Apple Computer Company Was Started On April Fool’s Day 1976

The Apple Computer company was started on April Fool’s Day 1976 by Steven Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in the family garage in Los Altos, California, to build and market a computer design by Wozniak. It was to be a different computer and company. Their inauguration day of April 1st, April Fool’s Day, was a way of saying we want to be different, with a little tongue in cheek going on from the onset with. They soon were challenged on their company name by the Apple Recording label owned by the Beatles which was founded in 1968. A lawsuit by the Apple Corps (Records) against Apple, Inc. (Computer) was filed in 1978 and settled in 1981 with an undisclosed amount being paid to Apple Corps and Apple Computer agreeing not to enter in the music business. Of course as their history goes, Apple Computer had other ideas and so the peace didn’t to last long - a problem that would plague the two companies for decades to come through multiple lawsuits. However, in 2006 Apple Computer prevailed by obtaining a favorable court ruling on the restrictions contested which cleared the way for iTunes, etc.

While Apple Computer, Inc. was the company’s name for thirty years, it dropped the computer part in 2007 to reflect its expansion into the electronics market. From this point forward, it has been simply referred to as Apple. The company has an interesting history from beginning in a garage to having over 36,800 employees in 2009 and reported annual sales of $42.91 billion. What is perhaps most important is how Apple has continued to create meaningful differences that set it apart from other platforms, devices, and ways in doing things. Examples include: Apple II (1977) with its color graphics and open architecture, Macintosh (1984) with its advanced graphics capabilities and LaserWriter along with the introduction of the first PostScript laser printer (some have said that these three products led to desktop publishing), PowerBook (1991) establishing the modern form of a laptop computer, PowerPC Reference Platform (1994) a platform developed through an alliance with IBM and Motorola (the AIM alliance) was meant to be an advancement over the PC platform, iMac (1998) an all-in-one computer (over time to include: iMovie, Final Cut, GarageBand, iPhoto, and iLife), Apple Retail Stores (2001), iPod (2001) a portable digital audio player, Apple’s iTunes Store (2003) offering online music downloads, Intel-based Mac computers (2006) that allowed users to install Windows XP or Windows Vista alongside MAC OS X, iPhone and the Apple TV (2007), App Store (2008) selling third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the iPad (2010) a large screen media device that runs same apps as the iPhone.                   

This chronology maps out a company that is always striving for the next thing and doesn’t appear to rest on its successes. A YouTube video titled “Being Meaningful” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvwf-VOW8dg&feature=related shows Jobs speaking to his employees in 1997 about the company. In essence, he explains the company is not about

creating things per se – “it’s not about boxes to get the job done. … The company’s core value is about people with passion to change the world.” Given the long lineage of innovations made through Apple’s advances, Jobs does appear to be fulfilling his vision for the company and the role it is to play in changing the world in terms of changing the way things are done. The vision transcends throughout the organization as well as to the marketplace with a steadfast cult-like consumer base.

According to author Simon Sinek, Apple’s success can be attributed to a reversal of thinking.

   “If Apple communicated like most of us, their message would sound something like this, Sinek says: "We make great computers. They're beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?"

Instead, according to Sinek, here's what Apple is actually telling us:

Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”

This quote, along with Job’s speech, suggests that Apple is constantly creating meaningful differences with the understanding that these differences will only last so long. The question then becomes – to be different from what? Perhaps, this ties back to starting the business on April Fool’s Day. But, some have questioned whether this radical perspective can endure when Apple may actually have already become what it was trying to be different from. Blogger Erik Sherman raises the issue in his blog on “Apple’s Big Marketing Danger: Losing its Identity” as stated below:

   “Historically, Apple emphasized fine industrial design, both hardware and software, that appealed to the designers, artists, and other creatives in the company’s core audience who appreciated aesthetics. As the famous 1984 commercial indicated, the company framed itself in opposition to corporate “stiffs,” which also resonated with the group. Third, there were many art, graphic, and media work you could do on a Mac that was impossible on a Windows machine. Apple became the physical embodiment of the customers’ self-identity.

Such a company eventually gets to a crossroad. It can try to expand use of the brand and increase its revenue and size, or it can stick with more moderate ambitions. Apple chose expansion. For a time, customers for product line extensions such as the iPod and iPhone could co-exist with the traditional core customers. The long-term buyers were among the first adopters of new products. But when a company expands enough, it necessarily dilutes the identity message because it now addresses broader audiences and, literally, cannot be all things to all people. There are too many conflicting images, characteristics, and qualities. It becomes an attempt to merge an opera company with a rodeo.”