The iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the MacBook… household names these days and it’s all because of the inventiveness of Apple and Steve Jobs. Apple achieved enormous success in the 2000s.
Back in 1976, Apple was created by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Early successes like the Apple II and the MacIntosh were matched by the failures of Apple III and Apple Lisa, but still the company did well. However, CEO John Sculley and the board pushed Jobs out in 1985, who then went on to found NeXT.
After the successes of the PowerBook and System 7, things start to turn south when the company had disappointing results with the Performa line of MacIntosh computers as well as failed consumer products. Then there was, of course, the rise of Microsoft and the Windows operating system.
When Apple decided to purchse NeXT, Jobs was brought back on board. In 1997, the Apple Store opened. The next year, the iMac appeared, courtesy of Jonathan Ive, which sold up to 800,000 units within 6 months. After forays into digial video editing, Apple released Mac OS/X.
Rise of the iPod
With Jobs back as CEO, the first Apple retail stores were opened in 2001, along with the portable digital audio player known as the iPod. The iPod was a massive success, which led to the creation of the iTunes store in 2003. The combination of portability and cheap music downloads (99 cents per song) changed everything about how people listened to their music. If there’s one consumer product that could define the 00s, it might be the iPod.
Here’s the famous “Get A Mac” campaign, started in 2006:
Under Steve Jobs’ watch, the later half of the Zero Zeros decade saw the introduction of the iPhone, Apple TV, and iPad. The stock price during the 00s jumped into triple digits.
Here is Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement address in 2005, a popular speech:
In 2007, Apple had grown to become the 3rd largest mobile handset supplier in the world.
Jobs’ health started to decline in 2009 due to cancer.
In 2010, the iPad was released and became a massive hit. No other touch pads released by competitors would sell anywhere close to what the iPad did.
The iPad
Also released that year was the iPhone 4. In October 2010, shares of Apple went past $300 per share.
iPhone 4
Steve Jobs passed away from his illness on October 5th, 2011. Tim Cook has taken his place as CEO. With Steve Jobs’ passing comes the end of an era – one of innovation and great technological change. Because of Steve Jobs and Apple Inc., the words iPhone, iPad, iPod.. (well “i”-anything) have become household names. Every computerized gadget we use has become smaller, smarter, and more powerful.
