Apple's 50-year odyssey has redefined technology, pop culture and comeback stories

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — A scrawny hippie and a nerdy engineer who became prank-playing friends vowed to change the world when they founded a Silicon Valley startup on April Fools' Day 50 years ago and then — no joke — pulled it off.

The improbable odyssey began April 1, 1976, when a then-shaggy Steve Jobs and his gadget-tinkering friend Steve Wozniak signed a two-page partnership document that created Apple Computer Co.

Jobs, a 21-year-old college dropout, and Wozniak, a 25-year-old Hewlett-Packard employee, each received a 45% stake in Apple, with the remaining 10% going to their 41-year-old adviser, Ron Wayne.

The company got off to such a shaky start while trying to build a personal computer in the Los Altos, California, home of Jobs' parents that Wayne relinquished his stake for $2,300. It proved to be a $370 billion mistake, based on how much his holdings would have grown now that Apple boasts a $3.7 trillion market value.

But Apple nearly toppled before building its current empire.

After casting aside Jobs in a bitter 1985 breakup, the tech firm engineered a surprise deal that brought back its exiled cofounder in 1997. After reluctantly agreeing to be a temporary adviser, Jobs took over as CEO and masterminded an innovation factory that churned out the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad in a decade-long burst of feverish creativity.

Here's a look at Apple's odyssey so far:

Although it was founded in 1976, Apple didn't enjoy its first smash success until June 1977, with the release of the Apple II computer priced at $1,298 (about $7,000 now, adjusted for inflation).

With its sales booming, Apple went public in late 1980 at $22 per share, which translates into 10 cents per share after adjusting for stock splits. That means $2,200 spent to purchase 100 shares at the IPO price would be worth more than $5.5 million today.

Apple's next big thing came at Apple's annual shareholders meeting on Jan. 24, 1984, when Jobs read the opening lines of the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and unveiled the first Macintosh — a machine that introduced the computer mouse and a graphical interface to the public.

That coming out party came two days after Apple teased the Macintosh computer with a 60-second commercial directed by Ridley Scott that evoked George Orwell's “1984” novel during that year's Super Bowl. The ad created such a huge buzz that it's widely credited for turning Super Bowl commercials into an art form and part of the cultural zeitgeist.

Despite its breakthrough features, the Macintosh (named after an engineer's favorite kind of apple) cost $2,500 (equal to nearly $7,900 today) — one of the reasons that it didn't sell as well as anticipated.

The letdown resulted in layoffs and other cost-cutting by Apple CEO John Sculley, a former PepsiCo executive whom Jobs had personally helped recruit to the company in 1983. A year after the Macintosh's release, the once-close relationship between Sculley and Jobs had disintegrated into a power struggle. Apple's board sided with Sculley, prompting Jobs to resign in September 1985 with a feeling of betrayal that cut so deep that he sold all but one share of his Apple stock.

After Jobs left, Apple produced popular versions of the Mac with Sculley at the helm.

But Apple's sleekly designed computers couldn't slow the sales momentum of more lower-priced PCs that ran on Microsoft software, whose brazen tactics of replicating the Mac's graphical interface triggered a seven-year legal battle that ended with a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision that shot down Apple's copyright claims.

Before that setback, Apple fired Sculley in mid-1993 and replaced him with Michael Spindler, who lasted until early 1996, when he too was ousted amid the company's mounting losses.

In desperation, Apple plucked its next CEO from its own board, Gil Amelio, who had engineered a turnaround at computer chipmaker National Semiconductor.

Almost all of Amelio's moves didn't pay off except one — a surprising $428 million deal for an operating system made by NeXT, a computer startup that Jobs launched after he left Apple.

Jobs wanted to only spend a few months advising Amelio during 1997, insisting he wanted to focus on his family when he wasn't busy as CEO of Pixar, the computer animation studio he bought from “Star Wars” director George Lucas for $5 million in 1986.

But those plans changed in July 1997, when Apple fired Amelio, setting the stage for Jobs to orchestrate a stunning turnaround.

By August 1997, Jobs had made peace with his longtime rival, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and had worked out a deal that included a $150 million cash infusion from the Windows maker. The money paved the way for Jobs to introduce a new lineup of candy-colored, translucent computers dubbed the “iMac.” The 'i” prefacing the Mac heralded a new five-point creed consisting of “internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire.”

Jobs introduced the first iPod in October 2001, a music storage device that initially could hold up to 1,000 songs. Apple would sell 450 million of the devices in different designs while all but killing the CD format and setting the stage for the age of music streaming.

In what would become his crowning achievement, Jobs walked onto a stage in San Francisco on Jan. 9, 2007, and informed a crowd that he was about to show them three breakthroughs: an iPod with touch-screen controls, a revolutionary cellphone and an internet communicator. Then came his bombshell revelation: “These are not three separate devices. This is one device! And we are calling it the iPhone.”

More than 3 billion iPhones have been sold since then, and the device still accounts for more than half of Apple's annual revenue of $416 billion, nearly 15 years after Jobs died of cancer. Apple's ongoing dependence on the iPhone stems in part from the company's inability to create another mesmerizing product under the leadership of Jobs' hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

Even so, Apple is worth 10 times more than its $350 billion market value at the time Jobs died — proof that Cook has been a worthy caregiver of a legacy left behind by a visionary who embraced an advertising campaign celebrating “the ones who see things differently.”

FILE - This July 16, 2010 photo shows Apple's Tim Cook, left, and Steve Jobs, right, during a meeting at Apple in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks on stage during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)

FILE - Apple Computer Inc. co-founder and current adviser Steve Jobs, background left, stands at a podium as Bill Gates, chief executive of Microsoft Corp., appears on a video screen as he addresses the MacWorld convention praising the new alliance between Apple and Microsoft Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1997, in Boston. (AP Photo/Julia Malakie, File)

FILE - Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an Apple iPhone at the MacWorld Conference, Jan. 9, 2007, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

The former home of Steve Jobs’ parents house in Los Altos, Calif., is shown on March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Liedtke)

FILE - In this March 28, 1984, file photo, thousands of Apple Macintosh computers sit on double decked manufacturing lines. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - Steve Jobs, left, chairman of Apple Computers, John Sculley, center, president and CEO, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the new Apple IIc computer in San Francisco, Calif., April 24, 1984. (AP Photo/Sal Veder, File)

U.S. President Donald Trump said the military could end its Iran offensive in two to three weeks and will shift responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz to countries that rely on it for oil and shipping as the White House announced a prime-time presidential address Wednesday evening on the war.

Trump expressed frustration Tuesday with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the U.S. war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil.” Trump recently has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war.

He said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” what happens next in the vital waterway that has been closed by the Islamic Republic. Instead, he told reporters, the responsibility for keeping the strait open will rest with countries that rely on it. Gulf states rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world's oil supply flows through it.

U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.

Here is the latest:

Iran’s foreign minister has acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

The comments by Abbas Araghchi came in an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera aired late Tuesday. He insisted that the messages didn’t constitute negotiations.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Iran and America has having talks over the war, while Pakistan has been a key intermediary along with Egypt and Turkey during the conflict.

“I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he said.

He added: “We do not have any faith that negotiations with the U.S. will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”

Asked about a possible ground offensive by the U.S., Araghchi said “we are waiting for them.”

“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” Araghchi reportedly told the Qatar-based broadcaster. “In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake.”

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a preliminary count early Wednesday 21 people were also wounded in the strike in Jnah.

The strike came without warning, and Israel did not declare the target. When it does, it often says it is targeting operatives from the Hezbollah militant group.

Emergency workers rushed to the scene to search for victims.

Israel’s military warned the public Wednesday a missile was incoming from Yemen, yet another attack from the country’s Houthi rebels who have just entered the war on Iran’s side.

Air raid sirens went off in southern Israel, from Beersheba to the Mediterranean coast.

The warning, just around dawn, broke a long lull, more than 19 hours since the last time Israel’s military warned of an incoming missile launch from Iran, and more than six hours from the last alarms in the northern part of Israel, which in past days received near-constant fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A drone attack by Iran and its allies hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, authorities said.

The state-run KUNA news agency said the attack early Wednesday sparked a “large fire” at the airport.

It said there were no immediate injuries from the attack and firefighters were working to control the blaze.

Kuwait International Airport has been attacked before by Iran during the war. The KUNA report suggested the attack may have been launched by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq with Tehran’s support.

In another strike, Bahrain said early on Wednesday morning that it was working to extinguish a fire at a business facility that resulted from an Iranian attack.

Israel said early Wednesday it struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.

The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a picture of the factory in Tehran, writing on X: “The war criminals in Israel are now openly and unashamedly bombing pharmaceutical companies.”

Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.

Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions. The U.S. previously pointed to Iranian academic research studying how Russia likely used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage seizure by Chechen militants.

Israel alleged Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The U.S alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.

The United Arab Emirates has barred Iranians from entering or transiting the country as the war rages, three major airlines said Wednesday.

Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, as well as the lower-cost airline FlyDubai, made the announcements on their websites.

Entry rules can sometimes be opaque in the autocratic United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, the three airlines agreed on the order. It said holders of 10-year Golden Visa residency permits could still enter the country.

Authorities have offered no official comment. But Dubai has already shut down the city-state’s Iranian Hospital and Iranian Club, institutions that date back to the time of the shah.

Residents and Israeli security forces inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A man inspect the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank village of Marda, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hits a building near the airport road in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A family who fled Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon warm themselves by a bonfire next to tents used as shelters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)