Talk about the most important people at Apple It's about how a few mavericks from California ended up changing computing, music, film, mobile phones, and even the way we work and study. Over the decades, the company has experienced glorious periods, resounding failures, internal struggles, and resurrections that today seem almost like something out of a movie.
Behind the bitten apple is a network of very different peopleEngineering geniuses like Steve Wozniak, business visionaries like Steve Jobs and Mike Markkula, influential executives like John Sculley and Tim Cook, marketing gurus, Silicon Valley creatives, and even external figures like Bill Gates and the founders of Atari and Xerox PARC. They all contributed something key at different times and, with their successes and failures, built the Apple we know today.
The origins: the two Steves, Ronald Wayne and the birth of Apple
The story begins in 1971, when Bill Fernandez introduced Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. in California. Woz, at 21, was already a true circuit fanatic, capable of designing entire computers on paper and obsessed with minimizing the number of components. Jobs, at just 16, had an incredible nose for detecting business opportunities and for imagining products that ordinary people could understand and desire.
Their first joint venture was almost clandestineThe famous "blue boxes," devices that allowed users to make free long-distance calls by mimicking telephone tones. Wozniak designed them, Jobs sold them, and they split the profits from about two hundred units. Years later, Jobs himself would say that without those boxes, Apple wouldn't have existed, because that's where they learned that a good technical idea, well-packaged and well-marketed, could finance their dream.
Meanwhile, Wozniak continued to refine the ideal computer in his mind.After attending university and working at Hewlett-Packard, he began attending the Homebrew Computer Club with Jobs, a meeting place for electronics enthusiasts in the San Francisco Bay Area, a precursor to the Apple developer forumsThere they encountered machines like the Altair 8800 or the IMSAI, which inspired him to design a much simpler, cheaper and more elegant computer than those then on the market.
The stroke of luck came with the MOS 6502 microprocessorCheap and powerful for the time, Wozniak adapted his previous plans (originally designed for a more expensive Motorola 6800) and, on March 1, 1976, took his working prototype to a Homebrew meeting. Jobs saw something Wozniak wasn't quite seeing: more than just a schematic to give away to hobbyists, this could become a commercial product and scale up.
Woz first offered the design to Hewlett-Packardwhich he rejected several times. Jobs insisted on creating his own company, and to finance the project he sold his Volkswagen van while Wozniak parted with his HP-65 calculator. With that initial money they began producing circuit boards for what would become the Apple I.
The Apple Computer Company incorporation agreement was signed on April 1, 1976. in California. The partners were Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, a veteran from Atari who accepted a 10% stake in the company in exchange for contributing some "business savvy" and designing the first logo and contract. Twelve days later, frightened by the risk and remembering a previous failure, Wayne sold his stake for $800. In the long run, he gave up what would be worth billions today.
Apple I and Apple II: from garage to mass phenomenon
The first major commercial push came from Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Shop chain.After seeing the Apple I at Homebrew, he agreed to order 50 units, but with one condition: he didn't want bare circuit boards; he demanded fully assembled and ready-to-use computers. Jobs used this purchase order as collateral to obtain components on credit, committing to pay once Terrell had paid for the order.
The team of the two Steves worked almost without sleep to meet the deadlineThey delivered the assembled circuit boards (without a case, keyboard, or monitor, which surprised Terrell), but the retailer honored the agreement and paid. The Apple I sold for $666,66—Woz said he liked repeated numbers—and about 200 units were sold. This confirmed that there was a market for a computer “for ordinary people.”
The Apple I, despite its limitations, already included very advanced ideas.It could use a TV as a screen, incorporated a small ROM code for easy booting, and, thanks to a cassette interface designed at Terrell's request, allowed programs to be loaded and saved at a respectable speed for the time. Woz gained a reputation as a brilliant designer for the simplicity and efficiency of his board.
With the money and experience gained from the Apple I, Apple set out to create something much more ambitious: the Apple IIFor Woz, it was basically the machine he would have wanted to build without the economic restrictions of the first model: color graphics, dedicated video memory, expansion possibilities via slots, and a construction robust enough to enter businesses, schools, and homes.
The Apple II was introduced in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire...now as a complete product. This is where Jobs's influence is evident: he insisted on a sleek plastic case, an integrated keyboard, and that the computer come practically ready to use right out of the box, requiring no soldering or typing arcane lines of code to get it up and running. He hired industrial designer Jerry Manock to create the chassis and Rod Holt for a quiet and efficient switched-mode power supply.
Commercial success soon followedVisiCalc, the first “killer app” in office computing, turned the Apple II into a de facto standard in the business world: suddenly, a personal computer could be used to create real spreadsheets, and many companies bought the Apple II “for VisiCalc.” The press itself began to refer to the “Trinity of ’77”: Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 as the machines that had ignited the home market.
Mike Markkula was also behind the growthAn investor who had made his fortune at Fairchild Semiconductor, and who, after being introduced to Jobs by venture capitalist Don Valentine, saw enormous potential in those two young men. He put up his own money, secured a line of credit with Bank of America, and acquired a third of the company. He also became involved in the strategy and brought in Apple's first professional CEO, Michael Scott, from National Semiconductor.
IPO, Apple III and the first major crisis
By 1980, Apple was already one of Silicon Valley's biggest success stories.On December 12 of that year, it went public at $22 per share and raised over $100 million, the largest IPO since Ford in the 1950s. Suddenly, some 300 employees and founders became millionaires, and Apple entered the league of major technology companies.
But while the Apple II continued to sell like hotcakes, the company's management wanted to storm the corporate market. dominated by IBM. From there came the Apple III, a computer intended for businesses and designed, in part, by committee. Jobs insisted that it not have a fan and that it dissipate heat solely through the chassis, which in practice resulted in a disaster: overheating, chips detaching from the board, and computers that could only be "fixed" by picking them up and dropping them on the table.
The Apple III was the company's first major commercial flopDespite subsequent revisions (including an Apple III+), the product's reputation was ruined and sales never took off. Internally, the fiasco fueled tensions between departments and reinforced the idea that Apple needed something entirely new if it wanted to continue growing.
Meanwhile, IBM launched its first PC in 1981Although Apple initially took it with a certain air of superiority—even publishing the famous "Welcome, IBM. Seriously" ad—the reality was that IBM's strategy, based on a relatively open architecture and a growing network of distributors and developers, began to quickly gain ground.
For a time, the Apple II continued to hold its own thanks to its huge installed base and VisiCalcHowever, management's insistence on protecting the ill-fated Apple III hampered the development of the II, which didn't receive certain improvements so as not to cannibalize its "older brother." Meanwhile, the IBM PC and its clones were gaining ground in the business world and later in the home, supported by an ever-expanding catalog of software.
Lisa, Xerox PARC and the birth of the Macintosh
While the Apple II line sustained the company's finances, two revolutionary projects were being developed within the company.Lisa and Macintosh. Lisa was the company's big bet, an extremely expensive machine with a hard drive, a lot of RAM for the time, and, above all, a graphical user interface with windows and icons, controlled with a mouse. Macintosh, on the other hand, was born from Jef Raskin's idea: a more affordable and simpler computer for the general public.
The conceptual turning point was Apple's visit to Xerox PARCIn exchange for the right to buy shares before the IPO, Xerox allowed Apple engineers to tinker with its Alto and Star workstations for a few days. There they saw the first functional WIMP interface (windows, icons, menus, pointer). Jobs left PARC convinced that this was the future of personal computing.
Lisa was the first to materialize that vision within AppleHowever, its exorbitant price and certain technical decisions hampered its sales. Steve Jobs, who had a troubled relationship with the Lisa team, was removed from the project and focused on the Macintosh, imbuing it with an almost "rebel commando" culture within Apple itself.
The launch of the Macintosh, on January 24, 1984, was one of the great iconic moments in the history of technology.The “1984” commercial, directed by Ridley Scott and aired during the Super Bowl, presented the Mac as the tool that would liberate users from “Big Brother,” metaphorically represented by IBM. Jobs himself gave a live demonstration at the shareholders' meeting that left the room in awe.
The first Mac was a marvel of an interface, but it came with several mortgages.It had only 128 KB of RAM, a single floppy disk drive, no expansion slots, and a price tag of $2.495—high for its capabilities. Furthermore, software was lacking. In the short term, only Apple and Microsoft (with MacWrite, MacPaint, MultiPlan, and Word) seriously committed to the new platform. Lotus Jazz and other titles soon followed, but sales began to decline after a few months.
Even so, the Mac quickly found its niche in the creative worldThe combination of the Macintosh, the LaserWriter laser printer, and PageMaker gave rise to desktop publishing: magazines, brochures, and books could finally be designed from a desktop without the need for large, specialized systems. This alliance with Adobe and the graphic arts industry shaped Apple's DNA for many years.
The fall of Jobs, the Sculley era and the expansion (with many setbacks)
The relative failure of the first Macintosh as a direct rival to the IBM PC This sparked an internal war within Apple's leadership. John Sculley, recruited from Pepsi with Jobs' famous quote ("Do you want to sell sugared water or come with me to change the world?"), had a more conservative vision, geared towards markets like education and SMEs, with more open architectures in the style of the Apple II.
Jobs, who presided over the Macintosh division, operated almost as if it were a separate company.The duplication of departments, the egos of the leaders, and the tense atmosphere led to a head-on collision. In 1985, Sculley secured the support of the board of directors to remove Jobs from the management of the Mac. Jobs attempted to stage a coup to oust Sculley, but he was discovered and ended up with no real power within the company.
That same year, Steve Jobs left Apple and founded NeXTHe took a small group of employees with him. He sold almost all of his Apple shares except for one, in a symbolic gesture, and also invested in Pixar, which would eventually revolutionize animation with films like Toy Story. NeXT, although never a commercial success, produced a very advanced operating system (NeXTSTEP) that, interestingly, would later become the core of macOS.
Without Jobs, Apple continued to grow for a time under Sculley's leadership.The Mac line diversified (Mac Plus, SE, II, Classic, LC…), historically influential laptops like the PowerBook were launched, and the company expanded internationally with force. By the late 80s, people were talking about the “first golden age” of Macintosh.
But success also brought bad strategic decisionsIn the 90s, Apple saturated the market with too many nearly identical models (Performa, Quadra, Centris, etc.) and a confusing naming convention. Retailers didn't know what to recommend, stock levels became unbalanced, and the famous promise of simplicity faded. Meanwhile, Windows 3.0 and 3.1, and later Windows 95, brought the graphical user interface to the PC world, reducing the Mac's competitive advantage.
Clones, failed experiments, and the return of Jobs
Trying to react to the loss of market share, Apple tried almost everything: alliances with IBM and Motorola for PowerPC processors, new operating system projects (Taligent, Copland) that never took off, forays into new segments such as PDAs with the Newton, online services such as eWorld and, finally, licensing the Mac OS system to manufacturers of “clones”.
The Mac clones generated quick licensing revenue, but backfired.These manufacturers were very aggressive in pricing and performance, and ended up competing head-on with Apple's own computers, eroding its sales without generating sufficient profit margin. The company went into a financial tailspin in the mid-90s, with losses in the millions and constant rumors of a sale to Sun or IBM.
The big turning point came in 1996, when Apple decided to buy NeXT for $429 millionWith that acquisition, they gained two fundamental assets: a modern, modular operating system (NeXTSTEP) and the return, initially in an "advisory" role, of Steve Jobs. In 1997, after the dismissal of CEO Gil Amelio, Jobs became interim CEO, and shortly thereafter, CEO.
One of his first decisions was to cut to the chase.He dismantled the clone program, brutally simplified the product line, and shut down side projects. He also announced an unexpected alliance with Microsoft: Office would continue to be released for Mac for at least five years, and in return, Apple would establish Internet Explorer as the default browser for a time. Gates appeared via videoconference at Macworld in Boston, an image many perceived as humiliating, but one that provided Apple with a financial and software lifeline.
With that cushion, Jobs focused on redefining the brand and productsIn 1998, the "colorful" iMac designed by Jony Ive marked a turning point: fully integrated, with a striking translucent case, no floppy disk drive (a strong focus on CDs and network connectivity), and a clear message of simplicity and design. It was a sales phenomenon and relaunched Apple's image worldwide.
Tim Cook, Jony Ive and the transformation into a consumer giant
Following the success of the iMac, Apple began a period of continuous innovation.The professional division was strengthened with Power Mac G4 and G5 towers, iBook and PowerBook laptops were introduced as design benchmarks, and, above all, the seed of an even greater change was planted: the leap into mass consumer electronics with the iPod.
The iPod, introduced in 2001, was the work of many teams but had two recurring protagonistsSteve Jobs envisioned "a thousand songs in your pocket," while Jony Ive shaped a minimalist device with a control wheel and seamless iTunes integration. Within a few years, the iPod became synonymous with music players and boosted Apple's revenue.
In parallel, the Jobs-Tim Cook tandem transformed the company's internal machineryCook, who joined Apple in the late 90s, rose through the ranks to become chief operating officer and later CEO. His obsession with supply chain efficiency, inventory control, and supplier agreements enabled Apple to produce on a massive scale with extremely high margins—a crucial factor when the iPhone and iPad were launched later.
Another strategic step was the launch of the iTunes StoreInitially an online music store, Apple later expanded into a platform for video content and apps. Apple secured agreements with major record labels, offering both a simple purchasing experience and a legal alternative to piracy. Later, the App Store replicated this model with mobile software, creating an ecosystem that captivated millions of users.
In 2007, Apple took perhaps the most important leap in its entire history with the iPhoneThat device combined a phone, music player, and internet communicator with a capacitive touchscreen and no physical keyboard—a risky move for the time. Its success was immediate, and with subsequent generations (3G, 3GS, 4, 4S…), the iPhone became the company's flagship product.
That same year, Jobs announced that Apple would no longer be called “Apple Computer, Inc.” but would simply be “Apple Inc.”Recognizing that the business was no longer just about computers, Apple launched the iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV, and, more recently, the Apple Vision Pro, solidifying a catalog that covers everything from computers to wearables and services.
The post-Jobs era: Tim Cook, the focus on services and the new protagonists
In 2011, Steve Jobs' health problems forced him to step down as CEO.Tim Cook, until then Jobs' right-hand man in operations, assumed the role of CEO. Jobs passed away shortly after, on October 5 of that same year, leaving a complex legacy: a company at its peak, but very dependent on his personal touch.
Cook opted for a more collegial and less personalistic management styleUnder his leadership, Apple has greatly boosted its services business (Apple Music, iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Pay…), expanded the Apple Store network worldwide, and committed to more visible public policies on issues such as privacy, the environment, and labor rights, with both positive and negative aspects.
Apple's current leadership includes names that may not be as high-profile as Jobs, but who wield enormous influence.: Eddy Cue in charge of services, Craig Federighi as head of software engineering (iOS and macOS), Johny Srouji in hardware and chip technologies, Deirdre O'Brien managing people and retail, Sabih Khan in operations, Lisa Jackson in environment, or Greg “Joz” Joswiak in global marketing.
One of the most ambitious technical moves of this stage has been the transition to Apple SiliconAfter years of using Intel processors, Apple decided to design its own chips based on ARM architecture, starting with the M1 in 2020. This transition, which builds on previous experience with the A-series processors in the iPhone and iPad, has given the Mac a clear advantage in performance per watt and total control of the platform.
Alongside the positive aspects, there have also been significant controversies.: accusations of tax engineering and aggressive tax optimization, criticism of working conditions at Asian suppliers, debates about repairability and the "right to repair", or the "batterygate" scandal, when it was discovered that Apple slowed down older iPhones to prevent shutdowns with degraded batteries, without clearly explaining this to users.
In the legal and competitive arena, Apple has been involved in dozens of patent wars and disputes with partners and rivals.: lawsuits with Apple Corps (the Beatles' company) over the use of the Apple brand in music, clashes with Samsung, HTC and other Android manufacturers over design and software issues, or the well-known case with Epic Games regarding the App Store conditions and in-app purchases.
Despite everything, the company has continued to break financial records.Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, its revenue and profits grew, making Apple one of the most valuable companies on the planet, reaching and then surpassing milestones such as $1 trillion and $2 trillion in market capitalization. Its active device user base exceeds one billion, and its brand consistently ranks among the top in global rankings.
Looking at Apple's trajectory with some perspective, what stands out most is how a relatively short list of key figures has taken turns in the leading role.From the "two Steves" and Ronald Wayne to the Jobs-Woz-Markkula trio, from the Jobs-Sculley tandem to the chaotic 90s, from Jobs' return and the rise of Ive and Cook to the current collaborative structure, with Cook at the helm and a team of vice presidents supporting the pillars of hardware, software, services, and operations. The company that started selling computer boards in a garage is now a giant that sets the pace for the global technology industry, and this journey cannot be understood without the sum, sometimes chaotic but almost always brilliant, of all these figures.
