Apple’s 50th anniversary has produced its fair share of retrospective content, but this one lands a little differently.
The Wall Street Journal sat down with Tim Cook for something more exploratory than your typical CEO interview. WSJ columnist Ben Cohen guided Cook through a collection of rare Apple prototypes and archival material, some of which, it turns out, Cook himself had never laid eyes on.
“A lot of this I’ve seen for the first time in preparing for the 50th anniversary,” Cook admitted.
The tour takes in an impressive spread of Apple history: an original Apple II patent, early-stage prototypes of the iPod and iPhone, the Apple Watch, and more. It’s the kind of material that usually stays locked away, which makes getting a glimpse of it feel genuinely special.
The iPod segment is a particular highlight. Cook reflects on just how seismic the device felt at the time, not in the abstract, grand-vision way executives tend to reminisce, but in an oddly relatable, human way. He remembers being excited about a five-disc CD changer in his car. A thousand songs in your pocket, by comparison, was a different universe entirely.
In his own words:
“I loved it because all of a sudden you could have a thousand songs in your pocket. And I thought that was really big at the time, because I remember then being in the car and I thought it was really cool to have a CD changer that had five CDs in it. Because otherwise you’d listen to the same music all the time … but to have a thousand songs, this was revolutionary at the time.
The supply chain at the time was something we had not done. Initially there was a modest volume, but as you step out into the 2000s, all of a sudden you’re talking about 14, 15 million in three months. And so to do that, you’ve got to run with precision and quality, and you can’t afford a misstep.”
And if you’ve ever wondered what song a future Apple CEO chose to christen the device that would reshape the music industry, it was Hey Jude by The Beatles. Fitting, in a way that almost feels too good to be true.
The full video is well worth your time. It trades the usual boardroom polish for something warmer and more curious, and Cook seems genuinely engaged rather than just going through the motions. For a milestone anniversary piece, it earns its place.
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