Apple Music
The subscription streaming-music service, launched 2015; Apple's answer to Spotify inside its services portfolio.
Source: apple.com/newsroom
Apple
Global technology company defining premium consumer electronics, software, and services through an identity built on simplicity, craft, and a tightly integrated ecosystem.
- Founded
- 1976
- Industry
- Technology · Software · Hardware · Consumer Electronics
- Headquarters
- USA
- Ownership
- Public company
Key Facts
Brand logo
Purpose
We exist to make tools for the mind that advance humankind.
Steve Jobs / Tim Cook, Business Insider
Vision
To bring the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software, and internet offerings.
-
-
Apple TV+
The original-content streaming service, launched 2019; anchors Apple's move into entertainment.
-
Apple Pay
The mobile-payment and wallet service, launched 2014; carries Apple into financial services.
-
Apple Arcade
The games-subscription service, launched 2019; a curated, ad-free games offer within Apple services.
Brand Chronology
Apple Music opens its own concert hall in London (2026)
Apple Music opens its own concert hall in London
2026
Apple Music competes in a category where everything ships in an update. Its answer is a 600-seat building that nobody can ship.
Read Article →
John Ternus becomes CEO, succeeding Tim Cook (2026)
John Ternus
becomes CEO, succeeding Tim Cook
Apple Marks 50 Years of Thinking Different with Global Celebrations (2026)
Apple Marks 50 Years of Thinking Different with Global Celebrations
2026
Apple opened its 50th anniversary with Alicia Keys at Apple Grand Central, the first stop in a month-long global program.
Read Article →
Apple TV Retires the Plus Sign and Presents a New Identity (2025)
Apple TV Retires the Plus Sign and Presents a New Identity
2025
Apple renamed its streaming service from Apple TV+ to Apple TV in October 2025 and followed in November with a new logo built from real glass and a sonic identity by Finneas.
Read Article →
Apple’s “Design is how it works” campaign: reinforcing simplicity as a brand philosophy (2025)
Apple’s “Design is how it works” campaign: reinforcing simplicity as a brand philosophy
2025
Apple’s “Design is how it works” campaign continues the company’s long tradition of positioning design not as decoration, but as a core functional principle. The campaign revisits one of Apple’s most enduring ideas, originally associated with Steve Jobs: that effective design is defined less by appearance and more by how seamlessly a product behaves in real-world use.
Read Article →
Apple Turns Privacy Into a Platform Claim (2019)
Apple Turns Privacy Into a Platform Claim
2019
With "Privacy. That's iPhone.", Apple writes data privacy directly into the product name and reframes the category.
Read Article →
Share Your Gifts: Apple’s 2018 Holiday Film Champions Creative Courage (2018)
Share Your Gifts: Apple’s 2018 Holiday Film Champions Creative Courage
2018
Apple’s animated short “Share Your Gifts” paired a Pixar-inspired story with an original song by rising artist Billie Eilish.
Read Article →
IKEA Place put the showroom inside the iPhone (2017)
IKEA Place put the showroom inside the iPhone
2017
Inter IKEA Systems and Apple launched IKEA Place on the day iOS 11 went live, an ARKit app that placed 2,000 catalogue products in real rooms.
Read Article →
Apple and Nike take their fitness pact to the Watch (2016)
Apple and Nike take their fitness pact to the Watch
2016
Apple and Nike launched Apple Watch Nike+ in 2016, extending a fitness partnership that began with Nike+iPod a decade earlier.
Read Article →
Two films, one founder: Steve Jobs on screen (2015)
Two films, one founder: Steve Jobs on screen
2015
Two Hollywood films, Jobs in 2013 and Steve Jobs in 2015, tried to turn Apple's founder into narrative, with very different results.
Read Article →
Apple and Hermès dress the Watch as a luxury object (2015)
Apple and Hermès dress the Watch as a luxury object
2015
Apple and Hermès presented the Apple Watch Hermès in 2015, Apple's first fashion collaboration and a bid to frame the Watch as luxury.
Read Article →
Apple Music enters a market Apple once led (2015)
Apple Music enters a market Apple once led
2015
Apple bought Beats, hired Jimmy Iovine and returned to music as a challenger in a category it had defined a decade earlier.
Read Article →
Apple Watch: the first all-new device of the Cook era (2014)
Apple Watch: the first all-new device of the Cook era
2014
In 2014 Apple introduced the Watch, its first new category under Tim Cook, and positioned it as the most personal device the company had made.
Read Article →
Apple’s “What Will Your Verse Be?” – turning technology into a tool for human expression (2014)
Apple’s “What Will Your Verse Be?” – turning technology into a tool for human expression
2014
With its “What Will Your Verse Be?” campaign, Apple took a distinctly different approach to product advertising. Instead of focusing on features or specifications, the campaign positioned the iPad as a tool for creativity, exploration, and personal expression.
Read Article →
Tim Cook becomes CEO, succeeding Steve Jobs (2011)
Tim Cook
becomes CEO, succeeding Steve Jobs
How the iPhone remade Apple in 2007 (2007)
How the iPhone remade Apple in 2007
2007
In 2007 Apple unveiled the iPhone and quietly redefined what the company stood for, from computer maker to mobile platform.
Read Article →
Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” campaign: how humor reshaped tech advertising (2006)
Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” campaign: how humor reshaped tech advertising
2006
Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” advertising campaign marked a turning point in how technology brands communicate with consumers. Instead of focusing on specifications or abstract innovation claims, the campaign used humor, character-driven storytelling, and cultural contrast to position the Mac as a more approachable alternative to the PC.
Read Article →
iPod and iTunes remake Apple as a brand (2001)
iPod and iTunes remake Apple as a brand
2001
A music player and a piece of software turned a struggling computer company into a consumer brand, and white earbuds did the advertising.
Read Article →
Logo Redesign (1998)
Logo Redesign
1998
In 1998, Apple significantly refined its logo, moving away from the colorful rainbow design in favor of a monochrome version. This shift was driven by several factors. Minimalism was becoming increasingly influential in graphic design, and a simpler visual identity helped place greater emphasis on the brand’s association with innovative technology rather than decorative elements.
At the same time, the more restrained design highlighted the elegance and adaptability of Apple products, which were available in a wide range of colors.
Apple Repositions Itself With "Think Different" (1997)
Apple Repositions Itself With "Think Different"
1997
TBWA\Chiat\Day's "The Crazy Ones" reanchors Apple's identity at the moment of Steve Jobs's return as interim CEO.
Read Article →
Steve Jobs returns as CEO (1997)
Steve Jobs
returns as CEO
Steve Jobs returns: Apple's 1997 turnaround (1996)
Steve Jobs returns: Apple's 1997 turnaround
1996
Apple's 1996 purchase of NeXT brought Steve Jobs back, and within a year he had rebuilt the brand around focus and a single idea.
Read Article →
The 1984 Macintosh and the birth of Apple's creed (1984)
The 1984 Macintosh and the birth of Apple's creed
1984
In 1984 the Macintosh introduced the graphical interface to the mainstream and set the design principles Apple has carried ever since.
Read Article →
Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl ad: the commercial that redefined modern advertising (1984)
Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl ad: the commercial that redefined modern advertising
1984
Apple’s “1984” commercial is widely regarded as one of the most influential advertisements ever created, not only for its impact on the technology industry but for fundamentally changing how brands think about storytelling in media.
Read Article →
John Sculley becomes CEO, succeeding Steve Jobs (1983)
John Sculley
becomes CEO, succeeding Steve Jobs
Logo Redesign (1977)
Logo Redesign
1977
The logo introduced in 1977 represented a clear departure from the earlier black-and-white identity of Apple, replacing complexity with simplicity and visual clarity. It was designed by Rob Janoff, a graphic designer who developed the concept after an initial briefing with Apple’s leadership.
The logo’s original color version included six horizontal rainbow stripes. This palette was intended to emphasize the introduction of color-capable computing systems and to present the brand as innovative and approachable.
First Logo (1976)
First Logo
1976
The emblem from this early period appears like a detailed illustration set within an elongated rectangular frame. It depicts a man seated beneath a broad tree, holding a book, with a large apple suspended above him.
The apple in the tree references the moment associated with Isaac Newton and the discovery of gravity, symbolizing scientific insight and intellectual discovery.
Created by Ron Wayne, one of Apple’s co-founders, it was intended to express the company’s intellectual and innovative foundations. However, it was soon replaced within a year by a far simpler and more modern identity that better matched the evolving direction of the company.
Founded
1976
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer on 1 April 1976 to sell the Apple I, a kit computer built in the Jobs family garage.
