At the beginning of the 1970s, the idea of an ordinary person owning a computer seemed absurd. Back then, computers looked more like aircraft carriers or nuclear power plants than household appliances: huge machines installed in data centers, operated by teams of specialists serving governments, universities, and large companies. Then came Apple.
Founded on April 1, 1976, by two “college dropouts” from Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the startup did not invent computing. But it certainly achieved something more important: transforming computing into personal technology.
Before Apple, computers were often sold as kits to assemble. Jobs understood that people preferred ready-to-use machines. The very first Apple I, with koa wood cases handmade, today sell at auctions for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As an early Apple user and app developer, here is my personal selection of the most significant technological achievements of the company – and Steve Jobs – over the past 50 years.
The Apple II, a computer like no other
Early personal computers were more of a curiosity than a truly useful tool. The Apple II, launched in June 1977, brought something new: style. Even its color – beige! – was original, contrasting with the common black metallic cases at the time.
The color display was new and exciting, and the keyboard offered a pleasant feel. A simple speaker, with a single-bit output, was ingeniously used to produce tones and even speech-like sounds. The design was revolutionary right down to the packaging: Jerry Manock, Apple’s first salaried designer, housed the machine in a molded plastic casing with an elegant and professional look.
The Mouse, a new way to interact
In 1979, Steve Jobs, then 24 and convinced that IBM was catching up to Apple, sought the next big innovation. Copier company Xerox, looking to get Apple shares before its IPO, offered Jobs a visit to their nearby research labs in exchange. Jobs realized that researchers at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, like Alan Kay, were inventing the next generation of computer interfaces.
At the heart of this revolution was a device developed in the mid-1960s by Alan Kay’s mentor, Douglas Engelbart, at Stanford University, and nicknamed “the mouse.” Engelbart’s vision of the computer as a machine to enhance human capabilities inspired Alan Kay and his colleagues, who created graphical interfaces where users interacted with scroll bars, buttons, menus, and windows.
The Macintosh and the birth of modern products
Steve Jobs believed anyone should be able to use a computer. In January 1984, the first Apple Mac pushed that idea to a new level. Gone were the cryptic computer commands and accompanying manuals. Early users, including myself, felt like they instinctively knew how to do everything.
But the Mac launch was not just about this technological leap. It also inspired what has become a cultural moment embedded in our lives: the product launch. Following a flashy commercial aired during the Super Bowl, directed by Ridley Scott, Steve Jobs staged a product launch in a 1,500-seat theater focused on a charismatic solo presenter. He pulled out a small square computer – still beige – then called Macintosh, which began speaking for itself amidst enthusiastic applause.
Pixar: Jobs’ parallel project
During its first decade, Apple experienced exceptional growth – but also bankruptcy several times. These difficulties led the company to one of its most spectacular episodes when, in May 1985, Apple forced Jobs out of the company.
A year later, while leading the startup NeXT Inc, Steve Jobs bought a part of George Lucas’ production company, which he quickly renamed Pixar. Its RenderMan software could generate images by distributing calculations among multiple machines working simultaneously.
Pixar, often humorously described as Jobs’ “parallel project,” became one of the most influential and profitable animation studios in the world, producing the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story (1995).
iMac, the convergence of two visions
After an unsuccessful attempt to develop a new operating system with IBM, Apple ended up acquiring Steve Jobs’ NeXT company. In September 1997, Jobs returned as interim CEO when the company was, by his own words, “two weeks from bankruptcy.” While many Apple users welcomed his return, it raised concerns among some employees. Jobs quickly began laying off staff and shutting down underperforming products.
During this restructuring, he visited Apple’s design studio and immediately clicked with a young British designer, Jony Ive. This meeting led to the creation of the translucent iMac with vibrant colors in 1998. Essentially smaller and cheaper NeXT machines, the iMacs (the “i” meaning Internet) also introduced another Apple innovation, now a habit: abandoning outdated technologies. The floppy disk drive was replaced by a CD drive – a choice heavily criticized at the time but widely imitated later.
iPod and its 1,000 songs in your pocket
For Apple, computing was never just about computing. In 2001, the company began focusing on sound and video processing, not just text and images. In November of that year, it launched the iPod – a player capable of storing “1,000 songs in your pocket,” compared to a maximum of 20-30 per cassette on a Sony Walkman.
The iPod was controlled by an elegant “click wheel” for navigation on the screen. Music was synced via a new application called iTunes. By 2005, users also used it to manage audio files automatically downloaded from the Internet through an RSS system. This eventually led to the creation of podcasts.
A computer in every hand with the iPhone
In 2007, many mobile phone manufacturers approached Apple to merge the iPod with their devices. Steve Jobs chose a different path. On January 9, he unveiled Apple’s most ambitious product ever: a device combining a phone, music player, and Mac computer – all in the form of a single device, with no physical keyboard and a large screen.
Most “experts” in the media, from TechCrunch to The Guardian, predicted failure. Microsoft’s CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, mocked the $500 price, saying no one would buy such a device. In reality, 1.4 million iPhones were sold before the year’s end – over 3 billion to date. For the first time, a real computer was in everyone’s hands, paving the way for the social networks we know today.
The software revolution of the App Store
By mid-2008, the iPhone opened up to all developers the possibility to create a vast number of new applications. At the same time, the App Store – launched on July 10, 2008 – solved one of the most complex issues: distributing and monetizing these “apps.” Historically, software was often copied and distributed freely. The App Store changed that by using robust encryption to ensure that the purchased copy could only be used by the buyer, reducing piracy.
By launching the first App Store in the modern sense, Apple transformed how users discover and buy software. It sparked an explosion of applications and introduced a simple but powerful idea: whatever you want to do, someone, somewhere, has already created the app for it. Apple summed up this evolution in a slogan that became famous: “There’s an app for that.”
Time and again, this extraordinary company anticipated the imperative to make computing accessible to the masses. Happy birthday, Apple!
