Starting from a mere $0.51 share price on 12 December 1980, Apple has crossed every boundary to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, after 42 years of success. A story of 3 guys in a garage, has become a major success story of the century.

Apple was founded in 1976 by three men: Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne; created with an intention to sell Apple 1 Personal Computer. Even though it wasn’t a finished product, it gained the attention of then millionaire Mike Markkula. A few years later, on 9 January 1983, Apple Lisa was released, that revolutionized the whole computing world, as it provided the first GUI(Graphical User Interface) to a personal computer. But Lisa did not run successfully, due to the high price, leading to launch of the first Macintosh, a year later. Soon after, due to a boardroom power struggle, Steve Jobs quits Apple, with a decline in share price to $0.27.
From 1994 to1996, Apple saw a couple of CEO changes, who made drastic changes in the company, with extensive layoffs and cut costs. After multiple failed attempts to improve MAC, Gil Amelio brought back Steve Jobs to Apple as CEO in 1997. iMac G3 was launched in August 1998, with translucent Bondi blue, it’s first translucent colored plastics panel for the system.
In October 2001, Apple launched its first iPod portable digital audio player, which became a phenomenal success with over 100 million units sold in the first 6 years. During that time, Apple abandoned the use of translucent colored plastic and replaced it with a titanium-made Powerbook, followed by IBook’s white polycarbonate structure. It launched its first Intel-based Mac on August 2006, with Mac Pro, MacBook and MacBook Pro. The share price of the company grew tenfold from $6 to $80, from 2003 to 2006.

 

Apple's new headquarter

Apple’s major success started with the launch of the first iPhone in June 2007, which sold 270,000 units in the first 30 hours. This device became the game-changer for the industry. It would then go on to achieve massive success with its range of iPod, iPod Touch and Ipad products. In July 2008, Apple launched the App store to sell third-party applications for iPod and iPhone. After numerous rumors and leaks, Apple launched its first large screen, tablet device known as Ipad, on 27 January 2010. It sold more than 300,000 units, on its first day, and over 500,000 in the first week. becoming an instant success. In may 2010, it surpassed Microsoft’s market cap for the first time since 1989. It also unveiled Mac OS X Lion in October 2010, the last version with the name Mac OS X.
iPhone 4 was released in June 2011, which introduced video calling, multi-tasking and a stainless steel design that acted as phone’s antenna. Later that year, Steve Jobs retired from his position as CEO, due to a health issue, with Tim Cook as the new face of Apple. From 2011-2012, Apple launched iPhone 4s and iPhone 5, which included Siri, an intelligent software assistant, and ICloud, to store data. iPhone 5 sold 5 million units in three days, making Apple the most valuable consumer-facing brand in the world.

From 2011 to present, Apple has launched various products, under Cook’s leadership, with massive success, which showed in its share pricing, which crossed 700 billion in February 2015. Apple bought Shahzam, a company specializing in music, TV, film and advertising recognition for 400 billion, to bolster its Apple Music streaming service.

After Facebook’s massive 20% share drop in July 2018, and strong quarterly financial figures, Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar company, with its shares holding at $208.18 as of August 2,2018 at 11:47 PM IST.