The following are key dates in the history of Apple, whose co-founder Steve Jobs died of cancer on Wednesday at age 56.1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak unveil the first Apple computer in Palo Alto, California. It consists of little more than a circuit board and costs just under $700.1977: The Apple II with a one-megahertz processor becomes the first mass produced computer and an instant hit.1980: Apple becomes a publicly traded company.1983: Lisa, the first personal computer featuring a mouse for navigating and desktop icons and folders, is introduced. Its failure is blamed on a daunting price of nearly $10,000.1984: The Macintosh PC makes its debut. It is affordable and features innovations such as a disk drive, built-in monitor, and a mouse.1985: Jobs resigns after being stripped of control of Apple in an internal power struggle.1986: John Sculley becomes Apple president. Jobs starts computer company NeXT and buys Lucasfilm's computer graphics division, renaming it Pixar.1996: Apple buys NeXT and makes Jobs an adviser.1997: Jobs returns as head of Apple. Arch-rival Microsoft invests 150 million dollars in the company.1998: Jobs revamps Apple's product line, churning out colorful $1,300 iMac PCs with monitors and drives in the same casing.1999: The iBook, marketed as a mobile iMac, is introduced.2001: Apple launches the iPod pocket digital music player for $399 and opens its first retail store in Palo Alto.2003: Apple opens online music store iTunes.2004: Jobs undergoes an operation for pancreatic cancer.2007: Apple kicks off the era of the touchscreen smartphone with the new iPhone.2009: Jobs goes on medical leave in January, returning to work in June after undergoing a liver transplant.2010: Jobs unveils the iPad tablet computer, a huge hit after it goes on sale in April. Apple passes Microsoft in May as the largest US technology company in terms of market value.2011: January 17: Jobs takes another medical leave of absence.January 18: Apple reports a record quarterly net profit of $6 billion on revenue of $26.74 billionMarch 2: Jobs makes surprise appearance to unveil of the latest iPadJune 6: Jobs again surprises by launching Apple's free online storage hub iCloudJuly 19: Apple second quarter profit hits $7.31 billion on revenue of $28.57 billion.August 9: Apple briefly passes ExxonMobil as the world's largest company by market capitalizationAugust 24: Jobs announces his resignation as CEO and is replaced by chief operating officer Tim Cook, but stays on as Apple board chairman.October 4: Apple unveils the iPhone 4s, which includes a built-in "personal assistant" but fails to dazzle investors as it is not the next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone many had hoped for.October 5: Apple announces the death of Jobs at the age of 56. He calls him a "creative genius" and an "inspiring mentor."
