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.
Previously 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 go on an exclusive tour of the new venue.
May 11, 1998: As part of his mission to turn Apple around, CEO Steve Jobs spells out the company’s strategy for the Mac operating system going forward. The big news is that Apple is hard at work creating a major new operating system called OS X, he says at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California.
However, first the company will ship Mac OS 8.5 and the first customer release of an OS called Rhapsody that fall.
April 28, 2003: Apple opens the iTunes Music Store, revolutionizing the music industry and digital distribution of content.
At a time when getting music online mostly means illegal downloads from pirate services like Napster, iTunes quickly proves that customers will pay for songs — provided the service is good enough.
April 25, 1990: Steve Jobs shuts down Pixar’s hardware division (yes, it used to have one!), ending production of the pricey Pixar Image Computer immediately.
Jobs sells the company’s hardware unit to Fremont, California-based imaging company Vicom Systems for a paltry $2 million.
April 10, 1985: During a fateful meeting, Apple CEO John Sculley threatens to resign unless the company’s board of directors removes Steve Jobs as executive VP and general manager of the Macintosh division.
Sculley’s threat triggers a series of events that ultimately will result in Jobs’ exit. The marathon board meeting — which continues for several hours the next day — leads to Jobs losing his operating role within the company. However, the Apple board allows him to stay on as chairman. Things won’t exactly play out like that.
March 31, 2010: When the first iPad reviews hit the internet, the world gets a sense of how Apple’s new tablet measures up.
The consensus? That there’s no Flash, no USB, no multitasking — but Apple’s tablet offers an exciting new computing experience all the same. As USA Today writes, “The first iPad is a winner.”
February 24, 1955: Steve Jobs is born in San Francisco. He will go on to co-found Apple and become one of the most important figures in the history of consumer technology. He’s also probably a big part of why you’re reading this website right now.
Happy birthday, Steve! Let’s take a moment to reflect on your innovation, artistry and overall brilliance.
February 23, 2010: The iTunes Store officially passes the 10 billion music downloads mark, reaching a major milestone. The 10 billionth purchase? “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash.
The buyer of the song in question is Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. As part of a “Countdown to 10 Billion Songs” promotion by Apple, Sulcer wins a massive $10,000 iTunes Store gift card. He also receives a personal phone call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs for good measure!
February 21, 2007: Apple comes to an agreement with Cisco over the iPhone trademark, which Cisco legally owns but Apple wants to use.
Under the agreement, both companies get to use the iPhone trademark on products throughout the world. The two businesses also dismiss outstanding lawsuits against one another, and agree to “explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications.”
It’s a classic bit of Apple CEO Steve Jobs steamrolling the opposition.
February 15, 1982: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs appears on the front cover of Time magazine for the first time. The lengthy cover story makes Jobs the public face of successful tech entrepreneurship.
The first of many Time covers for Jobs, the article — titled “Striking It Rich: America’s Risk Takers” — casts him as the prototypical young upstart benefiting from the burgeoning personal computing revolution. It also identifies him as part of a surge of freshly minted millionaires running their own businesses.
February 9, 1993: NeXT Inc., the company Steve Jobs founded after being pushed out of Apple, quits making computers. The company changes its name to NeXT Software and focuses its efforts entirely on producing code for other platforms.
In a mass layoff, 330 of NeXT’s 500 employees lose their jobs in an event known internally as “Black Tuesday.” Cruelly, many people hear of their fate on the radio.
February 8, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly flips out over a tweet sent from an iPad by an editor at The Wall Street Journal.
The reason? Apple showed the iPad to top staffers at the news outlet months ahead of its official release. While Jobs already unveiled the device to the public a couple of weeks before, the suggestion that people outside Apple gained early access to the tablet apparently upset him.
The iPad tweet quickly disappears.
January 6, 1998: Just months after taking over a company on the verge of bankruptcy, Steve Jobs shocks attendees at San Francisco’s Macworld Expo by revealing that Apple is profitable again. An Apple comeback is on the way!
Referring to the company’s strategy since he took over as interim CEO in September 1997, the recently returned Apple co-founder says, “It’s all come together for us.”
Little did most of us know exactly how astonishing Apple’s rebound would be.
December 20, 1996: Apple Computer buys NeXT, the company Steve Jobs founded after leaving Cupertino a decade earlier.
The deal costs Apple $429 million. It’s a massive price to pay for the failing NeXT, a computer company that already saw its hardware division crash and burn. But the price is worth it when you consider what Apple gets as part of the deal: the return of Steve Jobs.
December 12, 1980: Apple goes public, floating 4.6 million shares on the stock market at $22 per share. The Apple IPO becomes the biggest tech public offering of its day. And more than 40 out of 1,000 Apple employees become instant millionaires.
As Apple’s biggest shareholder, 25-year-old Steve Jobs ends the day with a net worth of $217 million. However, the big payday triggers internal tensions as it highlights Cupertino’s class divide.
December 9, 2011: Apple opens a store in New York’s fabled Grand Central Terminal, the company’s fifth Manhattan retail outlet.
Overlooking the terminal’s Main Concourse, the enormous Apple Grand Central makes a stunning addition to the 140-year-old train station, which is one of New York’s busiest transportation hubs.
December 6, 2000: Apple Computer’s stock price falls after the company posts its first quarterly loss since Steve Jobs’ return to Cupertino in 1997.
Shares tumble $3 to just $14 a share as doom-predicting pundits worry that the big Apple comeback might come screeching to a halt. Little did they know …
December 5, 2002: Cupertino says it served its millionth unique customer in the Apple Store online, marking a significant milestone for the company. It is a benchmark worth celebrating for Apple, which launched its online store just five years earlier.
“Reaching our 1 millionth customer is a major milestone, and is proof positive that our online shopping experience is second to none,” Tim Cook, Apple’s executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations at the time, says in a statement. “The Apple Store is a popular way for a growing number of consumers and businesses to buy Apple products, and with extensive build-to-order capabilities, easy 1-Click shopping and free shipping on orders, it’s never been easier to buy a Mac online.”
November 25, 1996: A midlevel manager at NeXT contacts Apple about the possibility of Cupertino licensing NeXT’s OpenStep operating system. The phone call sows the seeds of Mac OS X and Apple’s rejuvenation.
The talk in question takes place between NeXT’s Garrett L. Rice and Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technology officer. While just the first formal step in a long process, it ultimately leads to Apple buying NeXT, the creation of Mac OS X, and Steve Jobs returning to the company he co-founded.
November 23, 2010: An early Apple-1 computer manufactured in 1976, complete with its original packaging and a letter signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, sells for $210,000.
At the time, it ranks as the most expensive personal computer ever sold at auction. That makes sense, because it’s an incredibly rare find. The working Apple-1 is thought to be one of only approximately 50 still in existence.
November 16, 1982: Intent on giving his company’s upcoming personal computer a memorable name, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs pens an impassioned plea to audio company McIntosh Laboratory. In the letter, he asks permission to use the name “Macintosh.”
You can probably guess how the resulting discussions turned out!
November 4, 1997: Apple unveils its plan to open small “store within a store” areas inside CompUSA outlets around the United States. Apple-trained employees will staff these mini-stores and sing the praises of the Mac and other Apple products.
The move gives Cupertino more control over the way its products are displayed and demoed to consumers. While ultimately disappointing, Apple’s CompUSA experiment paves the way for the flagship Apple Stores that will launch four years later and become the world’s most profitable retail outlets.
October 31, 2005: Less than three weeks after launching video downloads with iTunes 6, Apple reveals that it has already sold more than 1 million music videos.
Apple’s dive into the online digital video market — with 2,000 music videos, Pixar short films and a selection of hit TV shows for $1.99 — looks like the logical next step after selling individual songs on iTunes. Passing the 1 million download benchmark so quickly suggests the plan is a roaring success.
October 18, 2010: Just six months after the original iPad debuts, Steve Jobs reveals that Apple’s tablet already outsells the mighty Macintosh computer.
During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Jobs says Apple sold 4.19 million iPads during the previous three months, compared with 3.89 million Macs.
October 13, 2006: Apple launches a limited-edition iPod nano (Product) Red Special Edition music player in collaboration with U2 lead singer Bono and activist/attorney Bobby Shriver, with 10% of profits going to fight AIDS in Africa.
It’s the first of many Apple philanthropic products. “We’re ecstatic that Apple is giving their customers the choice to buy a red iPod nano and help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa,” the U2 singer says in a statement.