We've all heard of Apple's legendary beginnings. The story of two Steves, Jobs and Wozniak, who pooled their love of new technologies to build the future of computing, initially in a Californian garage. The company quickly became known, particularly with the Apple 1, a desktop computer developed by Wozniak.
The small business quickly grew to the point that on April 1, 1976, the story officially began. The two Steves, with the support of Ronald Wayne, launched the Apple adventure. They didn't know it yet, but less than 50 years later, this company would be the largest in the world, richer than some countries.
To achieve such a destiny, Apple must have had an impressive beginning, to quickly stand out from the crowd and attract investors. And that's exactly what this dynamic trio would achieve in 1977, with the release of the Apple II. This new computer, more powerful, but also more attractive, would be Apple's first commercial success.
A few years later, the brand entered another dimension with the release of the Macintosh in 1984. It then began competing with IBM and dreamed of making computers available to everyone. We are still 15 years away from the internet explosion, but the idea of having a computer in every home is already on everyone's mind.
After success, trouble
But Apple's history is not a long, quiet river. The company experienced some very complicated years, especially in the second half of the 1980s. At that time, the founder and face of the brand, Steve Jobs, was simply fired.
He left the Apple adventure and spent nearly 10 years away from his company. He took advantage of this time to found NeXT and also buy the Pixar animation studio from a certain George Lucas. He pushed the latter to the point of being bought by Disney, a few years after the theatrical release of a legendary film: Toy Story.
While this period in Steve Jobs' life is less well-known, the legend of Apple's founder was mostly written afterward. While Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy, the Cupertino company recalled its founder. He returned in 1997 and transformed the company. With his keynotes, he won over the press and made Apple a high-end brand.
The golden era
Technical successes followed one after the other, with the iMac G3, the iPod, and especially the iPhone in 2007. With this smartphone, Apple entered another dimension. Other successes followed, such as the iPad, but no product could match the power of the iPhone.
Today, Apple still depends on the commercial success of its iPhone. Although Steve Jobs left the company in 2011, severely weakened by pancreatic cancer, which would take his life a few months later, it is his right-hand man, Tim Cook, who manages the company. The Apple boss has since launched a smartwatch, wireless headphones, and more recently, a virtual reality headset.
He has also diversified Apple's revenue streams by developing subscription services, the most well-known of which is Apple Music, a direct descendant of iTunes. For nearly 15 years, Tim Cook has controlled Apple and dictated its broad outlines. Nevertheless, the Cupertino company seems to be struggling more than ever.
An uncertain future?
The numbers are still excellent, but with an increasingly quiet smartphone market, complicated development around artificial intelligence, and major projects abandoned along the way (Apple Car in particular), the Apple brand is showing signs of weakness.
On the legal front, Apple is no longer scary either. The European Commission has managed to force it to give in. The standardization of smartphone charging ports is undoubtedly the most telling example. Apple was forced to abandon its Lightning technology, and the billions of dollars that went with it, in favor of USB-C, from which it makes no profit.
In such a tense context, with an ultra-protectionist American policy, it's difficult to know where Apple will be in 10, 15, or 20 years. Despite these difficulties, the company remains the company with the highest market valuation in the world, exceeding $3 trillion.
0 Comments