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At first glance, company logos sometimes seem to make more sense, sometimes less. Choosing an apple as a company logo when your company is called Apple is anything but far-fetched. But why did the founders choose a piece of fruit that had already been nibbled on?
First of all, we should perhaps clarify where the name Apple came from in the first place. We wouldn’t automatically associate a company that stands for revolutionary technologies with fallen fruit, to say the least.
Steve Jobs: Creative genius with a connection to reality
There is a little anecdote from Apple founder Steve Jobs about the company’s name. In his biography, Steve Jobs: The Authorized Biography of the Apple Founder, his creative inspiration is described as follows:
“I was on one of my fruit diets again. I had just returned from the apple orchard. The name sounded friendly, upbeat, and not intimidating. Plus, we would be listed before Atari in the phone book in the future.”
The threat to actually use the name if no one came up with a better alternative seemed to fall on deaf ears with his employees at the time, so the name stuck.
Sir Isaac Newton as inspiration
So, let’s get down to brass tacks: why not a crisp, fresh apple that nobody has nibbled on yet? You can probably guess: There are several stories floating around that should provide an answer.
Firstly, there is the tribute to the English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton. A long time ago, he developed the theory of gravity when an apple simply fell from a tree onto his head.
That’s why the logo from 1976 is supposed to depict exactly this scene. The only problem is that such an elaborately designed logo is rather awkward to depict on products and packaging, which is why the much simpler apple was chosen.
Of word games and Alan Turing
Another theory is that it is a kind of play on words. What we call “Biss” in German is translated by our Anglophile friends as “Bite”. Phonetically, it is similar to the English word “byte,” which is the unit of measurement for hard disks and USB sticks.
However, there is also a legend that says the apple is a tribute to the British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, who is considered the father of computer technology. Turing committed suicide by biting into an apple poisoned with cyanide. The legend is still a talking point today.
Wrong type of fruit: ruled out
In reality, it is much simpler than many people think: In 1977, graphic designer Rob Janoff submitted two designs to the Apple makers: a whole apple and a bitten apple. The bitten-off part was intended to prevent the apple from being mistaken for a cherry. After all, most of us get them down in one bite.
Those who adore Apple so much—and are of the right age—will perhaps remember that the bitten apple was not always so elegantly monochrome.
From 1977 to 1997, Apple products (such as the Macintosh) were originally adorned with a logo in rainbow colors. The bright colors were said to represent hope, but also anarchy and rebellion.
Another explanation, which perhaps makes more sense, is that computers were simply the first to be able to display colors on a monitor. The colorful apple is said to be a reference to this.
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