Apple at 50: Where did the tech giant succeed and fail?

Few companies have managed to define how people use technology in their everyday lives as resoundingly as Apple. The company, which celebrated its 50th birthday this week, was started by two Steves in a San Franciscan garage. It has had some truly standout successes - and some notable flops. These days, nearly one out of every three people on the planet owns an Apple product - a success that Emma Wall, chief investment strategist for financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown, said had as much to do with the company's marketing as it did its hardware. "They sold a dream," she said, and they added something that was "quite new at the time - the idea that branding was as important as the product line". Apple's string of hits has arguably slowed since the death of its visionary co-founder Steve Jobs, as the company focuses more on refining its existing technology. Ken Segall, Jobs's creative director for 12 years, told the BBC that Apple's current chief executive, Tim Cook, had done an "amazing job" at changing with the times and keeping the company profitable. But he added that many Apple purists still do not feel as excited by the company's current phase because "they remember t