Apple.com Official Apple site: Mac computers, iPhones, iPods and more
Apple
Apple, Inc. is the headquarters of the makers of the Macintosh line of personal computers and iPod portable music player. It was founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in Cupertino, California in 1976.
History
Originally a desktop computing company who were among the first to bring computers to the ordinary home user, Apple has since branched out into a multitude of technology products.
Before Apple's first computer, there was only the Xerox Alto, a prototype of what we now think of as a desktop computer. Apple's founders developed the next generation of this idea, and offered the Apple Lisa in 1983. It was the first commercial computer to use a graphical user interface, as opposed to the text-mode interface of terminal-type computers that had gone before. The Lisa was followed by the Macintosh in 1984. The Macintosh computer truly pioneered the desktop computer for the consumer market, and the square box design of the Macintosh became the most recognizable form of computer in popular culture. From this point, the Apple technology empire has continued to blossom.
Apple has long been established as the chief innovators of the consumer electronics market. Their new product offerings arrive with a flourish on the market, only to see their commercial competitors scramble to keep up with a copy-cat product a few years behind.
Products
- The MacBook laptop line -- These are the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers.
- The Mac desktop line -- These include the Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro line of personal desktop computers for home and office use.
- The iPod -- The iPod is Apple's popular portable music and media player that revolutionized the personal media player industry in 2001. This line presently includes the iPod Classic, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and the iPod Shuffle.
- The iTunes store -- iTunes is an online portal through which media files which can be played on the iPod players can be purchased. These can be song singles, whole music albums, or movies.
- The iPhone -- Apple's offering in the cellular phone market, the iPhone device actually incorporates media-player, email, text-messaging, and web-browsing capabilities, along with the standard phone functions.
- Software -- Apple has a large offering of software products, starting with its OS X operating system, and ranging to many custom software suites for all home and office applications.
- Peripheral devices -- This includes computer mice, monitors, keyboards, digital cameras, and other computer add-on devices.
- iPad -- Think of it as an awesome big iPhone (without the phone or camera).
Culture
Apple has long had a philosophy of focusing on the user experience. Their hardware designs are sleek and sophisticated, and are frequently offered in custom colors and designs. Their user interfaces are also well-researched and tested to ensure that users will not have difficulty in learning to operate them. In this way, they stay competitive with the other digital devices in the market. Most especially, they point to their integrated technology as an advantage of being both a hardware and a software company, as opposed to the rest of the desktop personal computer market where the hardware is assembled piecemeal from numerous vendors and the software comes from many companies which may only have a passing familiarity with the intended hardware platform.
Apple has had the majority of its customer base in the high-end user market, most especially with artists and creators in many industries. Apple's marketing frequently plays to this culture, with ads featuring famous off-beat heroes of history, cultural references, and an undercurrent of reputation as a rebel smashing down the barriers of a crushing monotony.
Business Profile
In the most recent fiscal year of 2006, Apple had worldwide annual sales of US$19.3 billion.
J.D. Powers once concluded from a survey that Apple had the highest brand loyalty of any computer manufacturer. In only semi-joking references, there is discussion about "Apple evangelism" and even a book published by Leander Kahney titled "The Cult of Mac".
The opening of a new Apple store in any city is hailed as an event on a par with the opening of a blockbuster movie, drawing crowds into the thousands. One famous example is the opening of the "Cube" store in 2006, on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The line for opening day was reported to be a half a mile long.
Website: Apple.com
The Apple.com website functions as a one-stop Internet portal for all its customer's needs. The site design reflects the stylish aesthetic which has historically been the focus of Apple's design philosophy. For instance, the tabbed menu at the top of the main page is similar to the menu at the top of an iMac screen.
The site includes on online store for purchasing Apple products, an iTunes section for obtaining media files, a support center, a section devoted to updates and support of Apple's Quicktime media format, and a "Web 2.0"-style social center for blogs, bookmarks, and groups.
Apple Acquisitions
- April 2010: Apple Buys Virtual Personal Assistant Startup Siri and Apple Buys Chipmaker, Intrinsity (and all their voodoo)
- January 2010: Denied AdMob, Apple Buys Competing Ad Platform Quattro Wireless
- December 2009: Apple Has Acquired Lala
Address
- 1 Infinite Loop
- Cupertino CA 95014 US
Related Domains
External Links
- Stock: AAPL
- Alexa: Apple.com
- Apple On Campus: AppleOnCampus.com
Ray King's Comments on Apple.com
- Ray King (frustrated) : Groan, just woke up to 26 see VoiceMails on my 3G iPhone from the past 11 days which showed up all at once! I love my iPhone, but service since I got the new one has not been up to the normal excellence I have come to expect from Apple products. 09:27, 19 October 2008 (PDT)
Dolapo Taiwo's Comments on Apple.com
- Dolapo Taiwo (delighted) : I am beginning to feel my move to mac is long overdue. I was at the apple store on regent street in london today and was impressed by the wide array of graphics credententials the imac had. As a multimedia expert, I think apple is sure the way forward. (by unotechmedia.com) 06:16, 20 November 2008 (PST)
