Apple is celebrating 50 years since its founding on April 1, 1976, with its journey marked by eight significant technological leaps that transformed personal computing and impacted global technology.

• Founded by "college dropouts" Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple democratized computing, making it personal rather than the domain of large institutions.
• Key innovations include the Apple II, the introduction of the mouse and graphical user interfaces via the Macintosh, the revolutionary iMac, the portable music player iPod, the all-in-one smartphone iPhone, and the creation of the App Store.
• The article also highlights Jobs's involvement with Pixar Animation Studios, which emerged from his time away from Apple.