Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer in 1984 and later became a market-cap leader.
The Macintosh went on sale on January 24, 1984, after a famous Super Bowl XVIII advertisement directed by Ridley Scott. Its graphical user interface and mouse-based navigation helped distinguish it from many command-line computers, although the original Macintosh had limited memory and no internal hard drive.
Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The company first became widely known for the Apple II, then expanded into the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and services. The iPhone, introduced in 2007, became the company’s most important product line.
A common mix-up is confusing Apple’s 1984 Macintosh launch with the 1983 launch of the Lisa, an earlier Apple computer with a graphical interface. Apple’s enormous market value reflects investor expectations about its hardware ecosystem, software, services, and recurring customer relationships—not simply the number of computers it sells.