Apple turns 50: Three-part documentary on ARD
Series produced by SWR about Apple will be available in the media library from end of March. Apple veterans like Hartmut Esslinger or Andy Hertzfeld will appear.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at a presentation.
(Image: SWR / Spiegel TV mit KI bearbeitet)
2026 is a special year for Apple: On April 1st, the company will celebrate its 50th birthday. Apple Computer Company was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ron Wayne in Los Altos. CEO Tim Cook has already announced that Apple itself is planning larger celebrations. The form this will take is still unclear. Various tributes are also expected for the anniversary. For example, the ARD broadcaster in the southwest, SWR, is planning a three-part documentary produced by Spiegel TV. Well-known figures from Apple's history are to appear in it, but probably not the iPhone manufacturer itself.
Seductive Apple World
As SWR announced, “The Apple Story: A Vision Seduces the World” will be available from March 26th in the ARD Mediathek and also from March 30th in the late-night program (11:30 PM) on Das Erste. In addition to Spiegel TV and SWR, NDR and HR are also co-producing. ARD intends to go deep – from Jobs' “Bicycle for the Mind” to the “1984” commercial to the iPhone revolution.
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In addition to former Apple employees like Andy Hertzfeld or Daniel Kottke, German designers such as Hartmut Esslinger or Erik Spiekermann who played a role in its development will also be featured. SWR promises “numerous archive images” showing “how radically our everyday lives have changed in the past 50 years.” Finally, the documentary is also intended to have current relevance – YouTubers and influencers, all of whom use Apple products, will appear, as will former pirate Marina Weisband and a futurist.
iPhone Changed Humanity
Apple is presented as a counter-culture company on its way to becoming a global corporation; the Mac is shown, as is Jobs' departure, his work at NeXT and Pixar, and his subsequent “spectacular” return. The iPhone, it is said in the documentary, has “fundamentally changed” humanity.
Today, Apple is still the largest smartphone and tablet producer and the largest manufacturing company overall (in each case calculated by revenue). Whether Apple is planning special hardware for the anniversary, like the 20th Anniversary Mac from 1996, is unclear. Mac & i will also deal with the big Apple birthday in the next issue.
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