History of Apple Inc.

Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.

The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 ($2,935 in 2018 dollars, adjusted for inflation).

Apple Computer, Inc. was incorporated on January 3, 1977.

The Apple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16, 1977, at the first West Coast Computer Faire.

In 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh, the first personal computer to be sold without a programming language. Its debut was signified by "1984", a $1.5 million television advertisement directed by Ridley Scott that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984.

On September 17, 1985, Jobs submitted a letter of resignation to the Apple Board. Five additional senior Apple employees also resigned and joined Jobs in his new venture, NeXT.

The Macintosh Portable is a portable computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to October 1991.

The Macintosh Classic is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to September 1992. It was the first Macintosh to sell for less than US$1,000.

System 7 is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems. It was introduced on May 13, 1991, by Apple Computer, Inc.

In October 1991 Apple released the first three PowerBooks: the low-end PowerBook 100, the more powerful PowerBook 140, and the high end PowerBook 170, the only one with an active matrix display.

Apple was ranked 123 on the 1995 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 114 on the 1996 Fortune Global 500 list.

The NeXT acquisition was finalized on February 9, 1997, bringing Jobs back to Apple as an Advisor.

On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Store website, which was tied to a new build-to-order manufacturing strategy.

Apple was ranked 150 on the 1997 Fortune Global 500 list.

On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone.

Apple was ranked 223 on the 1998 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 273 on the 1999 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 285 on the 2000 Fortune Global 500 list.

On May 19, 2001, Apple opened its first official eponymous retail stores in Virginia and California.

On October 23 2001, Apple debuted the iPod portable digital audio player.

The product (iPod), which was first sold on November 10, 2001, was phenomenally successful with over 100 million units sold within six years.

Apple was ranked 236 on the 2001 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 325 on the 2002 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 300 on the 2003 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 301 on the 2004 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 263 on the 2005 Fortune Global 500 list.

On January 10, 2006, the new MacBook Pro and iMac became the first Apple computers to use Intel's Core Duo CPU.

Apple was ranked 159 on the 2006 Fortune Global 500 list.

During his keynote speech at the Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007, Jobs announced that Apple Computer, Inc. would thereafter be known as "Apple Inc.", because the company had shifted its emphasis from computers to consumer electronics.

The first-generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, and multiple new hardware iterations with new iOS releases have been released since.

Apple was ranked 121 on the 2007 Fortune Global 500 list.

The iTunes Store quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over five billion downloads by June 19, 2008.

Apple was ranked 103 on the 2008 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 71 on the 2009 Fortune Global 500 list.

After years of speculation and multiple rumored "leaks", Apple unveiled a large screen, tablet-like media device known as the iPad on January 27, 2010.

Later that year on April 3, 2010, the iPad was launched in the US. It sold more than 300,000 units on its first day, and 500,000 by the end of the first week.

Apple was ranked 56 on the 2010 Fortune Global 500 list.

On January 6, 2011, the company opened its Mac App Store, a digital software distribution platform similar to the iOS App Store.

On August 24, 2011, Jobs resigned his position as CEO of Apple.

On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs died, marking the end of an era for Apple.

Apple was ranked 35 on the 2011 Fortune Global 500 list.

On August 20, 2012, Apple's rising stock price increased the company's market capitalization to a world-record $624 billion.

On August 24, 2012, a US jury ruled that Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion (£665m) in damages in an intellectual property lawsuit.

Apple was ranked 17 on the 2012 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 6 on the 2013 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 5 on the 2014 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 5 on the 2015 Fortune Global 500 list.

On May 12, 2016, Apple Inc., invested $1 billion in DiDi, a Chinese transportation network company.

Apple was ranked 3 on the 2016 Fortune Global 500 list.

On April 6, 2017, Apple launched Clips, an app that allows iPad and iPhone users to make and edit short videos with text, graphics and effects.

Apple was ranked 3 on the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list.

Apple was ranked 4 on the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list.

On January 29, 2019, Apple reported its first decline in revenues and profits in a decade.

On February 14, 2019, Apple acquired DataTiger for its digital marketing technology.

Apple was ranked 3 on the 2019 Fortune Global 500 list.