Apple Inc.

“Apple” redirects here. For the line of personal computers released from 1976 to 1993, see Apple series.

Apple Inc.

The Apple logo as of 2014, based on the shape of the 1977 version.

Apple Park in Cupertino, California

Formerly

(1976–1977)

Apple Computer Company

Apple Computer, Inc.
(1977–2007)

Type

Public

Traded as

NASDAQ: AAPL

NASDAQ-100 component
DJIA component
S&P 100 component
S&P 500 component

ISIN

US0378331005

Industry

Computer hardware

Computer software
Consumer electronics
Cloud computing
Digital distribution
Fabless silicon design
Semiconductors
Financial technology
Artificial intelligence

Founded

April 1, 1976
Los Altos, California , USA

Founders

Steve Jobs
Ronald Wayne
Steve Wozniak

Incorporated

January 3, 1977

Initial public offering

December 12, 1980

Head-quarters

1 Apple Park Way
Cupertino, California, USA

Number of locations

500+ retail stores
(2020)

Area served

Worldwide

Key people

Arthur Levinson (Chairman)

Tim Cook (CEO)
Jeff Williams (COO)

Products

Macintosh
iPod
iPhone
iPad
Apple Watch
Apple TV
HomePod
macOS
iOS
iPadOS

watchOS
tvOS
iLife
iWork
Final Cut Pro
Logic Pro
GarageBand
Shazam
Siri

Services

App Store
Apple Arcade
Apple Books
Apple Card
Apple Cash
Apple Music
Apple News+
Apple Pay

Apple Store
Apple TV+
Beats 1
Genius Bar
iCloud
iMessage
iTunes Store
Mac App Store

Number of employees

164,000
(late 2022)

Subsidiaries

Anobit
Apple Energy LLC
Apple Sales International
Apple Services
Apple Worldwide Video
Beats Electronics
Braeburn Capital
Beddit
Claris

Website

www.apple.com
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL; NYSE: AAPL; previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company’s best-known hardware products include its Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the macOS operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Final Cut Pro X, a non-linear video editing system; Logic Pro, a suite of music production tools; the Safari web browser; and iOS, a mobile operating system. In 2010, the company operated 301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products were sold. In May 2011, Apple became one of the largest companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, having surpassed Microsoft.

For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to 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. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The company has received both widespread praise and criticism for its labor, environmental, and business practices.

History

The Apple Computer Company was founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976. The company was incorporated on January 3, 1977 in Cupertino, California and named Apple Computer, Inc. for the next 30 years. The word “Computer” was removed from its name on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company’s ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of 2021, Apple had 154,000 employees around the world, and worldwide annual sales of $365.8 billion.[1]

Logo

Main article: Apple logo

The original Apple logo was illustrated by co-founder Ronald Wayne in 1976.[2] The subsequent logo was redesigned as the silhouette of an Apple by Rob Janoff in 1977, with direction from co-founder Steve Jobs. The bite was added to the shape to avoid confusing it with a cherry.[3] It was originally multi-colored, then evolved through the shiny “Aqua” and other styles, until being simplified into a monochromatic version.[4]

Products

Main article: List of Apple products

Before Apple

The first product put forth by the partnership of Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs was a “blue box,” a device used for “phone phreaking,” or making illegal free telephone calls through technological means. Inspired by an October 1971 Esquire magazine article about John Draper, a.k.a. Captain Crunch, who was a prominent phreaker, Wozniak, himself an engineering student, created his own blue box. Wozniak and Jobs used the box to tap into computers across the U.S., and other sensitive lines. Matching the pattern for later products, Jobs was the one who pushed the item in the direction of turning a profit. Early on, most sales were made by Wozniak in the dormitories at Berkeley. When Jobs began college at Reed College in Oregon, he sold them there. As for the success of the product, Wozniak said, “We sold a ton of ’em.”

Apple series (discontinued)

Macintosh

Main article: Macintosh

Apple also sells a variety of electronic accessories for its product lines, including the AirPods, HomePods, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard, Studio Display, and a range of dongle adapters.

macOS

Main article: macOS

Apple develops its own operating system to run on Macs, macOS (formerly known as Mac OS X), the latest major version being macOS 13, known as “Ventura”. Apple also independently develops computer software titles for its macOS operating system. Much of the software Apple develops is bundled with its computers. An example of this is the consumer-oriented iLife software package that at one time bundled iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand, and iWeb. For presentation, page layout and word processing, iWork is available, which includes Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, all available separately. iTunes, QuickTime media player, Safari web browser, and Software Update are available as free downloads for both macOS and Windows.

Apple also offers a range of professional software titles. Their range of server software includes the operating system macOS Server; Apple Remote Desktop, a remote systems management application; WebObjects, Java EE Web application server; and Xsan, a Storage Area Network file system. For the professional creative market, there is Aperture for professional RAW-format photo processing; Final Cut Pro X, an online video editor, and Logic Pro X, a comprehensive music toolkit.

Apple also offers online services through iCloud, which capitalizes on the ability to store personal data on an online server and thereby keep all internet-connected devices in sync.

iPod (discontinued)

Main article: iPod

On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player. It has evolved to include various models targeting the wants of different users. The iPod was the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin, with more than 220 million units shipped as of September 2009. Apple partnered with Nike to offer the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, enabling runners to synchronize and monitor their runs with iTunes and the Nike+ website. However, as iPhones could incorporate all these features, the iPod product line was retired in 2022.[5]

iPhone

Main article: iPhone

At the Macworld Expo in January 2007, Steve Jobs revealed the long anticipated iPhone, a convergence of an Internet-enabled smartphone and iPod. The original iPhone combined a 2.5G quad band GSM and EDGE cellular phone with features found in hand held devices, running scaled-down versions of Apple’s Mac OS X (dubbed iOS, formerly iPhone OS), with various Mac OS X applications that had been ported, such as Safari and Mail. It also included web-based and Dashboard apps such as Google Maps and Weather. The first iPhone featured a 3.5-inch (89 mm) touchscreen display, 4, 8, or 16 GB of memory, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (both “b” and “g”). The iPhone first became available on June 29, 2007 for $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB) with an AT&T contract. On February 5, 2008, Apple updated the original iPhone to have 16 GB of memory, in addition to the 8 GB and 4 GB models. On June 9 at Apple’s 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 3G would be available on July 11, 2008. This version added support for 3G networking, assisted-GPS navigation, and a price cut to $199 for the 8 GB version, and $299 for the 16 GB version, which was available in both black and white. The new version was visually different from its predecessor in that it eliminated the flat silver back, and large antenna square for a curved glossy black or white back. Following complaints from many people, the headphone jack was changed from a recessed jack to a flush jack to be compatible with more styles of headphones. The software capabilities changed as well, with the release of the new iPhone came the release of Apple’s App Store; which provided applications for download that were compatible with the iPhone. On April 24, 2009, the App Store surpassed one billion downloads. On June 8 at the 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference, the iPhone 3GS was announced, providing an incremental update to the device with faster internal components, support for faster 3G speeds, video recording capability, and Voice Control. On June 7 at the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference, the iPhone 4 was announced, which Apple described as the “‘biggest leap we’ve taken” since the original iPhone. The new phone included an all-new design, 960×640 Retina display, Apple’s A4 processor used in the iPad, a gyroscope for enhanced gaming, 5MP camera with LED flash, front-facing VGA camera and FaceTime video calling. Shortly after the release of the iPhone 4, it was realized by consumers that the new iPhone had reception issues. This was due to the stainless steel band around the edge of the device, which also served as the phone’s cellular signal and Wi-Fi antenna. The quick fix for this issue was a “Bumper case” for the phone, which was distributed for free to all iPhone 4 owners for a few months. The music of Mihalis Safras was used in one of the iPhone marketing campaigns.

Apple TV

Main article: Apple TV

At the 2007 Macworld Expo, Jobs also demonstrated the Apple TV, (previously known as the iTV), a set-top video device intended to bridge the sale of content from iTunes with high-definition televisions. The device links up to a user’s TV and syncs, either via Wi-Fi or a wired network, with one computer’s iTunes library and streams from an additional four. The Apple TV originally incorporated a 40 GB hard drive for storage, includes outputs for HDMI and component video, and plays video at a maximum resolution of 720p. On May 31, 2007, a 160 GB model was released alongside the existing 40 GB version and on January 15, 2008, a software update was released, which allowed media to be purchased directly through the Apple TV console. In September 2009, Apple discontinued the original 40 GB Apple TV and now continues to produce and sell the 160 GB Apple TV. On September 1, 2010, alongside the release of the new line of iPod devices for the year, Apple released a completely redesigned Apple TV. The new device was 1/4 the size, ran quieter, and replaced the need for a hard drive with media streaming from any iTunes library on the network along with 8 GB of flash memory to cache media downloaded. With this Apple TV model, Apple added another device to its portfolio that ran on its self-designed A4 processor, along with the iPad and the iPhone. The memory included in the device was the half of the iPhone 4 at 256 MB; the same as the 1st iPad and the 4th-generation iPod touch. It had HDMI out as the only video out source. Features included access to the iTunes Store to rent movies and TV shows (purchasing has been discontinued), streaming from internet video sources, including YouTube and Netflix, and media streaming from an iTunes library. Apple also reduced the price of the device to $99.

iPad

Main article: iPad

On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad, running a modified version of iOS. It offered multi-touch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, eBooks, textbooks, photos, movies, TV shows videos, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video games, and most existing iPhone apps. It also includes a mobile version of Safari for internet browsing, as well as access to the App Store, iTunes Library, iBooks Store, contacts, and notepad. Content is downloadable via Wi-Fi and optional 3G service or synced through the user’s computer. AT&T was originally the sole provider of 3G wireless access for the iPad in the United States.

On March 2, 2011, Apple introduced an updated iPad model which had a faster processor and two cameras on the front and back respectively. The iPad 2 also added support for optional 3G service provided by Verizon, in addition to the existing offering by AT&T. However, the availability of the iPad 2 had initially been limited as a result of the devastating tsunami and ensuing earthquake in Japan in March 2011.

Legal battles

Microsoft

Macworld Boston 1997-The Microsoft Deal

After Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple Computer, Microsoft released Windows 2.0 with a GUI that was similar to the Mac. Apple CEO John Sculley filed a federal lawsuit in 1988 against Microsoft.[7][8] After Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, he negotiated an end to the lawsuits with Microsoft and agreed to cross-license technology between the two companies in exchange for Microsoft’s commitment to continue developing software such as Microsoft Office for the Mac and an investment of $150 million in non-voting Apple stock. Though the joint announcement by Jobs and Gates was met with shock at Macworld Expo Boston in 1997, the investment from Microsoft helped save Apple from bankruptcy.[7]

Samsung

Samsung owes Apple $539 million for Copying iPhone

Apple Inc. also sued Samsung for allegedly copying iPhone features into their Galaxy mobile devices. Samsung in turn threatened Apple with countersuits and potential disruption of their product releases. After Apple prevailed in the lawsuit, Samsung pledged to create a “firewall” to prevent unauthorized transfer of technology from its manufacturing to its mobile divisions.[9] However, Apple took its mobile processor manufacturing business to TSMC.[10] In 2020, Apple began shifting orders for future iPhone screens from Samsung to LG.[11]

Fortnite

In August 2020, Epic Games submitted an update for their Fortnite game that was rejected by the Apple App Store and the Google Play store for violating their respective policies. Epic retaliated by filing federal lawsuits against both companies and releasing a parody of Apple’s 1984 ad in an attempt to mock Apple.[12][13]

References

Articles