The following are key dates in the history of Apple, which released its eagerly awaited iPhone 5 on Friday.

1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak unveil the first Apple computer in Palo Alto, California. It consists of little more than a circuit board and costs just under $700.

1977: The Apple II with a one-megahertz processor becomes the first mass-produced computer and an instant hit.

1980: Apple becomes a publicly traded company.

1983: Lisa, the first personal computer featuring a mouse for navigating and desktop icons and folders, is introduced. Its failure is blamed on a daunting price of nearly $10 000.

1984: The Macintosh personal computer makes its debut. It is affordable and features innovations such as a disk drive and built-in monitor, along with a mouse.

1997: Jobs returns as head of Apple, more than a decade after being stripped of control in an internal power struggle. Arch-rival Microsoft invests $150-million in the company.

1998: Jobs revamps Apple's product line, churning out colourful $1300 iMac PCs with monitors and drives in the same casing.

1999: The iBook, marketed as a mobile iMac, is introduced.

2001: Apple launches the iPod pocket digital music player for $399 and opens its first retail store in Palo Alto.

2003: Apple opens online music store iTunes.

2007: Apple kicks off the era of the touchscreen smartphone with the new iPhone.

2010: Apple unveils the iPad tablet computer, a huge hit after it goes on sale in April. Apple passes Microsoft in May as the largest US technology company in terms of market value.

2011:

  • 24 August: Jobs announces his resignation as CEO for health reasons and is replaced by chief operating officer Tim Cook, but stays on as Apple board chairman.
  • 4 October: Apple unveils the iPhone 4s, which includes a built-in "personal assistant" but fails to dazzle investors as it is not the next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone many had hoped for.
  • 5 October: Apple announces the death of Jobs at the age of 56.

2012:

  • 12 September: Apple introduces its new iPhone 5, a lighter, thinner and more powerful version of its mobile device.
  • 21 September: The iPhone 5 is released around the world. Apple says that it received more than two million orders for the phone in the 24 hours after it began pre-sales online on 14 September.