Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer in 1984 and is among the world's largest companies by market capitalization.
The Macintosh was announced during Apple's famous Super Bowl XVIII television commercial, directed by Ridley Scott. It went on sale on January 24, 1984, with a graphical user interface and a mouse designed to make computing more approachable.
Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Its later growth came from products and services including the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac computers, App Store, and iCloud.
Market capitalization is the value of a company's publicly traded shares, so it changes with the share price. It is different from revenue, profit, and the value of all physical assets. Apple is often compared with Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and other technology leaders in market-cap rankings.