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Apple hangs pirate flag over Infinite Loop HQ on its 40th birthday

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In homage to its history, Apple has hung a pirate flag at its Infinite Loop Headquarters (images via @twfarley and @mjisrawi). On April 1st, 40 years ago, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The iconic flag, complete with rainbow Apple logo for an eye, dates back to the creation of the original Mac. The Mac team hung the flag as an act of rebellion, distinguishing their cool work, led by Jobs, from the rest of the company which was preoccupied making the Lisa.

Watch Apple’s 40 year celebration video, first shown at its event last month, after the jump …

On a typical day, Apple flies a company flag featuring the apple logo, rotating between different colors. It has used the flag to commemorate other events before, including a Pride flag to show support for the LGBT community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtY0K2fiFOA

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Comments

  1. cdm283813 - 8 years ago

    Seeing how Apple has just up’ed the starting price of the 9.7″ iPad by $100 and using 3 year old parts in a new phone I find the flag appropriate. Maybe it should be the next wallpaper for the iPhone 6SS when they attempt to give us a 32GB iPhone while increasing the price at the same time to compensate for the lost revenue.

    • Aunty T (@AuntyTroll) - 8 years ago

      I’ll criticise Apple all day long on here when I need to, but you aren’t forced to buy their stuff – simple.

      • cdm283813 - 8 years ago

        Apple is going downhill fast with their pricing and part bin choices. Where is the innovation? That pirate flag tells me that they want to plunder as much money as they can. That was my point as a iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6S owner.

        iPad Pro = money grab in a tablet market that is slowing down each consecutive quarter.

        iPhone SE = lack of innovation with parts from a 5S, 6 and 6S. Only a fool would downgrade from a 6S.

        No one seems to have the guts to say it. I miss the days when we had only one iPhone and one iPad to choose from. Today the entire lineup is watered down with choice A, B, and C for iPhones and choice A, B, C, D and E for iPads. Even the watches are all over the place. Apple basically followed Samsung down the same hole. And with this talk of a iPhone Plus Pro that really sets me off. Apple recognizes the need for a small premium phone but they want to give the larger models the best features??? Mark my words when September rolls around when you’re trying to decide which iPhone you want.

    • seurahepo - 8 years ago

      Your point of view is rather coloured, I doubt there is not much Apple could do that would please you. Below another point of view of the recent announcements:

      iPad: Apple also up’ed the specs of iPad considerably, and lowered the price of the previous model.

      iPhone: To my knowledge are no three year old parts in the SE. 5s just got top notch, 2 years newer hardware, no change in price.

      • cdm283813 - 8 years ago

        So upgrading specs on the iPad 9.7″ deserves a $100 price increase including the necessary $100 pencil that you have to buy to enjoy the feature? That’s a $200 price swing. And dropping the price of the iPad Air 2 just killed my resale value; I already own the tablet. Thanks for making me more upset!
        With that reasoning the iPhone 6S should have also increased in price when they added 3D Touch, 2 GB of ram, better camera and faster processor.

      • seurahepo - 8 years ago

        @cdm283813 You are misrepresenting the situation. The additional speed, better screen, more storage, better audio etc. can be argued to be worth additional $100 (or $200 if you compare to the new price of Air 2). As can be the price of $100 pencil if one wants the pencil.

        If you disagree, and you are free to do so. You can buy Air 2 or a $99 Android tablet instead. It is a free market, Apple is free to set the prices, and you are free NOT buy if you don’t agree about the value. Bitching about wanting the top model for less is not really productive.

        I am not in the position to tell Apple if they *should* up phone prices or not. It is not only the features, it is also about volumes, product positioning, subventions and competition. When I agree with the value proposition I buy, when I don’t I don’t.

      • @cdm283813 You really don’t seem to be aware of how much the technology required for the pen to work is expensive. Take a look at Samsung Note Pro tablets with and without the s-pen technology. Yes, it costs that much.

    • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

      Agree with seurahepo except yes there are 3 year old parts in the SE – parts which are not obsolete. Parts which also help to keep the price down – do you really think Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, Sony and all the other players use the same top notch hardware in all their devices? Obviously not – the difference being is that Apple have used the same CPU and memory as the iPhone 6s whereas competition always downgrades these (like the snapdragon 450 and 810 CPUS used in Android devices

      Long story short, suck it up buttercup and quit your whining

      • cdm283813 - 8 years ago

        By today’s standards the display, Touch ID and front camera are obsolete in the 5S/SE. The 6S trumps all 3. Just because Apple decides to continue the manufacturing process of said parts does not make them cutting edge.

      • realgurahamu - 8 years ago

        @Cdm283813 may be true but for a device that costs only a few hundred in comparison to the competition which costs 800 and up, what is has is perfectly acceptable. A cheaper android or Windows skins back on the CPU and memory allowance which makes for a slower device which reflects what you paid. With Apple that’s not the case with the SE. Can’t have everything.

        Also for only a 4 inch device, a newer LCD panel isn’t really required. DPI on a small screen like that wouldn’t make much visible difference other than adding a higher price point and also a larger drain on the smaller battery. This is something Samsung would do because generally they don’t care about the consumer in the same way – with a samsung if your phone dies, then tough luck.

    • rnc - 8 years ago

      People like you are never happy with anything.

      Go buy a crapsung, they are cheap, if that’s what you want.

  2. AeronPeryton - 8 years ago

    “Better to be a tech company than to join the government.”

  3. ロハン増進 - 8 years ago

    Who said Apple is not innovating anymore? They are, they are being innovative day by day in forcing customers to pay more for their slow and buggy upgrades, they are being innovative to power up their profit margin column in finance sheet. Surely not innovative into products!

    • rnc - 8 years ago

      Unlike Android, IOS upgrades are free.

      • ロハン増進 - 8 years ago

        Where is 32GB iphone? if they can give 64GB phone with same price to 32GB users. Why not to 16GB users? Why so cheat on 16GB users?

  4. ロハン増進 - 8 years ago

    @cdm283813: iphone SE is not about innovation, its not about a next generation iphone launch. It is about to target a part of market who likes smaller phone and of course affordable iphone. Apple is trying hard to reach to lower margin market. They tried with iphonce 5c, which was a huge slap. They realized their mistake and they are doing iphone SE now, which they should have done 2 years earlier. Personally, iphone SE is not a bad move, but yes, its late move. Also, I think they failed once again in publicity thing, they could not publish the actual message of iphone SE. Many people are damm confused about it. They are believing its a next generatin iphone. So it creates misunderstanding “how a new iphone can be launched with old technology!”

    • cdm283813 - 8 years ago

      I understand the need for a smaller iPhone; I get it. But why not take the 6S design and make it smaller for $550 while still keeping every feature intact? Apple is dooming 3D Touch because developers won’t see the benefit of adding support for it if Apple keeps watering down new products.

      • sirmo (@sirmo) - 8 years ago

        I don’t understand how what you’re proposing is better than what Apple is doing. I along with many others happen to think that 5 SE design looks superior to 6s. It’s more of a classic look people enjoy from Apple. If you don’t like it get an iPhone 6s or an Android.

        What you’re proposing is more boring and covers less of a market. The whole point of the 5 SE is the low entry price while providing the iPhone essentials. It’s a great move for the Chinese market, as well as the domestic market for free contracted phones. And it also provides something different in the line up.

        Bottom line is 5 SE provides more design choice and lower barrier of entry. You’re proposing less design choice and higher barrier of entry.

      • sirmo (@sirmo) - 8 years ago

        So you’re proposing less choice in design, less product differentiation, and higher barrier of entry? Seems pretty silly to me.

      • ロハン増進 - 8 years ago

        True. Even I was always thinking the same. Apple don’t need to create too much iphone line-ups. Just create three different sizes for every generation and smaller the phone lower the price. As simple as that! Then I realized, may be technically it is not possible to fit all iphone 6s components in a 4″ size phone! or may be as their new business strategy, they don’t want to compromise on price at any cost! Why to make newer models $100 cheaper. When they can cheat on 16GB users with eliminating 32GB model to get extra $100, why should they sell phone with $100 less! who knows

  5. cydianerd - 8 years ago

    At first, I thought it could be an April Fools prank, but now :D #lol :p

  6. Nitpicking – but the American flag should be higher than the others, or when displayed on the same level, it should be flown on the right. :-)

  7. Leif Paul Ashley - 8 years ago

    That’s awesome.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.