The computer company started in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak has been named one of the most disruptive ideas in the last 85 years by influential magazine Businessweek, beating out modern-day essentials such as GPS, credit cards, and the modem.
An Apple I that sold at auction for $905,000. Source: Bonhams
Apple is the third-highest-ranked company to make the list, which was released as part of Businessweek's 85th anniversary issue. Google, ranked 6th, was the only technology company to best the Cupertino firm, while Wal-Mart took the top slot for a corporation, in 4th.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in an accompanying interview that he knew from the beginning that the business would one day become something special.
"When we started the company, I knew that the computer was so far ahead of anything the rest of the world had ever seen," Wozniak told the magazine. "We knew we had a revolution. Everyone who joined Apple, this was the greatest thing in their life."
Wozniak went on to call the Apple I a "turning point in history," before downplaying the importance of one of the most famous Apple-related landmarks: Jobs's parents garage, which is now a protected historical site.
"The garage is a bit of a myth. We did no designs there, no breadboarding, no prototyping, no planning of products," he said. "We did no manufacturing there. The garage didn't serve much purpose, except it was something for us to feel was our home. We had no money. You have to work out of your home when you have no money."