Apple: Alive and kicking for the last 30 years

Apple: Alive and kicking for the last 30 years

It is not everyday that you celebrate your 30th birthday. Then again, it is not everyday that you celebrate it in the courtroom. The fact that Apple is battling away in court on its 30th birthday is not something Steve Jobs would have foreseen when Steve Wozniak and he founded the company three decades ago on April Fool's Day.

Owen Linzmayer, the author of Apple Confidential 2.0 summed up the difference that Apple has made in these words, "It's a company founded by two college dropouts in a garage who went on to have tremendous success; it is basically a version of the American dream. I think that Apple is one of the greatest business stories ever told."

The first idea of selling make-it-yourself computer kits called Apple I never caught on, but the subsequent assembled Apple II was a huge success and that really kick-started Apple's journey. "Their finest hour was popularizing the notion that computers can and should be easy to use," said Linzmayer. "Their greatest mistake was failing to capitalize on that."

Indeed sometime in the 90s when Bill Gates was taking Microsoft to unheard of peaks, it looked like Apple was going to be another Silicon Valley story to bite the dust. But the return of Steve Jobs in 1997 rejuvenated Apple and there as been no looking back after that.

Today, Apple is one of the most powerful companies in the world and is on the way to even more greatness courtesy the popular digital music player iPod. Perhaps no other device has shaped the destiny of a company in the way iPod has for Apple. The Cupertino, California-based Company is now looking to extend its presence in the home entertainment segment. Observers think that this will bring the company in direct competition with Microsoft.

But John Gruber, a long-time Apple watchers does not think so, "I don't think there's any chance that Apple has its sights set on becoming another Sony. They're evolving into a type of company for which there are no existing moulds," he said. Linzmayer feels the Apple model can be around for another 30 years. "Having survived this long, it's likely to continue - they've got a great brand and some very loyal consumers."