On April 45st XNUMX years ago, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer. Today it is the most valuable brand on planet earth and is valued at more than two trillion dollars. Command culture, cultivate creativity and challenge the norms. It is a company unlike any other.
It's easy to forget how they got here. So let's retrace a bit of their history, looking back at the most famous moments of the company, not the announcements of the various products but, the insanely memorable moments that in the years of Steve Jobs the company went through, for better or for worse, up to get to the glorious present.
May 19, 2006 - Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue opens its glass doors
Today Apple has more than 500 stores around the world, but one store has always held a special place in our hearts. The Fifth Avenue Apple Store, often referred to as "The Cube", has always been the most iconic of the bunch. It first opened its doors in the spring of 2006, to the massive crowds that would subsequently return with each new product launch.
Steve Jobs himself was there with his wife Laurene and opened the doors to the first customers. There was also Ron Johnson, Apple's head of retail at the time. That iconic photo of Steve looking at the Apple logo that we sometimes see was taken that day.
The Fifth Avenue Apple Store has been an important piece of Apple history. It is the largest landmark on the east coast and is a favorite pilgrimage for fans. In the course of its nearly 15 years of life, it has received tens of millions of people. Apple likes to see that the store gathers more people each year than the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty.
May 30, 2007 - Steve Jobs & Bill Gates sit down with Walt Mossberg & Kara Swisher for a legendary interview
Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher are well known for their legendary technology and business conferences All Things Digital and Code Conference. Steve Jobs was a regular guest a while back, but in 2007 he sat down alongside Bill Gates with Walt and Kara to talk about their relationship and their two companies.
It was the first time since 1991 that the two men have sat down together for an interview. The high-tech wizards had the chemistry of an old married couple, they would dig at each other, but they also recognized the incredible results each had achieved.
11 July 2008 - The App Store opens, changing the way of making software forever
At that moment everything changed. On the first day of opening, the App Store only offered around 500 apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. It debuted with apps like Twitterrific, the first Twitter client, and games like Super Monkey Ball, one of the first games driven by the accelerometer inside the devices.
Since then, the App Store has become home to over 2 million developer apps around the world. It created entirely new industries and spawned billion dollar companies like Instagram and Uber. The App economy has completely changed the way we live and work.
April 19, 2010 - Gizmodo shares photos of the iPhone 4 prototype left in a bar
Apple has always been the target of leaks and rumors, but in April 2010, Gizmodo took its most famous photo. Brian Chen, a Gizmodo reporter, got his hands on an iPhone 4 prototype that an Apple engineer had left in a coffee shop.
The device was hidden inside a secure case which made it look like an iPhone 3GS. But that didn't fool Gizmodo. After removing the case, the reporter discovered the completely new design in glass and steel. It also revealed the front camera, the infamous antenna band, and was running an internal beta build of the iPhone OS 4.
At the time it was clear just by looking at it that the device was real. It was too detailed, too polished and too "Apple" to not be. John Gruber at Daring Fireball called their sources and learned that it had been lost by an Apple employee and the company was eager to make it back. Unsurprisingly, Steve Jobs himself got involved in the conversation to get his top secret device back.
June 7, 2011 - Steve Jobs presents plans for "Apple Campus 2" to the City of Cupertino
A few months before his death, Steve Jobs presented his plans for Apple Park to the Cupertino City Council. It revealed its iconic ring-shaped design and beautiful landscape. He explained how the company acquired the land it is now on and recalled the days when it was just full of apricot orchards.
It's quite fun to look back on this event and see renders of the campus nearly 6 years before it opened to the public, for the iPhone X event in September 2017.
October 5, 2011 - The world remembers Steve Jobs in the wake of his death
A day like any other. The NEWS app on iPhones around the world showed a push notification saying Steve Jobs was dead. Immediately, photos of memorials appear in Apple stores around the world, starting to flood the web.
October 25, 2011 - Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Al Gore, Bill Campbell and others commemorate Steve Jobs at Infinite Loop of Cupertino
Later in October, Apple held a special memorial service in the Infinite Loop backyard. It was led by Tim Cook, but the speeches were also delivered by many of Steve's other friends, such as Jony Ive's and his last trip with Jobs. Bill Campbell, a tech veteran and member of Apple's board of directors, also spoke. He broke down in tears remembering not only his colleague but one of his closest friends. In his speech he talked about how Steve was a normal person, more than anyone else.
October 29, 2012 - Scott Forstall leaves Apple, Craig & Jony take control of iOS
In late 2012, Tim Cook fired Scott Forstall. It was a shocking event that came as a result of Forstall's refusal to apologize for the implementation of Apple Maps, which was messed with iOS 6. Forstall had never integrated well with other Apple executives, and Tim Cook was determined to build a team that worked together harmoniously. This gave him the opportunity to send Forstall away. This single move would have completely changed the course of Apple's software development.
Craig Federighi took over the development of the iOS system and Jony Ive that of the interface design. The next major iOS update, iOS 7, has completely stripped the platform of any elements skeuomorphic and Craig was careful, in his first presentation at WWDC 2013. Design is an important part of the story, but this move has also simplified the development of Apple's platforms and brought them closer together.
July 30, 2017 - Developers discover the iPhone X design and Face ID months before the announcement
After Apple introduced the HomePod at WWDC 2017, the device was rolled out for employee testing. Apple began releasing HomePod firmware builds over the summer. The developers were able to get their hands on the firmware and find tons of hidden gems. One of them was a glyph that revealed the iPhone X's full-screen design.
The firmware also revealed the existence of biometric face unlock. It has become a huge story and has been debated for a long time. Apple is usually very careful to reveal products of this caliber in advance. So when the developers discovered the iPhone X, called "D22" at the time, it was a big surprise.
August 30, 2018 - Apple accidentally uploads iPhone XS and Apple Watch Series 4 photos early
Apple's website never reveals anything before the actual presentation. So when Apple announced their annual September event, in August 2018, it blew people up, when 9to5Mac found images of the event announcements, hosted on Apple's servers. 9to5Mac was able to exclusively reveal the iPhone XS and XS Max, as well as the redesign of the Apple Watch Series 4.
June 27, 2019 - Jony Ive leaves Apple to form LoveFrom
Jony Ive and Steve Jobs were a perfect match. The two men together created some of the most iconic products in human history. After Steve's death, Jony led the teams that created the Apple Watch and built Apple Park. Ive is undoubtedly one of the most important designers of this era and his mark on the Apple world is indelible. So when Apple announced in the summer of 2019 that Jony was leaving the company to form a new independent studio "LoveFrom," it was huge news.
Today, Apple's industrial design team is led by Evans Hankey, a longtime member of Jony's team. His first public introduction was just last December as VoiceOver for Apple's “AirPods Max” video. Apple's interface team is still led by Alan Dye since Ive left, whose last public event was the introduction of new Apple Watch faces, at the September 2020 event.
There are so many memorable moments in Apple's 45-year history. We could talk about it forever, but we want to hear what your favorite moments are. Let us know which moments from Apple's history you remember most fondly in the comments below!
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