Apple Inc. San Francisco CA

Apple is engaged in the design, development and marketing of Personal computers and related software, peripherals, network solutions, portable digital music players and related accessories. It has been around since the late 1970s but just recently took over the market as it started to introduce more and more products that were nothing like anything that was currently on store shelves. With product differentiation as its strongest partner, Apple has been able to make a big name in itself. The introduction of the iPod was the product that really launched this company into the new technology age. Apple also sells products and services like the MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Apple software, the iTunes store, iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic and most recently the iPod touch and iPhone. The company primarily operates in the US and is headquartered in Cupertino, California with about 17,800 employees.

The company manages its business primarily on a geographic basis. The company operates through four operating segments: the Americas, Europe, Japan, and retail. The Americas, Europe, and Japan reportable segments do not include activities related to the retail segment. The retail segment currently operated Apple-owned retail stores in the US, Canada, Japan and the UK. The company has 116 retail stores in the US and eight international stores in Canada, Japan and the UK.

Apple's products can be grouped under five product lines: 1) desktops, portables, iPod, other music related products and services 2) peripherals and other hardware 3) software 4) service and 5) other sales.

Apple attracts a lot of its customers by allowing them to test out products before buying them. Most Apple stores are equipped with working iMacs, iPods and iPhones to let customers see how certain products work. Also, Apple provides free in-store training sessions to purchasing customers who need to be more familiarized with the products they provide.

The company was incorporated on January 3, 1977 and was known as Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years in the business. On January 9, 2007, the company dropped the word "computer" from its corporate name, which reflected the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.

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. 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 or GUI, which was influenced in part by the Xerox Alto. Lisa was also the first personal computer to have the mouse. In 1984, the Macintosh was introduced, which arguably advanced the concept of a new user-friendly graphical user interface. Apple's success with the Macintosh became a major influence in the development of graphical interfaces elsewhere, with major computer operating systems, such as the Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST, appearing on the market within two years of the introduction of the Macintosh.

In 1991, Apple introduced the PowerBook line of portable computers. The 1990s also saw Apple's market share fall as competition from Microsoft Windows and the comparatively inexpensive IBM PC compatible computers that would eventually dominate the market. In the 2000s, Apple expanded its focus on software to include professional and prosumer video, music, and photo production solutions, with a view to promoting their products as a "digital hub". It also introduced the iPod, the most popular digital music player in the world.

Today, Apple has grown into an amazing enterprise. The hype of the iPhone has paid off and has helped Cingular/AT&T gain a large amount of new customers. The iPhone is like no other. Users have a cell phone, personal computer, iPod, GPS Navigation System and digital camera all in one small device. The touch screen display, allows users to easily navigate through websites on the Internet as well as text with a full QWERTY keyboard. The features on this phone attracts customers, young and old, as it is an upgrade of the blackberry phones.

Apple's biggest competitors include: Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Samsung and Sony.