Apple's 50th: McCartney, NASDAQ bell, prototypes
On April 1st, Apple turned half a century old. The company celebrated in various ways, both internally and externally.
McCartney performance in Apple Park: Employees delighted.
(Image: Apple)
Apple celebrated the completion of its 50th company anniversary on Wednesday. To mark the occasion, there was a large concert and fireworks display in Apple Park in Cupertino, to which the iPhone manufacturer had invited ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his band. The “Special Performance” was primarily aimed at the company's employees, although some press representatives were also said to have been present. The event took place under the rainbow in the middle of Apple's “UFO”. McCartney mentioned that he has been a long-time Apple user, having recorded song fragments for his last solo album using the voice memo app.
NASDAQ bell rung
On April 1st, Apple CEO Tim Cook had previously rung the virtual NASDAQ opening bell for selected employees in Cupertino at an early Californian hour. On the Apple campus, there was also an exhibition of the company's products and prototypes from the past half-century, which CEO Tim Cook later presented to a Wall Street Journal reporter. This included the Apple Watch, which Cook wore for the presentation, early iPhone and iPad prototypes, and Apple's first patent application for the Apple II. The manager said he himself didn't know some of the exhibits. In return, The Wall Street Journal presented him with the first mention of Apple from the newspaper's archive from 1978, as well as an article describing Cook's joining Apple as head of operations in 1998. He had come from Compaq at the time.
Videos by heise
Several events around the world had preceded the celebrations in Cupertino, where Apple held free concerts with well-known artists in or in front of its retail stores. Arguably the most spectacular took place with Alicia Keys in Grand Central Terminal in New York, where the iPhone producer operates a store in the main hall. There were also interviews with artists and creatives, a fashion show in front of the store in Shanghai, and art installations commissioned by the company in Australia and India. Cook himself published a retrospective on YouTube from 2026 to 1976 featuring numerous selected products. The video plays in reverse to music from the “Think different” campaign. A retrospective is also available on Apple.com.
Apple doesn't like to look back
Employees received T-shirts, pins, and a poster in the classic rainbow design. Apple CEO Tim Cook had previously said in an interview that Apple first had to train “a new muscle” for memory and archival work. The company is far from looking back; it's always about the next product.
In addition to Apple's 50th birthday itself, this year also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of Mac OS X. However, Apple itself did not participate in this. With the Unix-based operating system, Apple laid the foundation for the development of all core products from the Mac to the iPhone to the Apple Watch.
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