On April 1, 1976 Apple was born, a small company founded in California with an initial capital of approximately $1,300. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were put together, selling a Volkswagen van and a Hewlett-Packard calculator respectively. Fifty years later, the company is worth approximately $3,600 billion, a figure that far exceeds the gross domestic product of several European countries, including Italy. And this spiga very well the industrial and cultural trajectory of society.
The company’s formal birth coincides with a few pages contract signed by the founders to start marketing Apple I, the first product. It was a hand-assembled motherboard, sold without monitor, keyboard or power supply, and not even the case, or the enclosure that today surrounds practically all computers. It was just a circuit, in short, and it was produced in about 200 specimens and sold at $666.66: it was an easy figure to remember and satisfy Wozniak’s love towards repeated numbers; eventually it also became an iconic choice in the company’s history.
They were different years for the electronics market, still a niche for a few fans at a time when the personal computer was still an experimental object. That’s why Apple I made sense: it was sold to those who knew how to get their hands on electronics and the target Apple was made up of hobbies, engineers or members of the IT clubs who sang in America during those years and who shared the passion for this still nascent sector. All in all, however, a very narrow, almost microscopic market, especially when compared to the size of today’s Apple.
In addition to the two best known founders, Ronald Wayne was also involved in the initial phase, a technician with more experience, who worked with Jobs in Atari, an American manufacturer of video games and consoles. Wayne contributed to the drafting of the first corporate agreement, wrote the manual of Apple I and designed the company’s first logo: not everyone knows, in fact, that Apple has not always had the famous apple as a logo, but that the latter is the result of an evolution and comes from a first illustration depicting Isaac Newton sitting under a tree with an apple in the head.
Il primo logo illustrato di Apple
It was a much more complex scene, especially when compared to the minimalism of the logo and aesthetics that she makes as a matrix to the company today. The illustration was accompanied by a quote from William Wordsworth, an English poet among the main founders of Romanticism, who quoted “Newton… a mind that travels forever through strange seas of thought”. It was a way to compare to a great luminaire, linking Apple at the time “eureka” that has often made history of human technological advancement. And it was Wayne’s idea, which among the three was the most adult – he was 41 years old against the 20-25s of Jobs and Wozniak –, he was the one with more business experience and also what he wanted to give a more “serious” form to the project. And the logo reflected it, in its complex culture, almost academic.
Wayne’s role was very short. After a few days, concerned about the financial risks related to the business – in particular for personal responsibility on debts – decided to leave the company. He discarded his share of 10% for $800, to which he subsequently added another $1,500. If it had maintained participation, today the theoretical value of that quota would exceed 300 billion dollars, a figure comparable to the GDP of Portugal. Wayne’s decision is often cited as one of the most obvious cases of lack of profit in the history of technological entrepreneurship. However, Wayne himself has repeatedly stated that he has no regrets, explaining that the choice was consistent with his personal situation and the concrete fear of being called to respond to the company’s debts.
Moreover, in the first months of activity the economic sustainability of society was not certain. A first significant order came from the Byte Shop of Mountain View, one of the first computer specialized stores. Jobs agreed to provide 50 units of Apple I, undertaking to retrieve components through credit and loans. The operation involved a high risk: the margin was reduced and uncertain payment times.
The difference between the two main founders was already evident at this stage. Jobs was in charge of commercial vision and market construction, while Wozniak was responsible for technical design. This model of division of roles – between product and distribution – would remain central in the company’s subsequent development. Before Apple, Jobs and Wozniak had already collaborated on the realization of the so-called “blue box”, devices able to manipulate the signals of the telephone lines to make free calls. They sold more than 200 to about $150 each. The experience, though illegal, represented a first test of entrepreneurial ability: design, production and direct sales.
In 1977, with the introduction of the Apple II, the company entered a growth phase: the computer was no longer a motherboard, but it was equipped with integrated keyboard, color graphics and a design more accessible than the competitors. It was one of the first personal computers to reach a wider audience, with millions of units sold over the following years. Apple II was not particularly powerful, but it was the first computer already “mounted and finished”, and this shifted the target from the few electronic enthusiasts to families, schools, small offices. And then there were the software. Apple II introduced VisiCalc in 1979: the first spreadsheet – an ancestor of today’s most famous Windows Excel. People bought Apple II practically only to use VisiCalc.
In the 1980s, Apple consolidated its presence in the personal computer market, but it was in 1984 that it introduced one of the most influential products in its history: the Macintosh. The launch was accompanied by a commercial directed by Ridley Scott and broadcast during the Super Bowl, seen by over 90 million spectators in the United States. Scott’s spot is one of the most quoted and celebrated in the world, and related the Macintosh launched in 1984 with Orwell’s most famous 1984, implying a “rebellion” to the oppression of society through the purchase of Macintosh.
It was also a veiled Arrow at IBM, which in the 1980s was the leading company in the IT industry and that in 1981 launched the IBM PC, which defined the standard of personal computer. Apple played on this, rejecting the standardization of IBM, here designed as Orwell’s “Great Brother”. One way to say: don’t all become the same, which is then a very wrought concept in Apple’s rhetoric and marketing in relation to their products. At the same time, the Macintosh introduced a graphical interface accompanied by the use of the mouse (which was not a widespread tool until then) and helped make the computer more accessible and innovative.
Not everything, however, always turned well to Apple. In the 1990s, in the wake of Macintosh, the company began to see the first hits: Macintosh does not sell well, but enough to dominate the field of desktop publishing and remain relevant. Meanwhile, in 1983, he had a CEO, John Sculley, to whom to demand part of the activities, chosen by Jobs himself and taken from Pepsi. But things between the two don’t go well, especially on a character level, and in 1985 Jobs was removed from Apple.
From there onwards the company went through a crisis phase culminated in 1997, when it was close to failure, with annual losses exceeding billion dollars and a market share falling. It was years of total confusion in Apple, dominated by a particularly chaotic product line: Performa, Quadra, Centris, Power Macintosh, all products launched in those years and often very little different from each other, which created dangerous market overlaps. In short, it was unclear what to buy, and this while competition, Microsoft, starts taking market shares thanks to Windows and become the standard. In the 1990s, Apple’s market share fell below 5%.
In 1997, however, Apple decided to buy NeXT, the new Jobs company that, meanwhile, was working on a new operating system, something Apple herself needed to integrate into its systems. With the acquisition Jobs is part of the company, initially only as a consultant, but in a short time Sculley is removed from the board and Jobs becomes an interim CEO. Jobs’ return to the company’s leadership marked a drastic moment: dismissals, the elimination of 70% of the products and the closure of several projects. And then the turn to minimalism. The products become only four: a desktop “consumer, a desktop “pro”, a laptop “consumer” and a laptop “pro”. The rest, go.
In 1998, Apple launched the iMac, featuring transparent design and vibrant colours. The product sold about 800,000 units in the first five months, contributing to the return to profitability. In the following years, Apple expanded its offer by entering new markets. In 2001 the company presented the iPod, a digital music player that would sell over 400 million units over time, redefining the music industry along with the iTunes digital store: “1,000 songs in the pocket” was the motto. In 2007 the iPhone arrived, which in 2025 exceeded 2.3 billion units sold altogether, becoming the most relevant product for corporate revenues.
Over the years Apple has built an integrated ecosystem of devices and services, including iPad, Apple Watch and digital platforms such as Apple Music and iCloud. This strategy allowed the company to diversify revenue, reducing dependence on a single product and increasing user retention. Over fifty years, Apple has influenced several sectors, from computer to digital music, to telephony and services. According to the current CEO Tim Cook, one of the main lessons in company history concerns the ability to transform complex technologies into affordable products. A process that continues to be central in the company’s strategy even today, with the development of artificial intelligence and digital services.
L’articolo Apple is fifty years old, we retrace the story from IlNewyorkese.
