest of its competitors is that Apple makes more money for every phone sold than any other manufacturer.

Under Cook, the company has launched products that are very important for its future, such as the Apple Watch, AirPods and, more recently, the Apple Vision Pro. But if there is one thing to highlight about the Cook era at Apple, it is the introduction of Apple in China, where it has become the leader in mobile and tablet sales, in addition to its commitment to services and subscriptions.

Under Cook’s leadership, Apple has become the world’s most valuable company, as well as getting its users to pay even more for services such as iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple One, its most popular subscription services.

Apple’s ecosystem is very robust and from 2023 it will also expand with Apple Vision Pro, its first augmented reality viewer that aims to be one of Cook’s final achievements as CEO of the company.