Short answers, pulled from the story.
Apple Records was founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of their company Apple Corps Ltd. It grew out of a broader business structure the band began building in 1967 following the death of their manager Brian Epstein.
The logo was inspired by a 1966 painting by Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte called Le Jeu De Mourre, which depicts a green apple with the words Au Revoir placed on it. A friend bought the painting for Paul McCartney in 1967, and McCartney still owns it.
Allen Klein managed Apple from 1969 until March 1973. Neil Aspinall then managed the label on behalf of the four Beatles and their heirs until his retirement in 2007, when he was replaced by Jeff Jones. Jones stepped down on the 21st of October 2024 and was replaced by Tom Greene in September 2025.
Zapple Records was an Apple subsidiary run by Barry Miles, intended as a budget outlet for spoken word and avant-garde recordings. It was active from the 3rd of February 1969 until June 1969, when Allen Klein shut it down, reportedly with the backing of John Lennon. Only two albums were ever released on the label.
The Beatles' catalogue was remastered and reissued in September 2009, then made available on iTunes in November 2010. A deal with EMI had been settled in 1989, but digital availability took decades more to arrange.
Apple Records signed a wide range of artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, Billy Preston, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Doris Troy, Jackie Lomax, Yoko Ono, Ravi Shankar, and the Radha Krishna Temple. Several, including Badfinger, James Taylor, and Hot Chocolate, went on to significant commercial success after their time on the label.