Apple reaches $1 trillion in value: A look at how it got there
The landmark marked the latest victory for Tim Cook, who faced scepticism when he took over as chief executive in 2011 from ailing iconic co-founder Steve Jobs.
Apple -- the culture-changing company behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad -- hit another milestone on Thursday, becoming the first private-sector company to surpass $1 trillion in market value.
The landmark marked the latest victory for Tim Cook, who faced scepticism when he took over as chief executive in 2011 from ailing iconic co-founder Steve Jobs.
Since starting out in a family garage in Silicon Valley by Former CEO of the company Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, more than 40 years ago, Apple weathered boardroom drama, market missteps, and even a close call with bankruptcy on its path to the milestone, thanks to products that radically transformed lifestyles and the way we communicate with each other.
Here are the milestones of the company
April 1976: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne create Apple Computer to sell an eponymous computer hand-built by Wozniak. The company was incorporated in the following year.
January 1984: Apple heralds the arrival of its first Macintosh computer with a "1984" television commercial directed by Ridley Scott portraying a bold blow struck against an Orwellian computer culture.
September 1985: Jobs leaves Apple after a power struggle with chief executive John Sculley. Wozniak also departs.
1990s: Competitive pressure from lower-priced personal computers from Microsoft running on Windows software, and some failed products, puts a financial squeeze on Apple, which cuts staff and changes top executives.
September 1997: Jobs returns as chief executive as the company teeters near bankruptcy. Microsoft helps Apple survive with a $150 million investment.
_1.jpg)
August 1998: Apple releases the all-in-one iMac computer.
October 2001: Apple unveils the iPod and opens its first real-world shops.
April 2003: Apple opens its online iTunes store for digital content, pricing music at 99 cents per song for iPods.
June 2007: Apple unveiled the iPhone so far the company has sold more than a billion iPhones.
July 2008: Apple launches the online App Store to sell applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
January 2010: Apple introduces the iPad.
October 2011: Jobs, 56, dies after battling pancreatic cancer, having turned over command of Apple to Tim Cook earlier in the year.
September 2014: Apple introduces the Apple Watch.
June 2015: Apple Music streaming service launches including internet radio from Beats, a startup Apple bought the prior year in a deal valued at $3 billion.
January 2016: Apple announces that more than a billion of its devices are in use around the world.
August 2018: Apple surpasses $1 trillion in stock market value.
