Apple Inc.

Introduction

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. As well as being one of the most popular smartphone companies in the world, along with Samsung Electronics, and Xiaomi.[11] And it is also the most popular tablet company in the world. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer, though Wayne sold his share back to Jobs and Wozniak within 12 days. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. in January 1977, and sales of its computers, including the Apple II, grew quickly.

Brief History

Jobs and Wozniak hired a staff of computer designers and had a production line starting in Jobs' garage. Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring innovative graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984, and Apple's marketing advertisements for its products received widespread critical acclaim. However, the high price of its products and limited application library caused problems, as did power struggles between executives. In 1985, Wozniak departed Apple amicably and remained an honorary employee,[13] while Jobs resigned to found NeXT, taking some Apple co-workers with him.[14]

As the market for personal computers expanded and evolved through the 1990s, Apple lost considerable market share to the lower-priced duopoly of Microsoft Windows on Intel PC clones. The board recruited CEO Gil Amelio to what would be a 500-day attempt to rehabilitate the financially troubled company—reshaping it with layoffs, executive restructuring, and product focus. He led Apple to buy NeXT in 1997, solving a failed operating system strategy and bringing Jobs back. Jobs regained leadership status, becoming CEO in September 1997. Apple swiftly returned to profitability under the revitalizing "Think different" campaign, rebuilding Apple's status by launching the iMac and iPod, opening a retail chain of Apple Stores in 2001, and acquiring numerous companies to broaden the software portfolio. The company was renamed to Apple Inc. in 2007, reflecting a focus toward consumer electronics, and launched the iPhone to critical acclaim and financial success. In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO due to health complications, and Tim Cook became the new CEO. Two months later, Jobs died, marking the end of an era for the company. In June 2019, Jony Ive, Apple's CDO, left the company to start his own firm but stated he would work with Apple as its primary client.

Products & Services

Apple develops its own operating systems to run on its devices, including macOS for Mac personal computers,[349] iOS for its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch smartphones and tablets,[350] watchOS for its Apple Watch smartwatches,[351] and tvOS for its Apple TV digital media player.[352] For iOS and macOS, Apple also develops its own software titles, including Pages for writing, Numbers for spreadsheets, and Keynote for presentations, as part of its iWork productivity suite.[353] For macOS, it also offers iMovie and Final Cut Pro X for video editing,[354] and GarageBand and Logic Pro X for music creation.[355] Apple's range of server software includes the operating system macOS Server;[356] Apple Remote Desktop, a remote systems management application;[357] and Xsan, a storage area network file system.[356] Apple also offers online services with iCloud, which provides cloud storage and synchronization for a wide range of user data, including documents, photos, music, device backups, and application data,[358] and Apple Music, its music and video streaming service

Macintoshes currently in production:

  • iMac: Consumer all-in-one desktop computer, introduced in 1998.
  • Mac Mini: Consumer sub-desktop computer, introduced in 2005.
  • MacBook Pro: Professional notebook, introduced in 2006.
  • Mac Pro: Workstation desktop computer, introduced in 2006.
  • MacBook Air: Consumer ultra-thin, ultra-portable notebook, introduced in 2008.
Apple sells a variety of computer accessories for Macs, including the Pro Display XDR, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard.

On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player. Several updated models have since been introduced, and the iPod brand is now the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin. More than 390 million units have shipped as of September 2015.[270] Apple has partnered with Nike to offer the Nike+iPod Sports Kit, enabling runners to synchronize and monitor their runs with iTunes and the Nike+ website. In late July 2017, Apple discontinued its iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle models, leaving only the iPod Touch available for purchase

At the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the long-anticipated[274] iPhone, a convergence of an Internet-enabled smartphone and iPod.[275] The first-generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, for $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB) with an AT&T contract.[276] On February 5, 2008, it was updated to have 16 GB of storage, in addition to the 8 GB and 4 GB models.[277] It combined a 2.5G quad band GSM and EDGE cellular phone with features found in handheld devices, running a scaled-down version of OS X (dubbed iPhone OS after the launch and later renamed to iOS), with various Mac OS X applications such as Safari and Mail. It also includes web-based and Dashboard apps such as Google Maps and Weather. The iPhone features a 3.5-inch (89 mm) touchscreen display, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (both "b" and "g"). The lates release to date is the iphone 12 series.

Financial Earnings

Apple's worldwide annual revenue totaled $274.5 billion for the 2020 fiscal year. Apple is the world's largest technology company by revenue and since January 2021, the world's most valuable company. Apple is the world's 4th-largest PC vendor by unit sales as of January 2021.[15] It is also the world's fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer.[16][17] In August 2018, Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion[18][19] and just two years later, in August 2020 became the first $2 trillion U.S. company.[20][21] Apple employs 147,000 full-time employees[4] and maintains 511 retail stores in 25 countries as of 2021.[22] It operates the iTunes Store, which is the world's largest music retailer. As of January 2021, more than 1.65 Billion Apple products are actively in use worldwide.[23] The company also has a high level of brand loyalty and is ranked as the world's most valuable brand. However, Apple receives significant criticism regarding the labor practices of its contractors, its environmental practices and unethical business practices, including anti-competitive behavior, as well as the origins of source materials.