FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2026-083 

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (May 19, 2026) – This edition of Fun with Maps is not about fruit growing on a tree, but a very fruitful company.

Big Bite

One of the most recognizable and valuable companies, Apple, was founded in 1976.

The first product was the Apple I computer which was hand built by Steve Wozniak, co-founder.  To finance the company, Wozniak sold his HP-65 calculator, and co-founder Steve Jobs sold his VW Bus. 

Apple II launched two years later and featured VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program.  VisiCalc was state of the art and later taken over by Microsoft’s Excel, so if you know about VisiCalc you are of a certain age.  Many other iterations of personal computers followed.

Eventually, retail stores were established – the first two opening on May 19, 2001, 25 years ago, in Virginia outside Washington DC and in a Los Angeles suburb. 

Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, eventually becoming the flagship line of the company.

Apple retained much of its start-up culture – informality, with Steve Jobs walking around bare feet and so on.  Finally, one of the more interesting facts in my view is that Steve Wozniak credited watching Star

Trek for co-founding the company.

Here is Putnam’s 1963 pictorial map of Southern California.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps. Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.