Luke Dormehl

1 week ago | cultofmac.com | Luke Dormehl

May 28, 2010: Customers across Europe and Asia queue up to buy the iPad when the international launch date for Apple’s original tablet finally arrives. The reason for the gap between the iPad’s U.S. launch in early April and its international debut more than a month later? Unexpectedly large demand for the groundbreaking device. Original iPad goes on sale internationallyApple sold a massive 1 million iPads in the tablet’s first month on sale, and struggled to meet the overwhelming demand.

1 week ago | cultofmac.com | Luke Dormehl

May 27, 1986: An exiled Steve Jobs takes a shot at Apple after the company ditches Chiat/Day, the ad agency that created the iconic “1984” Macintosh ad. In a full-page ad published in The Wall Street Journal, Jobs says the move to competing ad agency BBDO shows that “caretakers” rather than “builders” now run Apple. From his perspective, it confirms that the company he co-founded has lost its revolutionary spirit.

1 week ago | cultofmac.com | Luke Dormehl

May 26, 2010: In a massive milestone, Apple passes Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company for the first time. The changing of the guard proves particularly amazing given that, just 15 years earlier, Apple looked close to dead, while Microsoft dominated the tech world thanks to Windows 95. Microsoft and Apple: Good friends, better enemiesMicrosoft and Apple enjoyed one of the most fascinating (and, at times, infuriating) tech rivalries of the 1980s and ’90s.

1 week ago | cultofmac.com | Luke Dormehl

May 25, 2010: Apple opens an investigation into a string of suicides at Foxconn, its Chinese manufacturing partner for assembling iPhones. After reports of a ninth death at a Foxconn factory, Apple says it is “independently evaluating” Foxconn’s response. Cupertino vows to take a long, hard look at the facilities that manufacture its products. It’s a tough challenge for Apple to deal with — and CEO Steve Jobs’ controversial comments don’t exactly help.

2 weeks ago | cultofmac.com | Luke Dormehl

May 23, 1985: Bitter about being ousted from his position running the Macintosh division, Steve Jobs attempts to stage a boardroom coup to seize control of Apple from CEO John Sculley. The 30-year-old Apple co-founder plans to overthrow Sculley while the CEO is away on a business trip in China. Unfortunately for Jobs, he makes a critical mistake when he tries to recruit the support of Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée, who informs Sculley of the plot.