Apple has become the most valuable and recognized technology company in the world. Founded on April 1, 1976, The choice of Apple’s name has a curious origin explained by Steve Jobs in a very old video. However, the initial idea for the business was different. In fact, not only was Apple going to be called something else at first, but also the iPhone. Of course, there is no epic story or big reason behind this name, but it is interesting to know the reasons.
Hack the phone book to get out before Atari
In it’s a videorecorded more than forty years ago, we see a very young Steve Jobs giving an interview. Asked about the name Apple, he replied as follows:
Everyone chose names like Matrix electronics and all kinds of names. And we just decided to call it Apple Computer because someone suggested it at five o’clock in the afternoon that day. Partly because I really like apples and partly because it was before Atari in the phone book and I worked at Atari.
The recording is not easy to decipher because of the old format. The image and sound are briefly interrupted, but the reconstruction corresponds to the actual episode. Steve Jobs liked the name Apple thanks to the fact that it would appear in the phone book before Atari. A company he worked at years ago.
The Apple logo and its place in the company profile
Evolution of the Apple logo throughout its history.
We could consider this a type of primitive SEO tactic. At that time, many customers have located businesses based on this list, which was listed alphabetically within its sector. So you would start looking for computer or software companies starting with the letter A through Z. The logic is that all eyes would be on a company called Apple or Atari, rather than, say, VoodooPC or Zeos, which are also at the end.
Additionally, Apple is publicly traded under the name AAPL, being one of the first companies you see when you decide to invest, as it appears at the top of everything on the list, making this stock symbol quickly recognized and thus made many the great riches feel familiar with him.
At the beginning of the Internet era, the physical directory model shifted to the Web. Here the websites were organized by categories and also alphabetically.. However, Google’s model prevailed at the turn of the century, providing website owners with the ability to optimize their content for search by following certain practices. This has long been called search engine optimization or SEO, the optimization of results on Google.
Steve Jobs and apples throughout his life
Steve Jobs loved apples. In fact, this fruit played two fundamental roles throughout its life before Apple. The first episode involves Robert Friedland, a friend of Steve Jobs who founded a hippie community in the 70s called All One Farm. His uncle put him in charge of an apple orchard, where he created a sanctuary for meditation and spirituality.
In the commune, they pruned trees, picked apples, collected firewood and made cider. Jobs spent several seasons there, participate in fruit picking and help Friedland to build the town, even going so far as to carry out the electrical installation of the barn. Eventually, the idealists abandoned the farm when they realized that Friedland had turned it into a business rather than a spiritual retreat.
For Jobs, the name Apple had a practical utility and an emotional aspect embedded in his personality.
In his youth, Jobs also became obsessed with his diet. To the point that he frequently followed strict diets just one food for weeks. On one occasion, he ate so many carrots over several weeks that his skin turned orange, according to Walter Isaacson in his biography.
And of course, there also followed a diet based almost exclusively on apples. It was during this time of obsession with apples that he founded the company that bears the name of this fruit and an Apple logo that has evolved throughout its history. A practical reason and another that could be considered sentimental pushed Steve Jobs to choose the name Apple.
An older version of this article was originally published on 04/22/2022.
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