Apple Inc, as many of us may already know, is an American technology company which designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Its headquarter is based in Cupertino, California, but it is a multinational company with numerous branches at various parts of the globe. It has been announced that Apple has officially become the first company to hit a worth of $1 trillion dollars. To get an idea of how large that is, it is better represented in numbers: $ 1,000,000,000,000.
This achievement is a first of its kind. We might as well reminisce on the path leading up to this goal:
World’s First $1 trillion company: Journey so Far
1976: It all began in April 1976. That’s when the company was founded by 3 men namely; Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. In July of the same year, The Apple I went on sale.
1977: Apple gets incorporated into Apple Inc.
1977 – 1980: Yearly sales grew to $118 million.
1980: Apple went public at $22 per share.
1984: The Macintosh is introduced.
1989: Apple’s stock price decreases by 20% due to declining sales.
1991: The PowerBook is launched.
1997: Apple introduced the Apple Online Store.
1998: Introduction of the iMac. Almost 800,000 units are sold in its first five months
2003: Apple’s iTunes Store was introduced.
2007: Announcement of iPhone and Apple TV. 270,000 iPhone units were sold during the first 30 hours of sales.
2008: Apple launched the App Store. Within a one month period, the store sold 60 million applications and received an average daily revenue of $1 million.
2010: The revelation of the iPad. After launching, the company sold more than 300,000 units on its first day, and 500,000 by the end of the first week. Later that year in June, Apple released the iPhone 4.
2011: The iCloud is unveiled in July. By August, Steve Jobs resigned his position as CEO of Apple. Tim Cook takes over. Steve Jobs died on October 5th.
2011 – 2012: Apple released the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. Software assistant, Siri, comes embedded in the devices. By August 2012, Apple’s rising stock price increased the company’s market capitalization to a world-record $624 billion.
2016: One billion Apple devices are in active use worldwide.
2017: Apple announced the HomePod smart speaker.
2018: On the 2nd of August Apple became the first U.S. company in history to be valued at over US$1 trillion.
The timeline of Apple shows an impressive rags-to-riches story and should be a source of inspiration to others. Apple’s first offices were the garage of Steve Jobs’ parents. Today Apple is the most valuable company in the world, with offices spread over continents
