Half a Century of Apple: Three Products That Changed Our Lives - and Three That Didn't

Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at a financial company Hargreaves Lansdown, believes that This success is not only based on hardware, but also on marketing.

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Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

07.04.2026. 10:39h

There are few companies like Apple (Apple ) that have so changed the way people use technology every day.

The company, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, was founded by two Steves in a garage in San Francisco.

Since then, she has had a string of great successes, but also some failures.

Today, almost every third inhabitant of the planet owns an Apple device.

Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at a financial company Hargreaves Lansdown, believes that This success is not only based on hardware, but equally on marketing.

"They were selling a dream," she says, noting that Apple was among the first to impose the idea that the brand was as important as the product itself.

The pace of major strides slowed after the death of a visionary co-founder Steve Jobs.

Today, the company is mainly concerned with improving existing technologies.

Current CEO Tim Cook has done an "incredible job" adapting the company to new circumstances and maintaining its profitability, Ken Segal, who was creative director alongside Jobs for 12 years, tells the BBC.

However, he adds that some long-time fans no longer feel the same excitement, because "they remember the old Apple - Steve Jobs' Apple."

On the occasion of the anniversary, technology analysts and experts highlight key ways in which Apple changed the technological world, but also those in which, in their opinion, it missed the mark.

iPod - hit number 1

Although it wasn't the first portable digital music player when it was introduced in 2001, the iPod (iPod) is, according to Craig Pickerill of the website The Apple Geek, was one of "Apple's most iconic products".

Not only because of what he was, but also "because of what he changed."

“MP3 players were bulky, had limited capacity, and managing a music library was a chore,” says Pickerill.

"The iPod changed all that almost overnight."

The innovative click-wheel design set the device apart and brought iTunes (iTunes) library, paving the way for legal, digital music downloads, which became widely accepted.

iPod touch (iPod Touch), introduced in 2007, was designed by the same team that later created the iPhone (iPhone) - a device that quickly eclipsed the iPod.

"Without the iPod, Apple would likely lack the financial strength and operational maturity needed to tackle the complexity of the smartphone industry," said Francisco Geronimo, a technology analyst at research firm IDC.

iPhone - hit number two

More than 200 million iPhones are sold every year, which roughly means that approximately seven of these devices are purchased worldwide every second.

"The iPhone is the 'Hotel California' of smartphones - once you have one, you're unlikely to get another one later," says Ben Wood of research firm CCS Insight.

"An iPod, a phone, and an Internet device. These are not three separate devices, this is one device," said a smiling Steve Jobs, holding the first edition of the phone as he introduced it to the world in 2007.

Like many revolutionary Apple products, the iPhone was not the first device of its kind - other phones already had internet functionality or touch screens.

However, technology journalist Kara Swisher points out that "wonderful marketing" has helped make the phone a prestige item.

“People started to see it not just as a technique, but as a symbol of style and a romantic spirit,” she says.

Apple Watch - hit number three

When the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015, Steve Jobs had already died of cancer.

His successor, Tim Cook, had a goal worthy of his innovative predecessor - to create the best watch in the world.

Given Apple's revenue - around $15 billion - it's hard to argue that the world's best-selling smartwatch has failed to meet that goal.

"As a standalone company, Apple Watch would easily rank among the 250-300 largest companies in America," said Ben Wood.

Although the first prototype was relatively simple, subsequent generations set the standard for wearable health technology with features such as ECG monitoring and some key things for tracking health and body shape.

According to reports, this device now sells more units annually than the entire traditional Swiss watch industry.

Apple Lisa - failure number one

In some ways, the Apple Lisa, a computer introduced in 1983 at a high price of almost $10.000, was revolutionary.

It was one of the first PCs with a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse.

However, technology analyst Paolo Pescatore points out that the computer, aimed at business users, was "too expensive" to succeed in the market.

"This failure shows that it's not enough to be ahead of the times if the product is poorly positioned," he said.

Apple learned its lesson from this failure when it launched the original Macintosh a year later, with a more affordable price of $2.495.

'Butterfly' keyboard - failure number two

Apple's keyboard designbutterfly" (butterfly) - a mechanism introduced in 2015 for laptop keyboards, was "a rare failure when it comes to reliability," says Pickerill.

On devices like the MacBook Air, the keyboards had a double mechanism that gave the keys stability and resembled butterfly wings.

However, the design has caused divided opinions.

Some claimed that the mechanism made typing difficult, giving the impression that Apple was “more concerned with thin design than durability,” Pickerill adds.

By 2019, the company introduced a new 16-inch MacBook Pro (MacBook Pro) - without a "butterfly" keyboard.

Vision Pro - failure number three

Another significant failure for Apple recently was Vision Pro (VisionPro), points out Ben Wood.

Since the launch of the Apple Watch, it was the company's first major new product.

Wood believes that Apple's attempt at virtual reality ultimately proved too "clumsy" and lacking in content to replicate the success of other Apple devices.

According to the technology portal The Information, the company cut production of the $3.500 model a few months after its launch, due to low demand and a large amount of unsold copies.

This failure means that Apple, according to Wood, "will likely be cautious about entering related areas, such as smart glasses."

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