I know it sucks. I really want to do pixel art, and this is my first attempt. I tried a kind of lame dither-thing; I don't know how it worked out. :/ I also tried to get rid of the background with Photoshop, but it screwed all the pixels up, so...I'm stuck with it.
The only thing I like is the stem, but oh well.
Critiques are appreciated~ | 
looks like it was saved as jpeg at some point, has the characteristic 'screwed up pixels'. never save as jpeg. apple is oddly shaped, almost like a 'V', not very apple-y. use references to make sure you get the likeness. outline is jaggy