Introduction
Apple Inc.(Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporationthat designs and marketsconsumer electronics,computer software, andpersonal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include theMacintoshcomputers, theiPod, theiPhoneand theiPad. Apple software includes theMac OS Xoperating system; theiTunesmedia browser; theiLifesuite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWorksuite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package;Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products;Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools and itsiOSMobile Operating System. As of August 2010, the company operates 301retail storesin ten countries, and anonline storewhere hardware and software products are sold.
Established on April 1, 1976 inCupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977,the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc., for its first 30 years, but removed the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007, to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into theconsumer electronicsmarket in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 26, 2009, Apple had 34,300 full time employees and 2,500 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in itsfiscal yearending September 26, 2009.
For reasons as various as itsphilosophyof comprehensive aestheticdesignto its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortunemagazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010.The Company has also receivedwidespread criticismfor its contractors' labor, environmental, and business practices.
Type / Public(NASDAQ:AAPL)S&P 500 Component
Industry / Computer hardware
Computer software
Consumer electronics
Digital distribution
Predecessor / Apple Computer, Inc. (January 9, 2007)
Founded / Cupertino, California, U.S. (April 1, 1976)
Founder(s) / Steve Jobs
Steve Wozniak
Ronald Wayne
Headquarters / 1Infinite Loop,Cupertino, California,U.S.
Number of locations / 300 (August 2010)
Area served / Worldwide
Key people / Steve Jobs(Co-founder,ChairmanandCEO)
Tim Cook(COO)
Peter Oppenheimer(CFO)
Bob Mansfield
(MacandiPhoneHardware Engineering)
Jonathan Ive(Industrial Design)
Products / Mac(Pro,Mini·iMac·MacBook,Air,Pro·Xserve)iPod(Shuffle,Nano,Classic,Touch)iPhone(Original·3G·3GS·4),iPad,Apple TV,
Cinema Display,AirPort,Time CapsuleMac OS X(Server),iLife,iWork,iOS
Services / Stores(retail,online,App,iTunes,iBooks)
MobileMe
Revenue / ▲$42.91 billion (2009)
Operating income / ▲$11.74 billion (2009)
Profit / ▲$8.24 billion (2009)
Total assets / ▲$47.50 billion (2009)
Total equity / ▲$31.64 billion (2009)
Employees / 34,300 (2009)
Subsidiaries / Braeburn Capital,FileMaker Inc.
Website / Apple.com
Headquarters
Company headquarters on Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California.
Apple Inc.'s world corporate headquarters are located in the middle of Silicon Valley, at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California. This Apple campus has six buildings that total 850,000 square feet (79,000 m) and was built in 1993 by Sobrato Development Cos.
Personal Computer Hardware
Apersonal computeris made up of multiple physical components ofcomputer hardware, upon which can be installed a system software called operatingand a multitude of softwareapplications to perform the operator's desired functions.
Though a PC comes in many different forms, a typicalcomputer consists of acaseor chassis in a tower shape (desktop), containing components such as amotherboard.
Computer Software
Computer software, or justsoftware, is the collection ofcomputer programsand relateddatathat provide the instructions telling acomputerwhat to do. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. Programsoftware performs thefunctionof theprogramit implements, either by directly providinginstructionsto the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. Thetermwas coined to contrast to the old termhardware(meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched”. Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning applicationonly. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and records.
Consumer Electronics
Consumer electronicsinclude electronic equipment intended for everyday use. Consumer electronics are most often used inentertainment,communicationsandoffice productivity. Some products classed as consumer electronics includepersonal computers,telephones,MP3 players,and network media tanks/media players,audio equipment,televisions,calculators,
GPSautomotive navigation systems,digital camerasand playback and recording of video media such asDVDs,VHSsor camcorders. Currently, the global consumer electronics industry is mainly dominated byJapanese,South Korean andAmericancompanies. Increasingly, these products have become based on digital technologies, and have largely merged with the computer industry in what is increasingly referred to as the computerizationof information technology.
History
The Apple I, Apple’s first product. Sold as an assembled circuit board, it lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.
Apple was established on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. They were hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple I was sold as a motherboard (with CPU, RAM, and basic textual-video chips)—less than what is today considered a complete personal computer. The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 ($2.55 thousand in 2010 dollars, adjusted for inflation.)
Apple was incorporated January 3, 1977 without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multi-millionaire Mike Markkula provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple.
The Apple II was introduced on April 16, 1977 at the first West Coast Computer Faire. It differed from its major rivals, the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, because it came with color graphics and an open architecture. While early models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices, they were superseded by the introduction of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive and interface, the Disk II.
The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first "killer app" of the business world—the VisiCalc spreadsheet program. VisiCalc created a business market for the Apple II, and gave home users an additional reason to buy an Apple II—compatibility with the office. According to Brian Bagnall, Apple exaggerated its sales figures and was a distant third place to Commodore and Tandy until VisiCalc came along.
By the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line. The company introduced the ill-fated Apple III in May 1980 in an attempt to compete with IBM and Microsoft in the business and corporate computing market.
The first Macintosh, released in 1984.
In 1984, Apple next launched the Macintosh. Its debut was announced by the now famous $1.5 million television commercial "1984". It was directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a watershed event for Apple's success and a "masterpiece".
1986–1993: Rise and fall
The Macintosh Portable was Apple's first "portable" Macintosh computer, released in 1989.
Having learned several painful lessons after introducing the bulky Macintosh Portable in 1989, Apple introduced the PowerBook in 1991, which established the modern form and ergonomic layout of the laptop computer. The Macintosh Portable was designed to be just as powerful as a desktop Macintosh and turned out 17 pounds with a 12 hour battery life. Apple sold fewer than 100,000 units. The Powerbook was 7 pounds and had a 3 hour battery life, and sold a billion dollars worth within the first year. The same year, Apple introduced System 7, a major upgrade to the operating system, which added color to the interface and introduced new networking capabilities. It remained the architectural basis for Mac OS until 2001.
The success of the PowerBook and other products led to increasing revenue. For some time, it appeared that Apple could do no wrong, introducing fresh new products and generating increasing profits in the process. The magazine MacAddict has named the period between 1989 and 1991 as the "first golden age" of the Macintosh.
Apple saw the Apple II series as too expensive to produce, while taking away sales from the low end Macintosh. In 1990, Apple released the Macintosh LC with a single expansion slot for the Apple IIe Card to migrate Apple II users to the Macintosh platform. Apple stopped selling the Apple IIe in 1993.
Microsoft continued to gain market share with Windows, focusing on delivering software to cheap commodity personal computers while Apple was delivering a richly engineered, but expensive, experience. Apple relied on high profit margins and never developed a clear response. Instead they sued Microsoft for using a graphical user interface similar to the Apple Lisa in Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation. The lawsuit dragged on for years before it was thrown out of court. At the same time, a series of major product flops and missed deadlines sullied Apple's reputation, and Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler.
1994–1997: Attempts at reinvention
The Newton was Apple's first foray into the PDA markets, as well as one of the first in the industry. Despite being a financial flop at the time of its release, it helped pave the way for the Palm Pilot and Apple's own iPhone and iPad in the future.
By the early 1990s, Apple was developing alternative platforms to the Macintosh, such as the A/UX. Apple had also begun to experiment in providing a Mac-only online portal which they called eWorld, developed in collaboration with America Online and designed as a Mac-friendly alternative to other online services such as CompuServe. The Macintosh platform itself was becoming outdated since it was not built for multitasking, and several important software routines were programmed directly into the hardware. In addition, Apple was facing competition from OS/2 and UNIX vendors like Sun Microsystems. The Macintosh would need to be replaced by a new platform, or reworked to run on more powerful hardware.
In 1994, Apple allied with IBM and Motorola in the AIM alliance. The goal was to create a new computing platform (the PowerPC Reference Platform), which would use IBM and Motorola hardware coupled with Apple's software. The AIM alliance hoped that PReP's performance and Apple's software would leave the PC far behind, thus countering Microsoft. The same year, Apple introduced the Power Macintosh, the first of many Apple computers to use IBM's PowerPC processor.
In 1996, Michael Spindler was replaced by Gil Amelio as CEO. Gil Amelio made many changes at Apple, including massive layoffs. After multiple failed attempts to improve Mac OS, first with the Taligent project, then later with Copland and Gershwin, Amelio chose to purchase NeXT and its NeXTSTEP operating system, bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple as an advisor. On July 9, 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted by the board of directors after overseeing a three-year record-low stock price and crippling financial losses. Jobs became the interim CEO and began restructuring the company's product line.
At the 1997 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would join Microsoft to release new versions of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, and that Microsoft made a $150 million investment in non-voting Apple stock.
On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Store, tied to a new build-to-order manufacturing strategy.
1998–2005: Return to profitability
On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Jonathan Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone. The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design. It sold close to 800,000 units in its first five months.
Through this period, Apple purchased several companies to create a portfolio of professional and consumer-oriented digital production software. In 1998, Apple announced the purchase of Macromedia's Final Cut software, signaling its expansion into the digital video editing market. The following year, Apple released two video editing products: iMovie for consumers, and Final Cut Pro for professionals, the latter of which has gone on to be a significant video-editing program, with 800,000 registered users in early 2007. In 2002 Apple purchased Nothing Real for their advanced digital compositing application Shake, as well as Emagic for their music productivity application Logic, which led to the development of their consumer-level GarageBand application.iPhoto's release the same year completed the iLife suite.
The entrance of the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City is a glass cube, housing a cylindrical elevator and a spiral staircase that leads into the subterranean store.
Mac OS X, based on NeXT's OPENSTEP and BSD Unix was released on March 24, 2001, after several years of development. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, Mac OS X aimed to combine the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of use afforded by an overhauled user interface. To aid users in migrating from Mac OS 9, the new operating system allowed the use of OS 9 applications through Mac OS X's Classic environment.
On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California. later on July 9 they bought Spruce Technologies, a DVD authoring company. The same year, Apple introduced the iPod portable digital audio player. The product was phenomenally successful — over 100 million units were sold within six years. In 2003, Apple's iTunes Store was introduced, offering online music downloads for $0.99 a song and integration with the iPod. The service quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over 5 billion downloads by June 19, 2008.
Since 2001 Apple's design team has progressively abandoned the use of translucent colored plastics first used in the iMac G3. This began with the titanium PowerBook and was followed by the white polycarbonate iBook and the flat-panel iMac.
2005–2007: The Intel transition
The MacBook Pro (15.4" widescreen) was Apple's first laptop with an Intel microprocessor. It was announced in January 2006 and is aimed at the professional market.
At the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would begin producing Intel-based Mac computers in 2006. On January 10, 2006, the new MacBook Pro and iMac became the first Apple computers to use Intel's Core Duo CPU. By August 7, 2006 Apple had transitioned the entire Mac product line to Intel chips, over 1 year sooner than announced. The Power Mac, iBook, and PowerBook brands were retired during the transition; the Mac Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Pro became their respective successors. On April 29, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was building its own team of engineers to design microchips.