Apple, the technology giant that began in a San Francisco garage, marked its 50th anniversary this week, underscoring a legacy defined by both transformative products and high-profile disappointments.

Founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the company has grown into a global force, with nearly one in three people worldwide now owning an Apple device. According to Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown, Apple’s rise has been driven as much by branding as by engineering.

"They sold a dream," she said, and they added something that was "quite new at the time - the idea that branding was as important as the product line".

In recent years, some analysts suggest Apple’s pace of breakthrough innovation has slowed following Jobs’s death, as the company emphasizes refining existing technologies. Ken Segall, who served as Jobs’s creative director for more than a decade, credited current CEO Tim Cook with maintaining profitability and adapting to changing markets.

However, he noted that long-time followers remain less enthused. "They remember that older Apple was Steve Jobs," he said.

As Apple moves into its second half-century, industry observers highlight several products that reshaped technology—and others that fell short of expectations.

Among its most influential successes is the iPod, introduced in 2001. Though not the first portable digital music player, it quickly distinguished itself. Craig Pickerill of The Apple Geek described it as one of "Apple's most iconic products" not only for its design but "because of what it changed".

"MP3 players were clunky, storage was limited, and managing your music library felt like a chore," he said.

"The iPod changed all of that almost overnight."

Its click-wheel interface and integration with iTunes helped bring legal digital music downloads into the mainstream. The later release of the iPod Touch in 2007 laid groundwork for the iPhone, which would soon eclipse it.

"Without the 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, an analyst at IDC.

The iPhone, unveiled in 2007, remains Apple’s most commercially successful product, with more than 200 million units sold annually. Ben Wood of CCS Insight described it as the "Hotel California of smartphones", noting that users are "very unlikely to leave" Apple’s ecosystem once they enter it.

At its debut, Jobs famously introduced it by saying: "An iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. These are not three separate devices, this is one device."

Although similar technologies existed, analysts say Apple’s presentation and marketing set it apart. Tech journalist Kara Swisher said its "gorgeous marketing" elevated it beyond a typical gadget.

"It made you think of it not as a tech device, but a device of romance," she said.

The Apple Watch, launched in 2015 after Jobs’s death, has also proven a major success. Under Cook’s leadership, the company aimed to create a leading wearable device.

Generating an estimated $15bn in revenue, the smartwatch has become the best-selling product of its kind globally. Wood noted its scale, saying, "As a standalone business, Apple Watch would sit comfortably among the top 250 to 300 largest companies in America."

Over time, the device expanded into health monitoring, introducing features such as ECG tracking and fall detection, helping drive growth in digital health technology. It now reportedly outsells the entire Swiss watch industry annually.

Not all Apple products have achieved similar success. The Apple Lisa, released in 1983 at a cost of nearly $10,000, introduced innovations such as a graphical user interface and mouse. However, analyst Paolo Pescatore said it was "far too costly" for its intended business audience.

The product’s failure highlighted a key lesson, he said: "being ahead of the curve is not enough if the product is poorly positioned".

Apple adjusted its approach with the more affordable Macintosh the following year.

More recently, the company faced criticism over its "butterfly" keyboard, introduced in 2015 for MacBook laptops. Pickerill called it a "rare misstep in reliability".

The design, which used a hinged mechanism resembling butterfly wings, drew mixed reactions. Some users found typing less comfortable and argued Apple was "prioritising thinness over durability", said Pickerell.

By 2019, Apple abandoned the design with the release of a redesigned MacBook Pro.

The Vision Pro headset represents a more recent setback. Wood said the mixed reality device, priced at $3,500, proved too "cumbersome" and lacked sufficient content to attract widespread adoption.

Reports from The Information indicated Apple scaled back production within months of launch due to weak demand and excess inventory.

The experience may influence future strategy, with Wood suggesting Apple will "likely be cautious about moving quickly into related areas such as smart glasses".

As Apple reflects on five decades of innovation, its track record illustrates both its ability to redefine industries and the challenges of sustaining that success.