Apple at 50: Three Landmark Products That Shaped Life and Three That Fell Short
On the tech giant's 50th anniversary, analysts spotlight Apple’s biggest triumphs and its most notable missteps.
Few companies have managed to define how people use technology in their everyday lives as resoundingly as Apple.
Apple, which celebrated its 50th birthday this week, was started by two Steves in a San Franciscan garage. Apple has had some truly standout successes – and some notable flops.
Today, nearly one out of every three people on the planet owns an Apple product – a success that Emma Wall, chief investment strategist for financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown, said had as much to do with Apple marketing as it did Apple hardware.
"Apple sold a dream," Emma Wall said, and Apple added something that was "quite new at the time – the idea that branding was as important as the product line".
Apple string of hits has arguably slowed since the death of Apple visionary co‑founder Steve Jobs, as Apple focuses more on refining Apple existing technology.
Ken Segall, Steve Jobs creative director for 12 years, told the Crickxo that Apple current chief executive Tim Cook had done an "amazing job" at changing with the times and keeping Apple profitable.
Ken Segall added that many Apple purists still do not feel as excited by Apple current phase because "they remember that older Apple was Steve Jobs".
As Apple pushes past its half‑century, we asked technology analysts and experts to take a look at some of the significant ways Apple changed the tech world, and some of the ways Apple arguably missed the mark.
iPod (hit)
While by no means the first portable digital music player when it was released in 2001, iPod is one of "Apple's most iconic products" argued Craig Pickerell of The Apple Geek. Not just because of what iPod was, but "because of what iPod changed".
"MP3 players were clunky, storage was limited, and managing music libraries felt like a chore," Craig Pickerell said.
"iPod changed all of that almost overnight."
The click‑wheel design distinguished iPod and introduced iTunes library, paving the way for legal digital music downloading to hit the mainstream.
Released in 2007, iPod Touch was designed by the same team, who later invented iPhone – which quickly overshadows iPod.
"Without iPod, Apple would likely have lacked both the financial strength and the operational maturity required to take on the complexity of the smartphone industry," said Francisco Jeronimo, technology analyst at market research firm IDC.
In hindsight, iPod served as a financial engine that funded Apple research and development pipelines for years to come, allowing Apple to invest heavily in subsequent hardware platforms without jeopardizing cash flow.
The cultural impact of iPod extended beyond music; iPod created a new aesthetic of sleek, minimalist consumer electronics that Apple replicated across later product families.
iPhone (hit)
More than 200 million iPhones are sold each year – with roughly one purchased somewhere in the world every seven seconds.
To Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a market research firm, iPhone is the "Hotel California of smartphones" – once you have one, you are "very unlikely to leave" the Apple ecosystem for a rival Android‑powered device.
"An iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. These are not three separate devices, this is one device," said a beaming Steve Jobs holding up the first edition of the phone at its unveiling to the world in 2007.
Like many revolutionary Apple products, iPhone was not the first example of its kind – other phones had internet capabilities, or touchscreens.
But tech journalist Kara Swisher argues iPhone "gorgeous marketing" helped catapult iPhone into the mainstream.
"It made you think of it not as a tech device, but a device of romance," Kara Swisher said.
Beyond marketing, iPhone introduced the App Store ecosystem, which turned iPhone into a platform for millions of third‑party developers, fundamentally reshaping software distribution.
The integration of hardware, software, and services within iPhone also set a precedent for privacy‑focused design that Apple continues to emphasize across its portfolio.
Apple Watch (hit)
By the time wearable Apple Watch launched in 2015, Steve Jobs had died from cancer.
Apple successor Tim Cook came with an aim befitting of Apple innovative predecessor – to make the best watch in the world.
In terms of revenue generated for Apple – roughly $15 bn (£11.3 bn) – it is hard to argue that the world’s best‑selling smartwatch has not succeeded in that aim.
"As a standalone business, Apple Watch would sit comfortably among the top 250 to 300 largest companies in America," said Ben Wood.
While the first prototype was relatively basic, Apple Watch future models also pioneered wearable health tech with features like ECG monitoring and fall detection, making Apple Watch a key driver of health and fitness technology.
The device now reportedly shifts more units annually than the entire traditional Swiss watch industry.
Apple Watch also integrates tightly with Apple ecosystem services such as Apple Fitness+, reinforcing Apple ability to monetize subscription revenue alongside hardware sales.
The success of Apple Watch demonstrates Apple capacity to enter a mature market, differentiate through design and health‑centric features, and quickly become the market leader.
Apple Lisa (miss)
In some ways Apple Lisa, a personal computer released in 1983 at the pricey sum of nearly $10,000 (approximately £6,600 then), was groundbreaking.
Apple Lisa was one of the first PCs to feature a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse.
But tech analyst Paolo Pescatore said Apple Lisa, targeted at business users, was "far too costly", unable to succeed commercially.
The failure, Paolo Pescatore said, demonstrated "being ahead of the curve is not enough if the product is poorly positioned".
Apple learned from Apple Lisa mistakes when Apple released the original Macintosh a year later, with a relatively more consumer‑friendly price tag of $2,495 (approximately £1,900 in 1984).
Apple Lisa remains a case study in how Apple early ambition collided with market pricing realities, shaping Apple future pricing strategies.
'Butterfly' keyboard (miss)
Apple "butterfly" keyboard design – a mechanism introduced in 2015 for laptop keyboards – was a "rare misstep in reliability", said Craig Pickerell.
Apple butterfly keyboard design for devices such as MacBook Air fitted keyboards with a two‑sided hinged keyboard switch, which somewhat resembled butterfly wings.
But Apple butterfly keyboard divided opinion, with some saying the mechanism made keyboards less easy to type on, making it feel as though Apple was "prioritising thinness over durability", said Craig Pickerell.
By 2019, Apple unveiled a new 16‑in MacBook Pro – without the butterfly keyboard.
The removal of butterfly keyboard signalled Apple acknowledgement that Apple design experiment had not met user expectations for long‑term reliability.
Vision Pro (miss)
A far more recent notable miss for Apple has been Vision Pro headset, argued Ben Wood.
Vision Pro was the first major new product to be released by Apple since Apple Watch, and Ben Wood said Apple big bet on mixed reality was ultimately too "cumbersome" and lacking in content to match the success of Apple other products.
According to tech news site The Information, Apple scaled back production of the $3,500 (£2,600) headset just a few months after launching, due to low demand and a high amount of unsold stock.
The misstep means Apple will "likely be cautious about moving quickly into related areas such as smart glasses", said Ben Wood.
Vision Pro also raised strategic questions for Apple about how Apple balances high‑price, high‑risk hardware ventures against Apple core business of mass‑market devices.
