30 Candles – Shine on, Apple — Company and Jobs Were Pioneers
By May Wong Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Silicon Valley’s historic orchards have virtually disappeared but one notable fruit still stands: Apple.
As the storied company celebrates its 30th birthday in a week, Apple Computer Inc. will have brushed off its bruises from product failures and arguably misguided decisions to emerge with a shine that’s more than skin-deep.
Its brand name and products – from the Mac to the iPod – resonate as both hip and innovative.
For all of its recent successes, however, Apple also has its share of challenges ahead as it matures into a digital media provider.
In computers, where Apple is seeing its best sales in years, information-security firms have discovered a few new vulnerabilities in its Macintosh operating system.
Though the security breaches have been innocuous, security experts say they signal that Apple is a higher-profile target now for hackers, who in the past have focused heavily on Microsoft Corp.’s predominant Windows system.
Apple’s journey began in 1976 when two college dropouts – Steve Jobs, a marketing whiz, and his friend Steve Wozniak, an engineering genius – filed partnership papers on April Fool’s Day, their eyes set on building and selling personal computers.
Their first product was a build-it-yourself computer kit. A year later, in 1977, the Apple II microcomputer was born. It was not the first personal computer but it was the most successful – a hit not just among engineers, but home users, too. Many credit the Apple II as the genesis of the personal computer revolution.
Apple’s cultural and technological influences only grew from there. Some of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s creations have been duds that failed to make it any money, but became a source of inspiration and income for others.
The hugely successful Apple Macintosh in 1984 gave birth to desktop publishing by allowing users to create their own newsletters or printed material.
The next decade was punctuated by an internal power struggle that forced then-chairman Jobs to leave the company, a series of execution missteps, and botched projects – most notably the Newton, a handheld computer dubbed a personal digital assistant.
In 1996, when Apple was struggling for a foothold in the personal computing market and its efforts to upgrade its operating system were going nowhere, the company bought Jobs’ second computer company, NeXT, returning the prodigal son to the fold, and later to the helm.
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MILESTONES IN APPLE’S HISTORY
1968: At age 13, Steve Jobs attends the Hewlett-Packard Explorer’s Club near his home in Cupertino, Calif., where Apple is headquartered today. He later takes a summer job at the pioneering Silicon Valley electronics company and befriends another club member, Steve Wozniak.
1975 : Jobs and Wozniak start attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in nearby Menlo Park, Calif., where enthusiasts swap ideas on homemade computers and integrated circuits. Wozniak comes up with the design for what would become the Apple I .
1976 : On April Fool’s Day, Jobs and Wozniak incorporate Apple Computer Inc. The name has its roots in the Beatles’ record label and Jobs’ time working in Oregon apple orchards. A local store, the Byte Shop, starts selling Apple’s first computers.
1980 : Apple issues stock to the public. Jobs and Wozniak become millionaires.
1983 : Sensing their company needs more corporate direction, Jobs and Wozniak hire John Sculley from Pepsi-Cola to be Apple’s president and CEO.
1984 : Apple introduces its Macintosh computer to the world with a landmark commercial during the Super Bowl.
1985 : Wozniak resigns to start another company that focuses on home video. After Apple reports its first corporate loss, Jobs, who had become an abrasive, domineering manager and had grown to dislike Sculley, is forced out of the company.
1986 : Jobs starts a new company to create computers and software for college students and academics. He calls it NeXT. The same year, he pays $10 million to buy Lucasfilm Ltd.’s computer graphics division, Pixar Animation.
1993 : Sculley resigns as Apple’s CEO and is replaced by Michael Spindler, an Apple veteran who rose through the ranks.
Apple ships its first Newton, a handheld computer and predecessor to the personal digital assistant that are now commonplace. NeXT struggles.
1994 : With the company teetering on bankruptcy, Apple introduces the Power Mac line.
1996 : Apple buys NeXT for $430 million and offers Jobs the role of consultant. NeXT’s software becomes part of the foundation of Apple’s future operating systems.
1997 : With Apple still struggling, its board names Jobs its “interim” CEO. Jobs immediately starts reinventing the company .
2001 : Jobs and Apple introduce the iPod and a revamped iTunes, forever changing the world of digital music.
2004 : Jobs is told he has a rare form of pancreatic cancer and told he can expect to die in three to six months. Doctors later discover the cancer is a form they can remove by surgery.
2005 : Jobs unveils a video iPod and announces he has struck deals with CBS, NBC, Disney and other networks for content.
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