The past 20th century is the age of cosmonautics, the age of aviation. But this is also the age of the formation of the IT industry. Since the 70s of the last century, this area has been developing so rapidly that it is simply impossible to keep track of all the new products. And Apple played an important role in this.
Seventies
In the mid-1970s, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak put up a self-assembled computer for sale, which they called the Apple I. Over the next 10 months, they and their buddies assembled 175 of these computers. And not just collected, but sold. The device was priced at $ 666. Apple I was very different from the PC in our modern sense. By and large, it was just one motherboard. The case, keyboard, monitor, reproduction of any graphics and sounds were out of the question. The device was based on the MOS Technology 6502 processor. Apple began to form in the garage of the Jobs' house, and it got its name from the English word apple - Steve's favorite fruit.
April 1, 1976 - the day of official registration of Apple Computer Inc. Curiously, the Apple I was not the first programmable computer. Ed Robers had developed the Altair 8800 a few years earlier, which in 1974-1975 was quite successfully sold through catalogs. But "Altair" was a machine for those in the know, there was no talk of any personalization. In 1976, several other firms, including Commodore and Tandy Radio Shack, also released computers. Already in 1977, their designs were sold in thousands of batches. However, the first truly personal computer is the Apple II, with more than 5 million sold in 8 and 16-bit models.
Eighties
It would seem that Apple III, after the triumph of its predecessor, was doomed to success. However, this did not happen. The project turned out to be a failure. In 1980, Apple first listed its shares on the stock exchange. In March 1981, Steve Wozniak - the brain and hands of the company - gets into a plane crash and cannot work for several months. Apple III sells so poorly that Steve Jobs decides to lay off some of the employees. Competitors were already rubbing their hands in anticipation of Apple's bankruptcy. To his misfortune, Steve Jobs invites former PepsiCo employee John Scully to the presidency of Apple. The two ambitious and domineering people began to have disagreements.
1984 saw the introduction of the 32-bit Macintosh, which was originally a spin-off of the company. But it was the Macintosh, and later the iMac, that became the main source of profit.
Experts estimate that the owner of a Windows computer spends about 50 hours a year troubleshooting, installing and configuring programs. IMac owners devote 10 times less time to this during the year.
It was the Apple experts who were the first to decide to satisfy the needs of users and created a graphical intuitive interface, invented a new type of manipulator - a mouse, taught the computer to show pictures and reproduce sounds. The mid-80s, namely 1985, is a landmark era. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak received medals for the development of technological progress from the hands of the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. And just a few weeks later, Jobs left his own company due to ongoing conflicts with its head John Scully.
Nineties - early 2000s
Apple got worse every year. Analysts predicted an imminent bankruptcy. By 1997, the company's losses amounted to more than $ 1.8 billion. In the same 1997, Steve Jobs returned to the fold of his own company, and the situation changed dramatically. Apple was rapidly gaining ground in the non-computer device market. In 2001, another development was presented to the world - the iPod audio player.
The iPod has made it possible for every owner to carry thousands of their favorite songs in their pocket.
You can only download music to your iPod using the iTunes Store, where you can download both individual tracks and entire albums. In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone touchscreen smartphones. A player and a communicator, as well as a superbly implemented Internet surfing function, is what users needed. Smartphones have been sold in millions of copies. Fans of "apple" products were looking forward to and waiting for new models, pre-ordering a few months in advance.
Present time
In 2010, Apple revolutionized again with the introduction of the iPad. A year later, devices of the second generation were released, and in 2012 - the third and fourth, in October 2013 - the fifth.
Apple has repeatedly bought and absorbed smaller, but very promising firms. In 1996, NeXT was bought for $ 430 million, in 2008, for $ 280 million, P. A. Semi, in 2010 - Siri.
It is thanks to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad that Apple not only overcame a protracted crisis, but also became the most valuable company in the world.
