Apple Inc. Case Study
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Apple Inc.
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Apple Inc.
The Glass Apple Logo (1998 Ð- Present)
Type
Public (NASDAQ: AAPL, LSE: 0HDZ, FWB: APC)
Founded
Flag of California California, USA (April 1, 1976, as Apple Computer Inc.)
Headquarters
1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California
Key people
Steve Jobs, CEO & Co-founder
Steve Wozniak, Co-founder
Timothy D. Cook, COO
Peter Oppenheimer, CFO
Philip W. Schiller, SVP Marketing
Jonathan Ive, SVP Industrial Design
Tony Fadell, SVP iPod Division
Ron Johnson, SVP Retail
Sina Tamaddon, SVP Applications
Bertrand Serlet, SVP Software Engineering
Scott Forstall, VP Platform Experience
Industry
Computer hardware
Computer software
Consumer electronics
Products
Mac (personal computer series), Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, iPod, QuickTime, iLife, iWork, Safari, Apple Remote Desktop, Xsan, Final Cut Studio, Aperture, Logic Studio, Cinema Display, AirPort, Apple Mighty Mouse, Xserve, Xserve RAID, iPhone, Apple TV
Revenue
US$24.01 billion ▲ (TTM FY 2007)[1]
Operating income
US$4.41 billion ▲ (TTM FY 2007)
(18.37% operating margin)[1]
Net income
US$3.50 billion ▲ (TTM FY 2007)
(14.56% profit margin)[1]
Employees
17,787 full-time; 2,399 temporary (September 30, 2006)[2]
Website
Apple.com
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL, LSE: 0HDZ, FWB: APC), formerly Apple Computer Inc., is an American multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing consumer electronics and closely related software products. Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976, Apple develops, sells, and supports a series of personal computers, portable media players, mobile phones, computer software, and computer hardware and hardware accessories. As of September 2007, the company operates about 200 retail stores in five countries[3] and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. The iTunes Store provides music, audiobooks, iPod games, music videos, episodes of television programs, and movies which can be downloaded using iTunes on Mac or Windows, and also on the iPod touch and the iPhone. The companys best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of personal computers, the iPod line of portable media players, and the iPhone. Apples software products include the Mac OS X operating system, the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software, and Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio- and film-industry software products.
The company, incorporated January 3, 1977,[4] was known as “Apple Computer, Inc.” for its first 30 years. On January 9, 2007, the company dropped “Computer” from its corporate name,[5] reflecting the companys ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.[6]
Apple employs over 20,000 permanent and temporary workers worldwide[2] and had worldwide annual sales in its fiscal year 2007 (ending September 29, 2007) of US$24.01 billion.[1]
For a variety of reasons, ranging from its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to their advertising campaigns, Apple has engendered a distinct reputation in the consumer electronics industry and has cultivated a customer base that is unusually devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States.[7]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
o 1.1 1976 to 1980: The early years
o 1.2 1981 to 1989: Lisa and Macintosh
o 1.3 1989 to 1991: The Golden Age
o 1.4 1994 to 1997: Attempts at reinvention
o 1.5 1998 to 2005: New beginnings
o 1.6 2005 to present: The Intel partnership
* 2 Current products
o 2.1 Hardware
+ 2.1.1 Environmental issues
o 2.2 Software
* 3 Corporate affairs
o 3.1 Headquarters
o 3.2 CEOs
o 3.3 Current board of directors
o 3.4 Current executives
o 3.5 Advertising
+ 3.5.1 Logos
+ 3.5.2 Slogans
o 3.6 Litigation
+ 3.6.1 Stock option backdating investigation
o 3.7 Culture
+ 3.7.1 Apple Fellows
* 4 Users
* 5 Criticism
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links
History
Main article: History of Apple Inc.
The company introduced the Apple II microcomputer in March 1977. A few years later, in 1983, it introduced the Lisa, the first commercial personal computer to employ a graphical user interface (GUI), which