Apple Inc.

Apple Inc, formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Its software includes the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creativity and production suites. The company was founded on April 1, 1976, and incorporated on January 3, 1977. The word "Computer" was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, reflecting its shifted focus towards consumer electronics after the introduction of the iPhone. Apple has been one of the world's largest technology companies by revenue. It is the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012. However, the company has received criticism for its contractors' labor practices, and for Apple's own environmental and business practices. As of November 2012, Apple has 394 retail stores in fourteen countries as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store. It is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$626 billion as of September 2012. The Apple market cap is larger than that of Google and Microsoft combined.

197680: Founding and incorporation

Apple I was established on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. The kits 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), which is 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 ($2,723 in 2012 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 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 TRS80 and Commodore PET, due to its character cell-based 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, VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program. VisiCalc created a business market for the Apple II and gave home users compatibility with the office, an additional reason to buy an Apple II. Apple 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. Jobs and several Apple employees including Jef Raskin visited Xerox PARC in December 1979 to see the Xerox Alto. Xerox granted Apple engineers three days of access to the PARC facilities in return for the option to buy 100,000 shares (800,000 split-adjusted shares) of Apple at the pre-IPO price of $10 a share. Jobs was immediately convinced that all future computers would use a graphical user interface (GUI), and development of a GUI began for the Apple Lisa. On December 12, 1980, Apple went public at $22 per share, generating more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956 and instantly

creating more millionaires (about 300) than any company in history.

iPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPad runs Apple's iOS operating system. The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010; the most recent iPads, the fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini, were released on November 2, 2012. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. The iPad has Wi-Fi and, on some models, cellular connectivity. An iPad can shoot video, take photos, play music, send and receive email, and browse the web. Other functionsgames, reference, navigation, social, etc.can be enabled by downloading apps; as of 2012, the App Store offered more than 700,000 apps by Apple and third parties. There are five variants of the iPad: the original, the iPad 2, the third generation, the fourth generation, and the iPad mini.

iPhone
iPhone

The iPhone is a line of smart phones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It runs Apple's iOS mobile operating system, originally named "iPhone OS". The first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The most recent iPhone, the sixth-generation iPhone 5, was released on September 21, 2012. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. The iPhone has WiFi and cellular connectivity (2G, 3G and 4G). An iPhone can shoot video (though this was not a standard feature until the iPhone 3GS), take photos, play music, send and receive email, browse the web, send texts, and receive visual voicemail. Other functions games, reference, GPS navigation, social networking, etc.can be enabled by downloading apps; as of 2012, the App Store offered more than 700,000 apps by Apple and third parties.

There are six generations of iPhone models, each accompanied by one of the six major releases of iOS. The original iPhone was a GSM phone, and established design precedents, such as screen size and button placement, that have persisted through all models. The iPhone 3G added 3G cellular network capabilities and A-GPS location. The iPhone 3GS added a faster processor and a higher-resolution camera that could record video at 480p. The iPhone 4 featured a higher-resolution 960 640 "retina display", a higher-resolution rear-facing camera and a lower-resolution front-facing camera for video calling and other apps.The iPhone 4S added an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, a dual-core processor, and a natural language voice control system called Siri. iPhone 5 features the new A6 processor, holds a 4-inch Retina display that is larger than its predecessor's 3.5-inch display, and replaces the 30-pin connector with an all-digital Lightning connector.

iPod

The iPod line from left to right: iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch. The iPod is a line of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first line was released on November 10, 2001; its most recent redesigns were announced on September 12, 2012. There are four current generations of the iPod: the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle, the compact iPod Nano, the touch screen iPod Touch, and the hard drivebased iPod Classic. Like other digital music players, iPods can serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model, ranging

from 2 GB for the iPod Shuffle to 160 GB for the iPod Classic. The devices are controlled by the Samsung ARM and the Apple A4 CPUs. Apple's iTunes software (and other open source software) can be used to transfer music, photos, videos, games, contact information, e-mail settings, Web bookmarks, and calendars, to the devices supporting these features from computers using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating system. Prior to iOS 5, the iPod branding was used for the media player included with the iPhone and iPad, a combination of the Music and Videos apps on the iPod Touch. As of iOS 5, separate apps named "Music" and "Video" is standardized across all iOS-powered products. While the iPhone and iPad have essentially the same media-player capabilities as the iPod line, they are generally treated as separate products. In the last few years, iPhone and iPad sales have overtaken those of the iPod.

MacBook
MacBook

MacBook.

The MacBook is a brand of Macintosh notebook computers manufactured by Apple Inc. from early 2006 to late 2011. It replaced the iBook series and 12-inch PowerBook series of notebooks as a part of the AppleIntel transition. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, the Apple

MacBook was aimed at the consumer and education markets. It was the best-selling Macintosh in history, and according to the sales-research organization in October 2008, the mid-range model of the MacBook was the single best-selling laptop of any brand in US retail stores for the preceding five months. There have been three separate designs of the MacBook: the original model used a combination of polycarbonate and fiberglass casing that was modeled after the iBook G4. The second type, introduced in October 2008 alongside the 15-inch MacBook Pro, used a similar unibody aluminum casing to the 15-inch Pro, and was updated and rebranded as the 13inch MacBook Pro at the 2009 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2009. A third design, introduced in October 2009, used a unibody polycarbonate shell as aluminum is now reserved for the higherend MacBook Pro. On July 20, 2011, the MacBook was quietly discontinued for consumer purchase in favor of the new MacBook Air. Apple continued to sell the MacBook to educational institutions until February 2012. The MacBook has effectively been superseded by the MacBook Air.

iBook

The iBook is a line of laptop computers sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2006. The line targeted the consumer and education markets, with lower specifications and prices than the PowerBook, Apple's higher-end line of laptop computers. Three distinct designs of the iBook were introduced during its lifetime. The first, known as the "Clamshell", was influenced by the design of Apple's popular iMac line at the time. It was a significant departure from previous portable computer designs due to its shape, bright colors, incorporation of a handle into the casing, lack of a hinged cover over the external ports, and built-in wireless networking. Two years later, the second generation abandoned the original form factor in favor of a more conventional, rectangular design. In October 2003, a third iteration was released that added a PowerPC G4 chip and a slot-loading drive. Apple replaced the iBook line with the MacBook in May 2006 during Apples transition to Intel processors. They were also a major name for education, with Henrico County Public Schools being the first of many school systems in the USA to distribute one to every student.