Tim Cook told staff he loved them. Then Paul McCartney showed up.
SFGATE • • technology
Key Points:
- Apple celebrated its 50th anniversary with a private concert at its Cupertino headquarters featuring Paul McCartney, who performed on a rainbow-roofed stage with flames and fireworks.
- The 12,000 employees at the Cupertino campus entered a lottery for tickets to attend the exclusive 25-song show, which included many Beatles classics and hits from McCartney’s Wings project.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced McCartney, praising him as a pioneering songwriter and lifelong favorite, while McCartney closed the concert with an encore of Beatles songs.
- Despite a historically combative relationship between Apple Inc. and the Beatles' Apple Corps, including multiple lawsuits over trademark rights, the companies resolved their disputes by 2007, with Apple Inc. gaining full rights to the trademark.
- Apple founder Steve Jobs admired the Beatles as a business model for their collaborative success, and expressed relief when the trademark disagreements were settled amicably.
