Apple, Macintosh
From little seeds mighty brands grow, but sometimes it’s a bit hard to separate the fruit from the hokum.
The origin of the Apple name is the stuff of multiple legends, but the core story is simple. Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs, Apple’s founders, had been high-school friends who had both gone on to work in Silicon Valley after graduation. Wozniak was especially interested in designing a new kind of computer, and when he eventually came up with what would become the Apple I, Jobs suggested that they try to market the machine. Needing a name for their partnership, the pair settled on “Apple” for several reasons: (1) Jobs had once spent a summer working at an apple farm and considered apples the perfect fruit; (2) Jobs also was a big Beatles fan and admired the group’s Apple Corp. label and marketing firm, and (3) they were in a hurry to get started and neither Jobs nor Wozniak could think of a better name.
On April 1, 1976, Apple Computer, Inc. was launched. As a tribute to the Beatles, the name must be counted as a mixed success, since Apple Computer has, since its founding, been sued three times by the Beatles’ Apple Records for trademark infringement.
The next step was to come up with a logo. A friend named Ron Wayne created the first version, featuring Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree to convey a sense of innovative inspiration.
For his help, Jobs and Wozniak gave Wayne 10 percent of the company. But Jobs didn’t really like the logo, considering it too cluttered, and soon pressed for adopting a simple apple silhouette. Unfortunately, according to Jobs, the result looked more like an orange than an apple, so the distinctive bite from the side of the fruit was added and the famous Apple logo was born.
Meanwhile, Ron Wayne was happy to own 10 percent of the young company until he realized he was liable for 10 percent of its debts as well, so he quickly sold his shares for $500, thus ensuring his place in the Bad Business Decision Hall of Fame.
The Macintosh computer line, introduced by Apple in 1984, takes its name from the popular apple breed, which in turn harks back to the Scottish surname MacIntosh, which means “Son of the Chieftain.” Apparently Jobs actually wanted to call the machine “the Apple Bicycle,” and even after his suggestion was rejected stubbornly made a point of referring to the Mac as “a bicycle for the mind.”
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favorited this one, man