Standing a few feet behind Apple CEO Tim Cook, I watched as he rocked back and forth, clearly enjoying Alicia Keys’ surprise Grand Central Station performance on Friday to kick off Apple’s global in-person celebrations of its 50th anniversary.

After a brief introduction by Apple Radio One’s DJ Ebro Darden, Keys sang as she played on a pink piano positioned just outside the Apple Store, right below the Apple logo and in front of hundreds crowded around her on that landing and the hundreds more in the Grand Concourse below.

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As I looked around, I saw various Apple execs like Global Marketing Lead Greg Jozwiak (Joz) and Apple Hardware Lead John Ternus, swaying, mouthing the lyrics, and grinning ear to ear. There was no product to hawk (unless you count Apple Music, where Alicia Keys’ songs are on offer). Instead, this felt like a great exhale by one of the world’s biggest and most important companies, which officially turns 50 on April 1, 2026.

I’ve long felt that Apple didn’t want to do this: properly celebrate the milestone. There would not be, it seemed, any kind of big-tent event similar to what Microsoft did last year for its 50th. But perhaps that made sense. After all, Bill Gates is still around to pop up on stage and explain what he was thinking and doing in 1975.

Co-Founder and ex CEO Steve Jobs’ absence — he died in 2011 — is still keenly felt by those at Apple who knew him, and perhaps no one wanted to have that kind of celebration, which would so clearly highlight the emotional hole in the center.

Still, it was clear Apple had to do something and do it in a very Apple way.

After Keys wrapped up and we were all ushered from the stage and Concourse landing, I walked into the Apple Store where Cook and Keys were chatting about the event. Leaning in their heads, they were talking about her performance and the moment, then, taking note of all the media and invited guests around them, turning to the crowd to embrace and smile for pictures.

“Happy to see all the iPhones out there,” said Cook. Keys laughed, “Of course, could you imagine someone holding up something else?”

They both laughed, and the Keys thanked everyone and left.

Suddenly, I found myself next to Cook.

I congratulated him on the milestone and told him he finally seemed to be embracing the celebration.

“Well, you know how we hate to look back,” he told me, smiling, adding that they’re, as ever, focused on the future.

Obviously, Cook has in recent days been acknowledging the past and Apple’s storied history, most recently in an interview with David Pogue and a letter marking Apple’s Anniversary. Clearly, he and Apple are getting better at this.

Cook told me, as I’ve heard him tell others, that they’ve developed a new muscle: the ability to look back and celebrate.

We talked for a bit more, and I noted how this event felt authentically Apple and, in a way, simple. Cook agreed, and we remarked on the choice of Keys and her tight relationship with Apple.

In that moment, Cook seemed almost satisfied, and I wondered if I was witnessing a shift. While he joked about the next 50 years, Cook might be thinking about the short term, say the next five years, where a transition from CEO to something like Executive Chairman is likely.

Most of us won’t see Apple’s 100th anniversary, but I do wonder if Tim Cook will ring in the 60th or leave that task to the next line of Apple leadership, people like John Ternus, who stood just feet away, clearly enjoying the show.

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A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.