A number of this week’s milestones in the history of technology trace the shift in the focus of the “computer industry” from computing to communications to communities and the shifting fortunes of key players such as IBM, Apple, and Google. On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne signed a partnership agreement that established the company that will become Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. The purpose of the new company was to commercialize the Apple I, a personal computer for hobbyists developed in 1976. Apple, which became the most valuable company in the world five years later, did not fit anymore into any specific “industry” pigeonhole. When asked if the iPhone represented the convergence of computing and communications, Jobs answered: “I don't want people to think of this as a computer.

Source: Forbes March 25, 2018 16:30 UTC