Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer in 1984 and remains among the world's most valuable companies by market cap.
The Macintosh launched on January 24, 1984, after a famous Super Bowl advertisement directed by Ridley Scott. Its graphical user interface and mouse-based interaction helped make personal computing more approachable, although earlier systems had already used similar concepts.
Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The company later became strongly associated with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and services such as the App Store. The iPhone, introduced in 2007, became its central growth engine.
Apple is sometimes confused with the operating system macOS or with the Macintosh product line. Apple Inc. is the publicly traded company whose shares are measured when market capitalization rankings are calculated.