Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer in 1984 and later became the first company to reach a $1 trillion market value.
The Macintosh debuted on January 24, 1984, after a memorable Super Bowl television commercial directed by Ridley Scott. Its graphical user interface and mouse helped distinguish it from many command-line computers, although the machine initially had limited memory and a relatively high price.
Apple reached the $1 trillion market-capitalization milestone on August 2, 2018. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its total number of outstanding shares, so it changes with the stock market rather than representing cash in a bank account.
Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The iPhone, introduced in 2007, became the company’s most important product and helped drive its transformation into one of the world’s most valuable public companies.