Apple Inc
Apple Inc
Apple Inc
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Apple Inc.
ISIN US0378331005
Products AirPods
Apple TV
Apple Watch
Apple Vision Pro
HomePod
iPad
iPhone
Macintosh
Full list
ASN 714
Website apple.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3][4][5]
As of March 2023, Apple is the world's largest company by market capitalization.[6] In 2022, it was
the largest technology company by revenue, with US$394.3 billion.[7] As of June 2022, Apple was
the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales, the largest manufacturing company by
revenue, and the second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world. It is one of the Big
Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (the parent company
of Google), Amazon, Meta (the parent company of Facebook), and Microsoft.
Apple was founded as Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, to produce and market Steve
Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. The company was incorporated by Wozniak and Steve
Jobs in 1977. Its second computer, the Apple II, became a best seller as one of the first mass-
produced microcomputers. Apple introduced the Lisa in 1983 and the Macintosh in 1984, as
some of the first computers to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. By 1985, the
company's internal problems included the high cost of its products and power struggles between
executives. That year Jobs left Apple to form NeXT, Inc., and Wozniak withdrew to other
ventures. The market for personal computers expanded and evolved throughout the 1990s, and
Apple lost considerable market share to the lower-priced duopoly of the Microsoft
Windows operating system on Intel-powered PC clones (also known as "Wintel").
In 1997, Apple was weeks away from bankruptcy. To resolve its failed operating system strategy
and entice Jobs's return, it bought NeXT. Over the next decade, Jobs guided Apple back to
profitability through several tactics including introducing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad to
critical acclaim, launching the "Think different" campaign and other memorable advertising
campaigns, opening the Apple Store retail chain, and acquiring numerous companies to broaden
its product portfolio. Jobs resigned in 2011 for health reasons, and died two months later. He was
succeeded as CEO by Tim Cook.
Apple has received criticism regarding its contractors' labor practices, its environmental
practices, and its business ethics, including anti-competitive practices and materials sourcing.
Nevertheless, it has a large following and a high level of brand loyalty. It has been consistently
ranked as one of the world's most valuable brands.
Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion in August
2018, then at $2 trillion in August 2020, and at $3 trillion in January 2022. In June 2023, it was
valued at just over $3 trillion.[8]
History
Main article: History of Apple Inc.
1976–1980: Founding and incorporation
See also: History of Apple Inc. § 1971–1985: Jobs and Wozniak
In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-
founded Apple in Jobs's parents' home on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California. Wozniak[9]
called the popular belief that the company was founded in the garage "a bit of a myth",
although they moved some operations to the garage when the bedroom became too
[10]
crowded. [11]
The Apple I is Apple's first product,
designed by Wozniak and sold as an assembled circuit board without the required keyboard,
The Apple II, also designed by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16, 1977, at the first West
Coast Computer Faire.[25] It differs from its major rivals, the TRS-80 and Commodore PET,
because of its character cell-based color graphics and open architecture. The Apple I and early
Apple II models use ordinary audio cassette tapes as storage devices, which were superseded
by the 5+1⁄4-inch floppy disk drive and interface called the Disk II in 1978.[26][27]
The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first "killer application" of the business
world: VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program released in 1979.[26] 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,[26] but Apple II market share remained behind home computers made by competitors
such as Atari, Commodore, and Tandy.[28][29]
On December 12, 1980, Apple (ticker symbol "AAPL") went public selling 4.6 million shares at
$22 per share ($.10 per share when adjusting for stock splits as of September 3, 2022),
[21]
generating over $100 million, which was more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor
Company in 1956.[30] By the end of the day, 300 millionaires were created, including Jobs and
Wozniak, from a stock price of $29 per share[31] and a market cap of $1.778 billion.[30][31]