Apple celebrates 40th anniversary with Beer Bash DJ'd by Zane Lowe

Apple turned 40 years old on Friday, and to celebrate the company held a traditional Beer Bash in front of its Cupertino, Calif., campus shortly after the workday ended, with Beats 1 providing tunes for a crowd of more than 6,000 people.

At the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook offered words of congratulations to current employees, while paying respect to those who came before. Following the short speech, Cook offered Apple birthday wishes via Twitter, posting a photo of himself and Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe standing on stage in front of the gathered crowd.

"Happy Birthday, Apple! Celebrating 40 years & looking forward to many more decades of innovation," Cook said in the tweet.

One onlooker caught the first few seconds of Cook's address on video and subsequently posted the clip to Instagram. In it, Cook can be heard saying that the quad at 1 Infinite Loop was filled to capacity with over 6,000 attendees.

Earlier in the day, Apple ran a replica the first Mac team's pirate flag up the pole to honor past employees who in many ways helped spark the personal computing revolution. The flag was created by former Macintosh programmer Steve Capps and renowned graphic designer Susan Kare, and flew above the "Bandley 3" building in 1983.

Apple's 40th anniversary celebration officially kicked off at the company's special media event held on March 21. Alongside product announcements for iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Apple presented a brief video retrospective looking back on the company's most famous — and infamous — gadgets. Titled "40 Years in 40 Seconds," the film is available for viewing on YouTube.

Beer Bash revelers also posted photos of the celebration to social media outlets like Instagram, some of which are included below.