April 2

2011“Byte into an Apple”

ContentsApple Inc......................................................................................................................................................3

Apple Inc..................................................................................................................................................4

1976–1980: The early years.....................................................................................................................5

1981–1985: Lisa and Macintosh..............................................................................................................6

1986–1993: Rise and fall..........................................................................................................................8

1994–1997: Attempts at reinvention.....................................................................................................10

1998–2005: Return to profitability........................................................................................................12

2005–2007: The Intel transition............................................................................................................14

2007–present: Mobile consumer electronics era..................................................................................15

Corporate..............................................................................................................................................17

Users......................................................................................................................................................18

Headquarters.........................................................................................................................................20

Advertising.............................................................................................................................................20

Logos.....................................................................................................................................................21

Slogans...............................................................................................................................................22

Labor practices......................................................................................................................................23

Apple Inc.

Founded April 1, 1976

Founder(s)

Steve Jobs

Steve Wozniak

Ronald Wayne

Area served Worldwide

Revenue

 US$ 65.23 billion (FY 2010)[2]

Profit

 US$ 14.01 billion (FY 2010)[2]

Total assets

 US$ 75.18 billion (FY 2010)[2]

Total equity

 US$ 47.79 billion (FY 2010)[2]

Employees

49,400 (2010)

Website

Apple.com

Apple 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 the

Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac

OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity

software; the iWork suite 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; the Safari internet browser; and iOS, a mobile operating

system. As of August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online

store where hardware and software products are sold. As of May 2010, Apple is one of the largest

companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, having

surpassed Microsoft.

Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, 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 the consumer

electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 2010,

Apple had 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary full time employees worldwide and had

worldwide annual sales of $65.23 billion.

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 also received widespread

criticism for its contractors' labor, environmental, and business practices.

1976–1980: The early years

The Apple I, Apple's first product, was sold as an assembled circuit board and 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 ($2,572 in 2011 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.

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 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.

When Apple went public, it generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in

1956 and instantly created more millionaires (about 300) than any company in history.

1981–1985: Lisa and Macintosh

The Model from Apple's "1984" ad, set in a dystopian future modeled after the George

Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, set the tone for the introduction of the Macintosh.

Steve Jobs began working on the Apple Lisa in 1978 but in 1982 he was pushed from the Lisa team

due to infighting, and took over Jef Raskin's low-cost-computer project, the Macintosh. A turf war

broke out between Lisa's "corporate shirts" and Jobs' "pirates" over which product would ship first

and save Apple. Lisa won the race in 1983 and became the first personal computer sold to the

public with a GUI, but was a commercial failure due to its high price tag and limited software titles.

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

ofSuper Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a watershed event for Apple's

success and a "masterpiece".

The Macintosh initially sold well, but follow-up sales were not strong due to its high price and

limited range of software titles. The machine's fortunes changed with the introduction of

theLaserWriter, the first PostScript laser printer to be offered at a reasonable price point,

andPageMaker, an early desktop publishing package. The Mac was particularly powerful in this

market due to its advanced graphics capabilities, which were already necessarily built-in to create

the intuitive Macintosh GUI. It has been suggested that the combination of these three products was

responsible for the creation of the desktop publishing market.

In 1985, a power struggle developed between Jobs and CEO John Sculley, who had been hired two

years prior. The Apple board of directors instructed Sculley to "contain" Jobs and limit his ability to

launch expensive forays into untested products. Rather than submit to Sculley's direction, Jobs

attempted to oust him from his leadership role at Apple. Sculley found out that Jobs had been

attempting to organize a putsch and called a board meeting at which Apple's board of directors

sided with Sculley and removed Jobs from his managerial duties. Jobs resigned from Apple and

founded NeXT Inc. the same year.

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 factor

and ergonomic layout of the laptop computer. The Macintosh Portable was designed to be just as

powerful as a desktop Macintosh, but weighed 17 pounds with a 12-hour battery life. 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 named the period between 1989 and 1991 as the

"first golden age" of the Macintosh.

Following the success of the Macintosh LC, Apple introduced the Centris line, a low-

end Quadra offering, and the ill-fated Performa line that was sold in several confusing

configurations and software bundles to avoid competing with the various consumer outlets such

as Sears, Price Club, and Wal-Mart, the primary dealers for these models. The result was disastrous

for Apple as consumers did not understand the difference between models.

During this time Apple experimented with a number of other failed consumer targeted products

including digital cameras, portable CD audio players, speakers, video consoles, and TV appliances.

Enormous resources were also invested in the problem-plagued Newton division based on John

Sculley's unrealistic market forecasts. Ultimately, all of this proved too-little-too-late for Apple as

their market share and stock prices continued to slide.

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 finally dismissed. 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

ofMacromedia'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,

andFinal 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-

levelGarageBand application. iPhoto's release the same year completed the iLife suite.

Apple retail stores allow potential customers to use floor models without making a purchase.

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 Intelmicroprocessor. 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 one year

sooner than announced. ThePower 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.

Apple also introduced Boot Camp to help users install Windows XP or Windows Vista on their

Intel Macs alongside Mac OS X.

Apple's success during this period was evident in its stock price. Between early 2003 and 2006, the

price of Apple's stock increased more than tenfold, from around $6 per share (split-adjusted) to over

$80. In January 2006, Apple's market cap surpassed that of Dell. Nine years prior, Dell's

CEO Michael Dell said that if he ran Apple he would "shut it down and give the money back to the

shareholders."

Although Apple's market share in computers has grown, it remains far behind competitors using

Microsoft Windows, with only about 8% of desktops and laptops in the U.S.

2007–present: Mobile consumer electronics era

Delivering his keynote at the Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007, Jobs announced that Apple

Computer, Inc. would from that point on be known as Apple Inc., because computers are no longer

the singular focus of the company. This change reflects the company's shift of emphasis to mobile

electronic devices from personal computers. The event also saw the announcement of

the iPhone and the Apple TV. The following day, Apple shares hit $97.80, an all-time high at that

point. In May, Apple's share price passed the $100 mark.

In an article posted on Apple's website on February 6, 2007, Steve Jobs wrote that Apple would be

willing to sell music on the iTunes Store without DRM (which would allow tracks to be played on

third-party players) if record labels would agree to drop the technology. On April 2, 2007, Apple

and EMI jointly announced the removal of DRM technology from EMI's catalog in the iTunes

Store, effective in May. Other record labels followed later that year.

The Mac, iPad, and iPhone now form the core of Apple's business.

In July of the following year, Apple launched the App Store to sell third-party applications for

the iPhone and iPod Touch. Within a month, the store sold 60 million applications and brought in

$1 million daily on average, with Jobs speculating that the App Store could become a billion-dollar

business for Apple. Three months later, it was announced that Apple had become the third-largest

mobile handset supplier in the world due to the popularity of the iPhone.

On December 16, 2008, Apple announced that after over 20 years of attending Macworld, 2009

would be the last year Apple would be attending the Macworld Expo, and that Phil Schiller would

deliver the 2009 keynote in lieu of the expected Jobs. Almost exactly one month later, on January

14, 2009, an internal Apple memo from Jobs announced that he would be taking a six-month leave

of absence, until the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on his health and to allow the

company to better focus on its products without having the rampant media speculating about his

health. Despite Jobs' absence, Apple recorded its best non-holiday quarter during the recession with

a revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.21 billion.

After years of speculation and multiple rumored "leaks" Apple announced a large screen, tablet-like

media device known as the iPad on January 27, 2010. The iPad runs the same touch based operating

system that the iPhone uses and many of the same iPhone apps are compatible with the iPad. This

gave the iPad a large app catalog on launch even with very little development time before the

release. Later that year on April 3, 2010, the iPad was launched in the US and sold more than

300,000 units on that day and reaching 500,000 by the end of the first week. In May of the same

year, Apple's market cap exceeded that of competitor Microsoft for the first time since 1989.

Apple released the fourth generation iPhone, which introduced video calling, multitasking, and a

new uninsulated stainless steel design, which acts as the phone's antenna. Because of this antenna

implementation, some iPhone 4 users reported a reduction in signal strength when the phone is held

in specific ways. After a large amount of media coverage including mainstream news organizations,

Apple held a press conference where they offered buyers a free rubber 'bumper' case, which had

been proven to eliminate the signal reduction issue. Later that year Apple again refreshed

its iPod line of MP3 players which introduced a multi-touch iPod Nano, iPod Touch with Face

Time, and iPod Shuffle with buttons which brought back the buttons of earlier generations.

In October 2010, Apple shares hit an all-time high, eclipsing $300. Additionally, on October 20,

Apple updated their MacBook Air laptop, iLife suite of applications, and unveiled Mac OS X Lion,

the latest installment in their Mac OS X operating system. On January 6, 2011, the company opened

their Mac App Store, a digital software distribution platform, similar to the existing iOS App Store.

On January 17, 2011, an internal Apple memo from Jobs announced that he will once again take a

medical leave of absence, for an indefinite period, to allow him to focus on his health. Chief

operating officer Timothy D. Cook will take up Jobs' day-to-day operations at Apple, although Jobs

will still remain "involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

Corporate

Apple was one of several highly successful companies founded in the 1970s that bucked the

traditional notions of what a corporate culture should look like in organizational hierarchy (flat

versus tall, casual versus formal attire, etc.). Other highly successful firms with similar cultural

aspects from the same period include Southwest Airlines and Microsoft. Originally, the company

stood in opposition to staid competitors like IBM by default, thanks to the influence of its founders;

Steve Jobs often walked around the office barefoot even after Apple was a Fortune 500 company.

By the time of the "1984" TV ad, this trait had become a key way the company attempts to

differentiate itself from its competitors.

As the company has grown and been led by a series of chief executives, each with his own idea of

what Apple should be, some of its original character has arguably been lost, but Apple still has a

reputation for fostering individuality and excellence that reliably draws talented people into its

employ, especially after Jobs' return. To recognize the best of its employees, Apple created the

Apple Fellows program, awarding individuals who made extraordinary technical or leadership

contributions to personal computing while at the company. The Apple Fellowship has so far been

awarded to a few individuals including Bill Atkinson, Steve Capps, Rod Holt, Alan Kay, Guy

Kawasaki, Al Alcorn, Don Norman, Rich Page, and Steve Wozniak.

Numerous employees of Apple have cited that projects without Jobs' involvement often take longer

than projects with his involvement. Another presents the image of Jobs "wandering the hall with

a flame thrower in hand, asking random people 'do you work on MobileMe?'".

Users

Apple aficionados wait in line around an Apple retail store in anticipation of a new product. This

branch is located on Fifth Avenue in New York City, with a glass cube housing a cylindrical

elevator and a spiral staircase that lead into the subterranean store.

While this brand loyalty is considered unusual for any product, Apple appears not to have gone out

of its way to create it. At one time, Apple evangelists were actively engaged by the company, but

this was after the phenomenon was already firmly established. Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki has

called the brand fanaticism "something that was stumbled upon". Apple has, however, supported

the continuing existence of a network of Mac User Groups in most major and many minor centers

of population where Mac computers are available.

Mac users would meet at the European Apple Expo and the San Francisco Macworld Conference &

Expo trade shows where Apple traditionally introduced new products each year to the industry and

public until Apple pulled out of both events. While the conferences continue, Apple does not have

official representation there. Mac developers, in turn, continue gather at the annual

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple Store openings can draw crowds of thousands, with some waiting in line as much as a day

before the opening or flying in from other countries for the event. The New York City Fifth

Avenue "Cube" store had a line as long as half a mile; a few Mac fans took the opportunity of the

setting to propose marriage. The Ginza opening in Tokyo was estimated in the thousands with a line

exceeding eight city blocks.

John Sculley told The Guardian newspaper in 1997: "People talk about technology, but Apple was

a marketing company. It was the marketing company of the decade."

Research in 2002 by NetRatings indicate that the average Apple consumer was usually more

affluent and more well-educated than PC consumers. The research indicated that this correlation

could stem from the fact that on average Apple Inc. products are more expensive than PC

products. Almost ten years later the New York Times noted, "...the iPad 2 actually costs less than its

comparably equipped Android rivals." 

During the Mac's early history Apple generally refused to adopt prevailing industry standards for

hardware, instead creating their own. This trend was largely reversed in the late 1990s beginning

with Apple's adoption of the PCI bus in the 7500/8500/9500 Power Macs. Apple has since

adopted USB, AGP, HyperTransport, Wi-Fi, and other industry standards in its computers and was

in some cases a leader in the adoption of standards such as USB. FireWire is an Apple-originated

standard that has seen widespread industry adoption after it was standardized as IEEE 1394.

Ever since the first Apple Store opened, Apple has sold third party accessories. This allows, for

instance, Nikon and Canon to sell their Mac-compatible digital cameras and camcorders inside the

store. Adobe, one of Apple's oldest software partners, also sells its Mac-compatible software, as

does Microsoft, who sells Microsoft Office for the Mac. Books from John Wiley & Sons, who

publishes the For Dummies series of instructional books, are a notable exception, however. The

publisher's line of books were banned from Apple Stores in 2005 because Steve Jobs disagreed with

their decision to publish an unauthorized Jobs biography, iCon.

Headquarters

Company headquarters on Infinite Loop inCupertino, 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 m2) and was built in 1993 by Sobrato Development Cos.

In 2006, Apple announced its intention to build a second campus on 50 acres (200,000 m2)

assembled from various contiguous plots. The new campus, also in Cupertino, will be about 1 mile

(1.6 km) east of the current campus.

Advertising

Since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984 with the 1984 Super Bowl commercial to the more

modern 'Get a Mac' adverts, Apple has been recognized in the past for its efforts towards effective

advertising and marketing for its products, though its advertising has been criticized for the claims

of some more recent campaigns, particularly 2005 Power Mac ads and iPhone ads in Britain.

Logos

The original logo with Isaac Newton under an apple tree

The rainbow "bitten" logo, used from late 1976 to 1998

The monochrome logo, used since 1998

Apple's first logo, Wayne, depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.

Almost immediately, though, this was replaced by Rob Janoff's "rainbow Apple", the now-familiar

rainbow-colored silhouette of an apple with a bite taken out of it. Janoff presented Jobs with several

different monochromatic themes for the "bitten" logo, and Jobs immediately took a liking to it.

While Jobs liked the logo, he insisted it be in color to humanize the company. The Apple logo was

designed with a bite so that it wouldn't be recognized as another fruit. The colored stripes were

conceived to make the logo more accessible, and to represent the fact the monitor could reproduce

images in color. The logo is often erroneously referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing, with the bite

mark a reference to his method of suicide. Both the designer of the logo and the company deny that

there is any homage to Turing in the design of the logo.

In 1998, with the roll-out of the new iMac, Apple discontinued the rainbow theme and began to use

monochromatic themes, nearly identical in shape to its previous rainbow incarnation, on various

products, packaging and advertising. An Aqua-themed version of the monochrome logo was used

from 2001–2003, and a Glass-themed version has been used since 2003.

In the past, Apple Inc. has had trademark issues between themselves and Apple Corps ltd., a

multimedia company started by the Beatles in 1967, involving their name and logo. This resulted in

a series of lawsuits and tension between the two companies. These issues finally ended with their

most recent law suit in 2007.

Slogans

Apple's first slogan, "Byte into an Apple", was coined in the late 1970s. From 1997–2002, Apple

used the slogan Think Different in advertising campaigns. The slogan had a lasting impact on their

image and revived their popularity with the media and customers, and the grammar caused a bit of

discussion (i.e. "think" is a verb, which is modified by adverbs; therefore the adverb "differently"

should be used, not the adjective "different"). Although the slogan has been retired, it is still closely

associated with Apple. Apple also has slogans for specific product lines — for example, "iThink,

therefore iMac" was used in 1998 to promote the iMac, and "Say hello to iPhone" has been used in

iPhone advertisements. "Hello" was also used to introduce the original Macintosh, Newton, iMac

("hello (again)"), and iPod.

Labor practices

In 2006, the Mail on Sunday reported that sweatshop conditions existed in some factories in China,

where the contract manufacturers, Foxconn and Inventec, operate the factories that produce the

iPod. The article stated that one complex of factories that assembles the iPod (among other items),

for instance, had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with employees

regularly working more than 60 hours per week. The article also reported that workers made around

$100 per month and were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from the

company, which generally amounted to a little over half of workers' earnings.

Immediately after the allegations, Apple launched an investigation and worked with

their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable to Apple. In 2007, Apple started

yearly audits of all its suppliers regarding worker's rights, slowly raising standards and pruning

suppliers that did not comply. Yearly progress reports have been published since 2008. In 2010,

workers in China planned to sue iPhone contractors over poisoning by a cleaner used to clean LCD

screens. One worker claimed that he and his coworkers had not been informed of possible

occupational illnesses.

Corporate Culture

Corporate Culture

Apple is a pretty divided mix of typical corporate red tape and politics mixed in with startup

level urgency when the direction comes from Steve. If you have a project that Steve is not

involved in, it will take months of meetings to move things forward. If Steve wants it done, it's

done faster than anyone thinks is humanly possible. The best way to get any cross departmental

work done was to say its for Steve and you'd probably have it the same day.

Launch Events

Probably the single greatest feeling working at Apple is getting to work on part of the product

launch process. You plan and prep for months, then launch week you work like mad for 12-16

hours days and even pull all nighters to make sure your piece of the puzzle is ready for Apple's

big presentation. Then you gather with all the other employees in the cafe and watch it all unfold.

It's a great rush and your whole team feels it.

Worker Mentality

Apple is one of those companies where people work on an almost religious level of commitment.

There are probably a handful of large companies that can command this, such as Disney or

Google. Most workers, no matter how simple their job might be, truly feel they are changing the

world with whatever they are doing. That's not a bad thing, it can just make you blind on the next

point:

Company Benefits

Pretty lacking here, in my opinion. The cafe costs, and isn't really that cheap (although PB&J

will run you 25 cents). Every floor has a vending machine, which also cost (though the ice cream

machines were pretty slick) and even the refrigerator in the Graphic Design department had an

'honor bar' that you had to pay for yogurt and other items. The gym also isn't free, but is on

campus and decent. I recall one person asked Steve why these benefits were so low, and the main

response was "it's my job to make your stock go up so you can afford these things".

Perks

Modest perks include one computer system at 25% off per year, with three 15% discounts for

friends and family. On campus store includes the only Apple swag you'll probably ever see, and

all software there is 50% off.

Analysis & Conclusion

Apple inc. is one of the most successful companies in electronics in the market. It had its ups and

downs but after going through their profile I came to know that 2 main characters played the

main role in the rising and the downfall and the rising again of the company and those two

people are Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were the people who made Apple, who gave Apple it’s identity,

made Apple the leader in the electronics market. It was their ideas and innovations that brought

this company to the top. It was incorporated in 1977 and today has made it’s mark in the

electronic industry. It now has a very diverse range of products from music players and personal

computers to tablets and T.V.s .

It was the entrepreneurial minds of both the Steve’s that made this company what it is today.

Today it has more than 60% of the global market for cell phones and music players and they

have positioned their products in the minds of consumers as a must have for any one.

They have a very diverse corporate culture and people work on an almost religious level of

commitment. Every one works hard in the company. Politics can be seen in the workplace as

work is hard to be done unless it is important for the upper management. Company perks are

good, employees get good discounts on company products.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

Durable & Reliable Products

They have the most expansive

application store online

Pioneers of Touch Technology

Leaders in the market of cell phones and

tablets.

Weakness

Not for all income earner groups

Opportunity

Asia Market

Threats

Nokia

HTC

Samsung

Android

Windows

References

http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-company/What-is-the-internal-culture-like-at-Apple accessed

on 2/4/11 9:30pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_inc accessed on 2/4/11 9:30pm