May 31, 2013: The Chicago Sun-Times fires all 28 of its photographers, with the goal of training its staff to shoot photos using iPhones instead. Pulitzer Prize winner John H. White is among those who lose their jobs.
The move is significant not just because of what it says about the declining newspaper industry. It also spotlights the iPhone’s growing acceptance as a professional camera.
May 30, 2013: Apple marks the sale of the 100 millionth iPod touch by launching a new, stripped-down model with a budget price of $229.
The 16GB music player lacks some features of its high-end siblings. However, the smaller price tag makes it appealing to new customers.
May 29, 1992: Apple demonstrates the Newton MessagePad for the first time, showing how the upcoming PDA can be used to order a pizza and pull off other time-saving tricks.
Hailed by Apple CEO John Sculley as “nothing less than a revolution,” the Newton is Apple’s first major new product since the Macintosh eight years earlier. During the Newton demo at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Apple shows how people can customize a pizza by moving topping icons on a symbolic pie, then fax the order straight from the device.
May 28, 2010: Customers across Europe and Asia queue up to buy the iPad when Apple’s new tablet finally rolls out internationally.
The reason for the gap between the iPad’s U.S. launch in early April and its international debut more than a month later? Unexpectedly large demand for the groundbreaking device.
May 27, 1986: An exiled Steve Jobs takes a shot at Apple after the company ditches Chiat/Day, the ad agency that created the iconic “1984” Macintosh ad.
In a full-page ad published in The Wall Street Journal, Jobs says the move to competing ad agency BBDO shows that “caretakers” rather than “builders” now run Apple. From his perspective, it confirms that Apple has lost its revolutionary spirit.
May 26, 2010: In a massive milestone, Apple passes Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company.
The changing of the guard proves particularly amazing given that, just 15 years earlier, Apple looked close to dead, while Microsoft dominated the tech world thanks to Windows.
May 25, 2010: Apple opens an investigation into a string of suicides at Foxconn, its Chinese manufacturing partner.
After reports of a ninth death at a Foxconn factory, Apple says it is “independently evaluating” Foxconn’s response. Cupertino vows to take a long, hard look at the facilities that manufacture its products. It’s a tough challenge for Apple to deal with — and Steve Jobs’ controversial comments don’t exactly help.
May 24, 2013: Apple begins phasing out the option for users to download movie trailers from its once enormously popular trailers.apple.com website.
The move signifies a major change taking place in the way customers consume digital content. Downloads will continue to decline as streaming services like YouTube and Netflix pick up steam.
May 23, 1985: Bitter about being ousted from his position running the Macintosh division, Steve Jobs attempts to stage a coup to seize control of Apple from CEO John Sculley.
The 30-year-old Apple co-founder plans to overthrow Sculley while the CEO is away on a business trip in China. Unfortunately for Jobs, he makes a critical mistake when he tries to recruit the support of Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée, who informs Sculley of the plot.
It’s the beginning of the end for Jobs’ first tenure at Apple.
May 22, 1997: Apple spins off its Newton division. The new company’s first job? Selling the MessagePad 2000 PDA.
Newton Inc. also has a mandate to develop new technologies and market existing ones. “We have a solid business plan and a strong management team in place to optimize the value of Newton technology for corporate users and take Newton technology into a new era,” says Sandy Benett, former vice president of Apple’s Newton Systems Group and chief operating officer of the new venture.
Instead, it turns out to be the beginning of the end for the ahead-of-its-time Apple PDA.
May 21, 2010: Apple quietly ends its award-winning “Get a Mac” marketing campaign.
Debuting in 2006, the ads starred actor Justin Long as the cool, youthful Mac. Comedian John Hodgman portrayed the stuffy, awkward PC. Alongside the “Think Different” and iPod “Silhouette” campaigns, “Get a Mac” will become one of the most fondly remembered extended advertising blitzes in Apple history.
May 20, 1988: Apple launches AppleLink Personal Edition, a user-facing online service that lets customers connect using a Mac-style user interface.
Years before Apple got serious about its internet efforts, AppleLink offered a glimpse of things to come. Unfortunately for Apple, it did not become quite the hit many hoped!
May 19, 2001: Apple revolutionizes the world of computer shopping by opening its first two Apple Stores. Located in Tysons Corner, Virginia, and Glendale, California, the new outlets represent the culmination of a long-term dream for Apple.
A couple of decades later, Apple will expand its retail operations to include 525 stores in 26 countries and regions around the world. Like virtually every other brick-and-mortar store, they will face challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. However, they remain some of the most profitable retail outlets anywhere on a dollars-per-square-foot basis.
May 18, 2006: The world — and, more specifically, the Apple-watching press — gets its first glimpse of the swanky new Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York City.
Hidden behind a black plastic wrapper during development, that all changes a day before the store’s grand opening. Workers remove the covering to reveal a 32-foot glass cube adorned with a floating, white Apple logo. At 10 a.m., members of the press get an exclusive tour of the new venue.
May 17, 1983: John Sculley takes the helm as Apple’s third president and CEO. The former Pepsi-Cola boss is short on tech experience but long on marketing, which will become increasingly important as the personal computer revolution ramps up.
Steve Jobs personally lured Sculley to Apple using one of the most famous lines in the history of business. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water,” Jobs asked Sculley, “or do you want a chance to change the world?”
March 3, 1975: The Homebrew Computer Club, a hobbyist group that will help spark the personal computing revolution, holds its first meeting in Menlo Park, California.
It becomes a welcome forum for computer geeks at a time when few others care about the nascent technology. Regular attendee Steve Wozniak and his friend Steve Jobs will eventually show off the first Apple-1 unit at the club.
August 30, 2010: Just two years after opening its virtual doors, the iOS App Store passes a key milestone: one-quarter of a million apps for sale.
It’s a massive demonstration of success for a service Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t even initially want to offer.
August 18, 2014: A Christmas-themed iPhone ad lands Apple an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Commercial of the Year.”
The prize-winning spot is Apple’s “Misunderstood” iPhone 5s ad. It depicts a silent teenager who won’t spend time with his family at Christmas because he’s too busy with his iPhone. At the end of the ad, he reveals that he’s not actually being a misanthrope. He used his iPhone and iMovie to shoot and edit a heartwarming family montage!
August 11, 1950: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is born. While Steve Jobs may be the most admired Apple figure, Woz might be the most well-loved by fans.
In addition to his most famous creation, the Apple II, Wozniak is also responsible for imbuing Apple’s products with his fun-loving personality.
Happy birthday, Woz!
July 21, 2011: Apple officially passes Nokia to become the world’s top smartphone vendor.
It’s a major milestone for Apple, which launched the iPhone just four years earlier. For Nokia, the Finnish company that dominated the cellphone market during the 1990s and early 2000s, it marks the end of an era.
July 15, 1998: Apple reports its third profitable quarter after the return of Steve Jobs, continuing the company’s remarkable turnaround.
Cupertino earns $101 million for the quarter, largely thanks to the success of the Power Mac G3. In the same quarter a year earlier, Apple lost $56 million. This marks the first time in three years that the company managed three straight profitable quarters.
June 10, 2013: Apple passes a major milestone in iOS history, as payments to app developers top $10 billion on the App Store’s fifth birthday.
Speaking at WWDC 2013, Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals that the company paid out half of this money in the previous year. He also notes that this outrageous total is three times more than all other app store platforms combined. With 575 million user accounts registered, Apple has more credit cards on file than any other company on the internet.
People have downloaded 50 billion apps in total out of a collection of 900,000 available, Cook says, with 93% of the apps downloaded at least once every month.
December 14, 1999: Apple acquires the domain name www.iphone.org, prompting years of speculation that Cupertino is considering building a cellphone. While the news generates interest, some take it as a warning sign.
Apple only recently abandoned the kind of non-computer projects like games consoles, PDAs and digital cameras that proved to be dead ends earlier in the decade. An Apple phone could never be a thing, right?
September 12, 2012: Apple introduces the iPhone 5, with a super-slim form factor that makes it the thinnest smartphone in the world.
The new iPhone also brings impressive upgrades such as a greatly improved display and the Lightning port. Despite some controversy, it proves a massive hit.
June 29, 2007: The first-generation iPhone goes on sale, generating massive queues of Apple fans lining up outside Apple Stores around the United States.
With its intuitive touchscreen display, it’s a massive leap forward for smartphones. The device goes on to change the course of not only Apple’s business, but that of the entire mobile industry!
