September 26, 1997: In one of his first tasks after returning to Apple as interim CEO, Steve Jobs reveals the company’s massive quarterly loss of $161 million. It’s Apple’s biggest loss ever.
Giving investors the bad news is miserable, but things are about to change dramatically for Cupertino.
September 23, 1981: Years before Steve Jobs would tell us to “think different” and Tim Cook would say Apple should act as a “force for good,” Cupertino lays out what it calls its “Apple Values.” The mission statement will guide the company for years.
In the memo, management defines Apple Values as “the qualities, customs, standards and principles that the company as a whole regards as desirable. They are the basis for what we do and how we do it. Taken together, they identify Apple as a unique company.”
September 21, 1999: A little startup called Google comes out of beta, with the launch of a website that will let the general public easily search the internet for information.
To Apple, which is embracing the internet with its twin iMac G3 and iBook products, Google seems like the perfect ally. Sadly, the relationship between the two companies won’t remain rosy for long.
September 16, 1985 and 1997: Twice on this day, Steve Jobs makes significant moves with regard to his career at Apple. In 1985, he leaves the company he co-founded. Then, a little more than a decade later, he officially returns to Apple as its new interim CEO.
In terms of the emotions associated with those historic occasions, it’s hard to think of two more polarizing days in Jobs’ life.
September 14, 2010: Security workers reportedly stop Steve Jobs at Japan’s Kansai International Airport. The reason? The Apple CEO supposedly tried to bring ninja throwing stars onto his private plane while heading home from vacation. The “Steve Jobs ninja stars” story quickly becomes one of the most bizarre Jobs stories ever.
Apple, however, quickly spoils the internet’s fun. Cupertino issues a statement describing the reports as “pure fiction” (although Apple acknowledges that Jobs visited Japan over the summer).
September 13, 1983: Osborne Computer Corporation, one of Apple’s early rivals, declares bankruptcy. Many considered the company’s Osborne 1 the world’s first truly portable, full-featured computer. It packed everything users needed to set up shop at home or on the road. Alas, it didn’t last!
September 9, 2009: Steve Jobs makes his public return to Apple after successful liver-transplant surgery.
Appearing onstage at Apple’s fall event, Jobs receives a standing ovation that lasts almost a minute. He then opens the keynote on an unusually personal note by discussing his health.
September 5, 2007: Apple introduces its first new iPods after the release of the iPhone. The lineup includes the third-gen iPod nano, the newly renamed iPod Classic and — most significantly — the debut of the iPod touch.
In doing so, Apple sets out to demonstrate that there is still plenty of life left in the iconic portable music player.
September 4, 1997: The writing is on the wall for Apple’s Newton product line as Steve Jobs tells executives at the recently spun-off company not to bother moving into their new offices. The Apple CEO’s flip-flop on the Newton spinoff takes employees by surprise.
It’s quite the turnaround for the Newton division. Only months earlier, Apple portrayed it as large (and successful) enough to become its own company.
September 2, 1985: Reports claim Steve Jobs is on the verge of setting up his own company to compete with Apple. The rumors fly after Jobs sells Apple stock holdings worth $21.43 million.
For anyone who thinks speculation about Apple’s future is an invention of the blog era, today’s “Today in Apple history” is a reminder that the tech rumor mill was alive and well in 1985.
August 30, 2010: Just two years after opening its virtual doors, the iOS App Store passes a key milestone: one-quarter of a million apps for sale.
It’s a massive demonstration of success for a service Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t even initially want to offer.
August 29, 2001: During a meeting, Apple’s board of directors awards Steve Jobs new stock options that will become part of a stock-backdating scandal several years later.
When the matter eventually ends up in court, Apple’s former general counsel pays $2.2 million to settle charges that she backdated stock options for Jobs, herself and others — and created fake paperwork to hide this fact.
August 27, 1999: Apple swaps out the striped, multicolored logo the company used since 1977 for a new single-color version. The evolution of the iconic Apple logo from rainbow to monochrome shocks many longtime fans.
However, it is part of a sustained, company-wide overhaul led by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The makeover includes new products, the “Think Different” ad campaign and, eventually, the removal of the word “Computer” from the company’s name.
August 26, 1991: In their first joint interview, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates trade barbs and debate “the future of the PC” in Fortune magazine.
The spirited discussion marks 10 years since the first IBM PC shipped. The piece also looks at what the future holds for both men — described as the former “boy wonders of computing, now thirtysomething.”
August 24, 2011: With his health worsening, a cancer-stricken Steve Jobs resigns from his role leading Apple. Tim Cook assumes the role of Apple’s seventh CEO.
“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs writes in his retirement letter to the Apple board. “Unfortunately that day has come.”
August 17, 2012: Steve Jobs’ stolen iPad winds up in the hands of a clown called Kenny, who performs kids shows in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It’s a bizarre story all around, and fortunately winds up with the iPad being returned.
August 8, 1997: At Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs introduces the world to Apple’s new slogan, “Think different.” The catchy marketing reassures fans that Apple is exiting its mid-1990s dark age and once again making products customers will love.
It’s the beginning of Apple’s most iconic advertising campaign since the original “1984” Macintosh ad.
Laurene Powell Jobs’ super-yacht recently crashed into another billionaire’s even bigger yacht off Naples, Italy, according to a report. Steve Jobs originally commissioned the $140 million Venus, collaborating on its design. High winds pushed the boats at anchor into each other.
Damage is estimated to be costly, given the yachts’ combined value of $265 million. For the merely wealthy or well-adjacent, that’s like paying through the nose to get a scratch fixed on your Bentley.
August 7, 2006: Apple unleashes the first Mac Pro, a high-end desktop computer that completes the company’s transition from PowerPC to Intel processors.
Built for computation-heavy tasks like 3D rendering and professional audio and video editing, the quad-core, 64-bit Mac Pro serves as a replacement for the Power Mac G5 (from which it borrows its aluminum “cheese grater” design).
August 6, 1997: In one of the most famous moments in Apple history, Steve Jobs reveals a $150 million Microsoft investment that saved his company from ruin.
Although often presented as an inexplicable gesture of good faith on the part of Microsoft boss Bill Gates, the cash infusion into Apple actually benefits both companies.
August 4, 2008: In an internal memo, Steve Jobs owns up to mistakes in launching MobileMe, spinning Apple’s bungled cloud service rollout as a learning opportunity.
“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,” Jobs writes in an email to Apple employees. “We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.”
August 3, 2009: Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple’s board of directors amidst increasing competition between the two companies.
The root of the problem? The growing feud over Android’s encroachment on iOS as the two smartphone platforms battle for dominance.
You have the opportunity to wrap yourself in a piece of Apple history: the bomber jacket Steve Jobs was wearing in an iconic photo of the Apple co-founder “flipping the bird” to an IBM sign.
It’s part of Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution, an auction that just kicked off featuring nearly 300 items.
July 30, 1979: Apple engineers begin work on the Lisa computer, the company’s first machine to come with a graphical user interface and mouse.
Incorporating technology Steve Jobs saw at Xerox PARC, the Lisa looks like a surefire hit for Apple. Things don’t turn out exactly like that, however.
July 27, 1955: Joanna Hoffman, who will join the original Macintosh and NeXT teams and become Steve Jobs’ first right-hand woman, is born in Poland.
Six months younger than Jobs, the marketing executive is one of the few people willing and able to stand up to the oftentimes-fierce Apple co-founder during the first part of his career.