Apple Inc. Case Study

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 company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of personal computers, the iPod line of portable media players, and the iPhone. Apple's 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 company's 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

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* 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