Evolution of an Apple revolution

•1971: Steve Jobs, age 16, meets Steve Wozniak, 21, through a mutual friend.

•1974: Mr. Jobs works at video-game maker Atari, and Mr. Wozniak, the engineering wizard, at Hewlett-Packard.

•1975: Jobs and Wozniak attend meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, a group of electronics enthusiasts who work on computers for home use.

•1976: Jobs and Wozniak raise $1,300, most of it through the sale of Jobs's Volkswagen bus and Wozniak's scientific calculator, to build their first computer. Along with Ronald Wayne, they found Apple Computer Company (Wayne sells his stake two weeks later). The Apple I, created in Jobs's garage, goes on sale for $666.66.

•1977: Apple is formally incorporated as Apple Computer Inc. The company launches the Apple II, the first mass-marketed personal computer and one of the first to generate color graphics.

•1980: Apple III, aimed at the business market, debuts – with numerous problems. The company orders a recall. In a management shake-up, Mike Markkula becomes Apple president and Jobs the chairman. Late in the year, the company goes public, with an opening stock price of $22 a share. It generates more capital than virtually any other initial public offering to that date.

•1981: Wozniak takes a leave of absence after being injured in the crash of a private plane.

•1982: Apple becomes the first personal computer company to reach $1 billion in sales.

•1983: Lisa, pioneering the use of a mouse to control a computer, debuts. In a quest to be user-friendly, it also displays pictures (icons) on the computer screen to substitute for keyboard commands. It founders in the marketplace. Jobs recruits John Sculley from PepsiCo to be Apple president and CEO.

• 1984: Apple launches the Macintosh with the iconic "1984" commercial at the Super Bowl, which depicts a woman hurling a hammer at a Big Brother-like figure on a screen, celebrating nonconformity.

•1985: Jobs is ousted from Apple after a boardroom fight with Mr. Sculley. He and Wozniak both resign. Later in the year, Jobs forms Next Inc. (later called NeXT), to make high-end computers for universities.

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