Apple Computer
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Apple Computer, Inc. Template:Nasdaq is a Silicon Valley company based in Cupertino, California, whose core business is computer technologies. Apple helped start the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with its Apple II and shaped it in the 1980s and since with the Macintosh. Apple is known for innovative software and hardware, such as the iMac; its iPod digital music player; and the iTunes Music Store.
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12.1 Operating systems |
Pre-foundation
Before he co-founded Apple, Steve Wozniak was an electronics hacker. By 1975, he was working at Hewlett-Packard and helping his friend Steve Jobs design video games for Atari. Wozniak had been buying computer time on a variety of minicomputers hosted by Call Computer, a timesharing firm run by Alex Kamradt. The computer terminals available at that time were primarily paper-based; thermal printers like the Texas Instruments Silent 700 were the state of the art. Wozniak had seen a 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine on how to build your own computer terminal. Using off-the-shelf parts, Wozniak designed the Computer Conversor, a 24-line by 40-column, uppercase-only video teletype that he could use to log on to the minicomputers at Call Computer. Alex Kamradt commissioned the design and sold a small number of them through his firm.
In 1975, Wozniak started attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. New microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and the IMSAI inspired him to build a microprocessor into his video teletype and have a complete computer.
At the time the only microcomputer CPUs generally available were the $179 Intel 8080, and the $170 Motorola 6800. Wozniak preferred the 6800, but both were out of his price range. So he watched, and learned, and designed computers on paper, waiting for the day he could afford a CPU.
When MOS Technology released its $20 6502 chip in 1976, Wozniak wrote a version of BASIC for it, then began to design a computer for it to run on. The 6502 was designed by the same people who designed the 6800, as many in Silicon Valley left employers to form their own companies. Wozniak's earlier 6800 paper-computer needed only minor changes to run on the new chip.
Wozniak completed the machine and took it to Homebrew Computer Club meetings to show it off. At the meeting, Wozniak met his old friend Jobs, who was interested in the commercial potential of the small hobby machines.
Early years
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak ("the two Steves") had been friends for some time, having met in 1971, when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a machine and selling it.
Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, who said they would be interested in the machine, but only if it came fully assembled. The owner, Paul Terrell, went further, saying he would order 50 of the machines and pay $500 each on delivery. Jobs then took the purchase order that he had been given from the Byte Shop to Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor, and ordered the components he needed to assemble the Apple 1 Computer. The local credit manager asked Jobs how he was going to pay for the parts and he replied, " I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms are COD. If you give me the parts on a net 30 day terms I can build the computers in that time frame deliver and collect my money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you." With that, the credit manager called Paul Terrell who was attending an IEEE computer conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove and verified the validity of the Purchase Order. Amazed at the tenacity of Jobs, Terrell assured the credit manager if the computers showed up in his stores Jobs would be paid and would have more than enough money to pay for the parts order. The two Steves and their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers and delivered to Terrell on time to pay his suppliers and have a tidy profit left over for their celebration and next order. Steve Jobs had found a way to finance his soon-to-be multimillion-dollar company without giving away one share of stock or ownership.
The machine had only a few notable features. One was the use of a TV as the display system, whereas many machines had no display at all. This was not like the displays of later machines however, and displayed text at a terribly slow 60 characters per second. This machine, the Apple I also included bootstrap code on ROM, which made it easier to start up. Finally, at the insistence of Paul Terrell, Wozniak also designed a cassette interface for loading and saving programs, at the then-rapid pace of 1200 bit/s. Although the machine was fairly simple, it was nevertheless a masterpiece of design, using far fewer parts than anything in its class, and quickly earning Wozniak a reputation as a master designer.
Joined by another friend, Ronald Wayne, the three started to build the machines. Using a variety of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family, selling various prized items (like calculators and a VW bus), scrounging, white lies (or petty fraud, depending on your point of view), Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while Wozniak and Wayne assembled them. They were delivered in June, and as promised, they were paid on delivery. Eventually 200 of the Apple I's were built.
But Wozniak had already moved on from the Apple I. Many of the design features of the I were due to the limited amount of money they had to construct the prototype, but with the income from the sales he was able to start construction of a very much upgraded machine, the Apple II; it was presented to the public at the first West Coast Computer Faire on April 16 and 17, 1977. On the first day of exhibition, Jobs introduced Apple II to a Japanese textile technician named Mizushima Satoshi who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan.[1] (http://www.openbook.tv/book2/2_chapter1.htm)
The main difference internally was a completely redesigned TV interface, which held the display in memory. Now not only useful for simple text display, the Apple II included graphics, and, eventually, color. Jobs meanwhile pressed for a much improved case and keyboard, with the idea that the machine should be complete and ready to run out of the box. This was almost the case for the Apple I machines sold to The Byte Shop, but one still needed to plug various parts together and type in the code to run BASIC.
Building such a machine was going to cost a lot more money. Jobs started looking for cash, but Wayne was somewhat gun shy due to a failed venture four years earlier, and eventually dropped out of the company. Banks were reluctant to loan Jobs money; the idea of a computer for ordinary people seemed absurd at the time. Jobs eventually met "Mike" Markkula who co-signed a bank loan for $250,000, and the three formed Apple Computer on April 1 1976.
With both cash and a new case design in hand, the Apple II was released in 1977 and became the computer generally credited with creating the home computer market. Millions were sold well into the 1980s. When Apple went public in 1980, they generated more money than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956, and instantly created more millionaires than any company in history.
A number of different models of the Apple II family were built, including the Apple IIe and Apple IIgs, which can still be found in many schools as late as 2005.
Apple III and Lisa
By the 1980s Apple faced emerging competition in the personal computing business. Chief among them was IBM, the first "big name" in computing. IBM's PC model, running DOS (short for "disk operating system", and licensed to IBM by Microsoft) was capturing a large share of the emerging desktop computing market in large companies.
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Several smaller businesses were using the Apple II, but the company felt it needed a newer, more advanced model to compete in the corporate desktop computing market. Thus, the designers of the Apple III were forced to comply with Jobs' lofty and sometimes impractical goals (a continuing theme through Apple's history). Among these was the omission of a cooling fan - it is reported Jobs found them "inelegant." Due to this design flaw and production flaws many of these machines were dead on arrival or succumbed to overheating. Thousands were recalled and replaced with no questions asked. The Apple III was also expensive and, though the company introduced an updated version in 1983, the initial bad press discouraged buyers and left the III largely a failure.
Meanwhile, various groups within Apple were working on a completely new kind of personal computer, with advanced technologies such as a graphical user interface, computer mouse, object-oriented programming and networking capabilities. These people, including Jef Raskin and Bill Atkinson, agitated for Steve Jobs to put the company's focus behind such computers.
It was only when they brought him to see the work being done at Xerox PARC on the Alto in December 1979 that Jobs decided the future was in such graphics-intensive, icon-friendly computers, and supported the competing Apple Lisa and Apple Macintosh teams. Over the objections of some PARC researchers, many of whom (such as Larry Tesler) ended up working at Apple, Xerox granted Apple engineers 3 days of access to the PARC facilities in return for selling them one million dollars in pre-IPO Apple stock (approximately $18mil. net). The Lisa debuted in January 1983 at $10,000. Once again, Apple had introduced a product that was ahead of its time, but far too expensive (the company would continue to follow this pattern for the next few years), and Apple again failed to capture the business market. The Lisa was discontinued with the unceremonious burial of the remaining inventory at a landfill in Logan, Utah in 1986.
The Macintosh
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The Lisa project was removed from Jobs' control midway through development to prevent another Apple III incident and Jobs soon turned his attention to the Macintosh Project. The Macintosh was originally envisioned by Jef Raskin as a truly personal computer with everything the end-user would ever need built right in. It was a research project at the time Jobs came along in the very early development stages. Being somewhat upset about the exile from Lisa he set out to mold the Macintosh into a device that would surpass Lisa. This was a time at Apple where different projects like Lisa and Macintosh were discrete departments which were somewhat self-contained in all aspects; a serious flaw which created hostilities and unrest within the company.
The Apple Macintosh was launched in 1984 with a now famous Super Bowl advertisement based on George Orwell's novel 1984, declaring, "On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'" — the implication being that the Mac's new, "user friendly" GUI would liberate computing and information from the elite of large corporations and technocrats. Macintosh also spawned the concept of Mac evangelism which was pioneered by Apple employee, and later Apple Fellow, Guy Kawasaki.
In anticipation of the Macintosh launch, Bill Gates, co-founder, chairman of Microsoft was given several Macintosh prototypes in 1983 for software development for the new computer. In 1985, Microsoft launched Microsoft Windows, its own GUI for IBM PCs using many of the elements of the Macintosh OS. This led to a long legal battle between Apple Computers and Microsoft, ending with an out of court settlement. In this settlement it was stated that Microsoft would be granted access to and allowed unlimited use of the Macintosh GUI. By that point the IBM PC system had been reverse engineered and many companies were also making IBM PC Compatibles, cheaper copies of the PC. Although the first version of Windows was technologically inferior to the Mac, a Windows-equipped PC clone could be purchased for much less. Also, because of the open nature of the PC platform there was always more software available for Windows.
Despite early concerns about the system, such as lack of software, the monochrome-only display and the closed architecture, the Macintosh brand was eventually a success for Apple and continues to be to this day. Though there are some who argue that it might have been a bigger success. While it did briefly license some of its own designs, Apple did not allow other computer makers to "clone" the Mac until the 1990s, long after Microsoft dominated the marketplace with its broad licensing program. By then, it was too late for Apple to reclaim its lost marketshare and the Macintosh clones achieved limited success before being axed in 1997 and 1998.
Though Apple may never recover the broad consumer marketshare (as high as 29%) it had in the late 1970s, the Macintosh has become known as the de-facto platform for many industries including cinema, music, publishing and the arts.
1984 to 1997
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The Macintosh, though a better product than the Apple II in many ways, did not quickly displace it in Apple's product line. They were separate, incompatible platforms, and Apple promoted them to different market segments: the Macintosh to colleges, college students, and knowledge workers, and the Apple II to homes and public schools. (In fact, John Gruber has speculated that this incompatibility was the main reason the Macintosh did not share the phenomenal success of the Apple II. [2] (http://daringfireball.net/2004/08/parlay)) A few months after introducing the Mac, Apple released a compact version of the Apple II called the Apple IIc. And in 1986 Apple introduced the Apple IIgs, a hybrid product with a mouse-driven, Mac-like operating environment. Apple II computers remained an important part of Apple's business, and were not discontinued until the early 1990s.
At the same time, the Mac was becoming a product family of its own. The original model evolved into the Mac Plus in 1986 and spawned the Mac SE and the Mac II in 1987 and the Mac Classic and Mac LC in 1990. Meanwhile, Apple attempted its first portable Macs: the failed Macintosh Portable in 1989 and then the more popular PowerBook in 1991, a landmark product that established the modern form and ergonomic layout of the laptop. Popular products and increasing revenues made this a good time for Apple. MacAddict magazine has called 1989 to 1991 the "first golden age" of the Macintosh.
That time did not last. In the late 1980s, Apple's fiercest technological rivals were the Amiga and Atari ST platforms. But by the 1990s, computers based on the IBM PC had become the most popular and were out-competing all three. Apple's response to the PC threat was a profusion of new Macintosh lines including Quadra, Centris, and Performa. Unfortunately, these new lines were marketed poorly. For one, there were too many models, differentiated by very minor graduations in their tech specs. The excess of arbitrary model numbers confused many consumers and hurt Apple's reputation for simplicity. Also, Apple's retail resellers like Sears and CompUSA often failed to sell or even competently display these Macs.
In 1994, Apple augmented its Macintosh line with the Power Macintosh, which was based on the PowerPC line of processors developed by the AIM alliance. These processors utilized RISC architecture, which differed substantially from the Motorola 680X0 series that preceded it. Apple's operating system software was adjusted so that most software written for the older processors could run in emulation on the PowerPC series.
In addition to computers, Apple has also produced consumer devices. In the 1990s, Apple released the Newton, an early PDA. Though it failed commercially, it defined and lauched the category and was a forerunner and inspiration of devices such as Palm Pilot and its descendants-PocketPCs.
After an internal power struggle with new CEO John Sculley in 1985, Apple's board of directors sided with Sculley and Jobs was asked to resign. He then went on to found NeXT Inc., a computer company that built machines with futuristic designs and ran the UNIX-derived NeXTstep operating system. Although powerful, NeXT computers never caught on due in part to their high prices. Later on, NeXT dropped its hardware to focus on its operating system software. In 1997, the struggling company beat out Microsoft and Be, Inc.'s BeOS in its bid to sell its operating system to Apple, which was looking to replace its aging Mac operating system. Apple purchased NeXT and its NeXTstep operating system, bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple's management. On July 9 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted as CEO of Apple by the board of directors after overseeing a 12 year record low stock price and crippling financial losses. Jobs stepped in as the iCEO (interim CEO) and began a critical restructuring of the company's product line.
1998 to 2003
After discontinuing Apple's licensing of its operating system to third-party computer manufacturers, one of Jobs's first moves as new acting CEO was to develop the iMac, which bought Apple time to restructure. The original iMac integrated a CRT display and CPU into a streamlined, translucent plastic body. The line became a sales smash, moving about one million units a year. It also helped re-introduce Apple to the media and public, and announced the company's new emphasis on the design and aesthetics of its products.
More recent products include the iBook, the Power Mac G4, and the AirPort product series, which helped popularize the use of Wireless LAN technology to connect computers to networks.
In 1999, Apple introduced the Power Mac G4, which utilized the Motorola-made PowerPC 7400 containing a 128-bit instruction unit known as AltiVec as its flagship processor line. Also that year, Apple unveiled the iBook, its first consumer-oriented laptop that was also the first Macintosh to support the use of Wireless LAN via the optional AirPort card that was based on the 802.11b standard.
In 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, an operating system based on NeXT's NeXTstep. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, OS X married the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of use of a partially overhauled Macintosh interface. The new operating system allowed the use of Mac OS 9 applications in the Classic Environment, which ran the last revision of the 16-year-old OS. Apple's Carbon API also allowed developers to adapt their OS 9 software to use Mac OS X's features.
In May 2001, after much speculation, Apple announced the opening of a line of Apple retail stores, to be located throughout the major U.S. computer buying markets. The stores were designed for two primary purposes: to stem the tide of Apple's declining share of the computer market, as well as a response to poor marketing of Apple products at third-party retail outlets.
In early 2002, Apple unveiled a redesigned iMac, using the G4 processor. The new design had a hemispherical base and a flat panel all-digital display supported by a swiveling neck. This model was discontinued in the summer of 2004.
In 2002, Apple also released the XServe 1U rack mounted server. Originally featuring two G4 chips, the XServe was unusual for Apple in two ways. It represented an earnest effort to enter the enterprise computer market and it was also relatively cheaper than similar machines released by its competitors. This was due, in no small part, to Apple's use of Fast ATA drives as opposed to the SCSI hard drives used in traditional rack-mounted servers. Apple later released the Xserve RAID, a 14 drive RAID which was, again, cheaper than competing systems.
In mid-2003, Apple launched the PowerMac G5, based on IBM's G5 processor. Apple claims this the first 64-bit computer sold to the general public, but in fact that title actually goes to the AMD Opteron line. Both 64-bit CPU's were pre-dated by the 64-bit DEC Alpha architecture, although the Alpha was aimed more at servers and workstations and not at the "general public." The PowerMac G5 was also used by Virginia Tech to build its prototype System X supercomputing cluster, which at the time garnered the prestigious recognition of 3rd fastest supercomputer in the world. It cost only $5.2 Mil (USD) to build, far less than the previous #3 and other ranking supercomputers, although Apple donated or discounted much of the equipment to Virginia Tech specifically so Apple could make a public relations splash. Apple's Xserves were soon updated to use the G5 as well. They replaced the PowerMac G5 machines as the main building block of Virginia Tech's System X, which was ranked in November 2004 as the world's 7th fastest supercomputer[3] (http://www.top500.org/lists/plists.php?Y=2004&M=11).
A new iMac based on the G5 processor was unveiled August 31 2004 and was made available in mid-September. This model dispensed with the base altogether, placing the CPU and the rest of the computing hardware behind the flat-panel screen, which is suspended from a streamlined aluminium foot. This new iMac, dubbed the iMac G5, is the world's thinnest desktop computer, measuring in at around two inches (around 5.1 centimeters).
Apple computers such as the PowerBook, the iBook, and the iMac are frequently featured as props in films and television series. Occassionally the heroes use Apple computers while the villains are relegated to PC compatibles. In 1996, Apple ran an advertising campaign for the PowerBook tying in with the film Mission: Impossible and in the film Independence Day a Macintosh laptop is used to infect the alien mothership and save the human race.
Through the 1990s, personal computers based on Microsoft's Windows operating system began to gain a much larger percentage of new computer users than Apple. As a result, Apple fell from controlling 20% of the total personal computer market to 5% by the end of the decade. The company was struggling financially under then-CEO Gil Amelio when on August 6 1997 Microsoft bought a $150 million non-voting share of the company as a result of a court settlement with Apple (Microsoft has since sold all Apple stock holdings). Perhaps more significantly, Microsoft simultaneously announced its continued support for Mac versions of its office suite, Microsoft Office, and soon created a Macintosh Business Unit. This reversed the earlier trend within Microsoft that resulted in poor Mac versions of their software and has resulted in several award-winning releases. However, Apple's market share continued to decline, reaching 3% by 2004.
2003 to present
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Initially, the Apple Stores were opened in the U.S. only, but in late 2003, Apple opened its first Apple Store outside the USA, in Tokyo's Ginza district. Ginza was followed by a store in Osaka, Japan in August of 2004. More shops for Japan are supposedly in the works. Apple's first European store opened in London in November 2004, and is currently the largest store. A store in the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham opened in early 2005, and the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent is due to open in 2005. Apple opened its first store in Canada in the middle of 2005 at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in North York, a suburb of Toronto. Apple will open two more stores in the UK by the end of 2005; one in Meadowhall, Sheffield and the other in the Trafford Centre, Manchester.
Also, in an effort to court a broader market, Apple opened several "mini" stores in October 2004 in attempt to capture markets where demand does not necessarily dictate a full scale store. These stores follow in the footsteps of the successful Apple products: iPod mini and Mac mini. These stores are only one half the square footage of the smallest "normal" store and thus can be placed in several smaller markets.
On April 29, 2005, Apple released Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" to the general public.
Presently Apple's wildly successful PowerBook and iBook products rely on Apple's previous generation G4 architecture which were produced by Freescale Semiconductors a spin off from Motorola. Engineers at IBM have had some success in making their PowerPC G5 processor consume less power and run cooler but not yet enough to run in iBook or PowerBook formats. [4] (http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/09/01.4.shtml)
On June 3, 2005, CNET broke a story (http://news.com.com/Apple+to+ditch+IBM%2C+switch+to+Intel+chips/2100-1006_3-5731398.html?tag=nefd.lede) claiming that Apple had dissolved its partnership with IBM and would begin to use Intel-produced chips in its computers beginning in mid-2006. Officially announced (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html) at the 2005 WWDC by Steve Jobs in a keynote address on June 6th, 2005, Apple will begin producing Intel-based Macintosh computers by 2006. Steve Jobs confirmed that the company has secretly been producing its current operating system Mac OS X both in PowerPC and Intel based versions for the past 5 years, in a secret project rumored to go by the name Marklar, and that the transition to Intel processor systems will last until the end of 2007. This move surprised many; however, OS X is based on OPENSTEP, an operating system that was available for many platforms. In fact, Apple's own Darwin, the open source underpinnings of OS X, is also compiled for x86. [5] (http://news.com.com/Apple+shakes+hands+with+Intel/2009-1006_3-5733319.html) [6] (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1112) [7] (http://nytimes.com/2005/06/06/technology/06apple.html)
2006 and beyond
As well as the transition to Intel microprocessors, 2006 (or shortly thereafter), will see the arrival of Apple's next version of Mac OS X, Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". This is expected to provide for a "smoother" transition to the Intel chips although will run on present day PowerPC processors as part of their intention to continue PowerPC support for some years to come. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer also stated during his keynote address at the World Wide Developers Conference 2005, that the use of Mac OS X will continue well into the next two decades.
Apple and "i" Web services
- iReview Introduced at Macworld 2000, was Apple Computer's attempt to give new Internet users a place to read reviews of Web sites. However, the project was not a success, and in the end, iReview was cancelled early in 2001.
iPod and iTunes Music Store
Main articles: iPod; iTunes Music Store
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In October 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a portable digital music player. Its signature features included; an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), easy to use interface, and a large capacity drive( initially 5 GB) which was enough to hold approximately 1,000 songs. It was quite large when compared to the 20-30 songs of Flash-based players of the time. Apple has since revised its iPod line several times, introducing a slimmer, more compact design, Windows compatibility (previous iPods only interacted with Macintosh computers), AAC compatibility, storage sizes of up to 60 GB, and easier connectivity with car or home stereo systems. On October 26 2004, Apple released a color version of their award winning iPod which can not only play music but also show photos. In early 2005, Apple unveiled its smallest iPod yet: the iPod shuffle, which is about the size of a pack of gum. Speaking to software developers on June 6, 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company's share of the entire portable music device market stood at 76%.
Apple has revolutionized the computer and music industry by signing the five major record companies to join its new music download service, the successful iTunes Music Store. Unlike other fee-based music services, the iTunes Music Store charges a flat $0.99 per song (or $9.99 per album). Users have more flexiblility than on previous on-line music services. For example, they can burn CDs including the purchased songs (although a particular playlist containing purchased music may only be burned seven times), share and play the songs on up to 5 computers, and, of course, download songs onto an iPod.
The iTunes Music Store commercial model is one-time purchase, which contrasts with other commercial subscription music services where users are required to pay a regular fee to be able to access musical content (but are able to access a larger volume of music during the subscription). If these services begin to gain traction in the marketplace, it is arguable if Apple will not reshape the iTunes Music Store in some way to stay competitive.
The iTunes Music Store was launched in 2003 with 2 million downloads in only 16 days; all of which were purchased only on Macintosh computers. Apple has since released a version of iTunes for Windows, allowing Windows users the ability to access the store as well. Initially, the music store was only available in the United States due to licensing restrictions, but there were plans to release the store to many other countries in the future.
In January 2004 Apple released a more compact version of their iPod player, the 4-GB iPod Mini. Although the Mini held fewer songs than the other iPod models at that time, its smaller size and multiple colours made it popular with consumers on debut with many stores having "sold out" their initial inventories of the devices.
In June 2004 Apple opened their iTunes Music Store in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. A European Union version opened October 2004 (actually, a Eurozone version; not initially available in the Republic of Ireland due to the intransigence of the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) but eventually opened Thursday January 6 2005.) A version for Canada opened in December 2004. On May 10 2005, the iTunes Music Store was expanded to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
On December 16 2004, Apple sold its 200 millionth song (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/dec/16itunes.html) on the iTunes Music Store to Ryan Alekman from Belchertown, Massachusetts. The download was The Complete U2, by U2. Just under three months later Apple sold its 300 millionth song (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/mar/02itms.html) on March 2 2005. On June 6 2005, Steve Jobs told financial news network CNBC that the iTunes Music Store had sold 430 million songs, and that songs were currently selling at an annualized rate of more than 500 million.
On January 11 2005, an even smaller version of the iPod was announced, this one based on flash memory instead of using a miniaturized hard drive. The iPod shuffle, like its predecessors, proved so popular that it sold out almost immediately, causing delays of up to four weeks in obtaining one within a single week of its debut. This is despite the fact that critics had gawked at the lack of LCD screen in the Shuffle, a norm in almost all current flash memory based mp3 players.
The iPod is giving an enormous lift to Apple's financial results (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/apr/13results.html). In the quarter that ended March 26 2005, Apple earned $290 million, or 34 cents a share, on sales of $3.24 billion. The year before in the same quarter, Apple earned just $46 million, or 6 cents a share, on revenue of $1.91 billion.
Hardware currently made by Apple
Computers
- Consumer Sub-Desktop Computer - Mac mini - Comes in two models. BYODKM (Bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse).
- Consumer Desktop Computer - iMac - Currently the iMac G5 with 17" and 20" models
- Consumer Portable Computer - iBook - Currently the iBook G4 with 12" and 14" models
- Pro Desktop Computer - Power Mac G5 - Comes in three models
- Pro Portable Computer - PowerBook G4 - Comes in 12", 15" and 17" models
- Education Desktop Computer - eMac - Also sold to regular consumers and government employees
- Servers - Xserve - Single Processor, Dual Processor, and Cluster Node
- Server Storage Options - Xserve RAID
iPod Digital Music Players
- iPod photo - Holds up to 15,000 Songs or 25,000 Photos in 2 models (30 & 60 GB)
- iPod - Holds up to 5,000 Songs (20 GB)
- iPod U2 Edition - Holds up to 5,000 songs in black and red with U2 band members' signatures engraved on back (20 GB)
- iPod mini - Holds up to 1,500 songs in 1 model (6 GB) and 4 colors (silver, green, pink, blue)
- iPod shuffle - Holds up to 240 songs in 2 models (512 MB & 1 GB)
Computer Accessories
- Video Conferencing Camera - iSight
- Wireless Networking Products - AirPort Extreme Base Station & AirPort Express
- Computer Displays - Apple Cinema HD Display & Apple Displays
See also: List of Macintosh models grouped by CPU
Software currently made by Apple
Operating systems
- Mac OS X - The client operating system that Apple ships today. Current version is 10.4.1.
- Mac OS X Server - The server operating system that Apple ships today. Current version is 10.4.1.
Pro applications
- Final Cut Studio - Bundles the following software together:
- Final Cut Pro - High end video editing
- DVD Studio Pro - Professional DVD authoring
- Soundtrack Pro - Professional Soundtrack Audio Editing.
- Motion - Real Time Motion Graphics
- Logic Pro - Comprehensive music toolkit
- Shake - Advanced effects compositing
Consumer applications
- AppleWorks office/productivity suite
- Final Cut Express HD SD and HD video editor
- Logic Express music editor
- iLife includes
- iDVD, a basic DVD-authoring application
- iMovie, a basic video editing application
- iPhoto, a photo management application
- iTunes, a music jukebox also providing access to the iTunes Music Store
- GarageBand, a music recording and creation application
- iWork includes
QuickTime
Server solutions
Note about Software
It should be noted that of these above applications, iTunes and the basic QuickTime player are available for both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows users as free downloads. AppleWorks 6 and QuickTime Pro are also both available for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows users, for a fee, though the former is available only through the online "Apple Store for Education." In addition, a version of QuickTime Streaming Server can be run on multiple computing platforms, and even Apple Darwin can run on computers using the x86 (or compatible) family of CPUs.
See also: List of Macintosh software
Hardware formerly made by Apple
- ImageWriter
- StyleWriter
- LaserWriter
- QuickTake, early digital camera
- Apple Newton, one of the world's first PDAs
- Pippin games console (released in Japan and US by Bandai)
- Power Mac G4 Cube, compact high-performance computer
Documentation
- Developers' Reference Library (http://developer.apple.com/referencelibrary/)
- Inside Macintosh
Slogans
Company Advertising Campaigns
- "Soon there will be 2 kinds of people. Those who use computers, and those who use Apples." (Early 1980s)
- "Changing the world — one person at a time" (mid-1980s)
- "The computer for the rest of us" (1984)
- "Leading The Way" (1984)
- "There's no telling how far it can take you" (1980s, at least 1984 when it was used on an ad for the Apple IIc)
- "The power to be your best" (1980s–1990s)
- "Think different" (1997–2002) The most famous advertising campaign in Apple's history
- "Switch" (2002–2003) Hoping to capture PC users to "Switch" to the Mac platform
Product Advertising Slogans
- iMac & iBook
- "iThink, therefore iMac." (1998) based on René Descartes famous line, "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito ergo sum).
- "The iMac to Go." (1999) used to market the new iBooks.
- "Where did the computer go?" (2004) used to market the new iMac G5
- "From the creators of iPod." (2004) used to market the new iMac G5
- "The most affordable Mac ever." (2004) used to market the new Mac mini.
- PowerMac & PowerBook
- "The plot thins." (1999) -- used to market "thinner" PowerBook G3 models code-named "Lombard", introduced May 1999
- "Two Brains are better than one" (2000) used to market new dual processor PowerMac G4s
- "Less is more" (2003) used to market new PowerBook G4s
- "The world's fastest computer" (2003) used to market new PowerMac G5s, somewhat controversial
- iPod & iTunes
- "1000 songs in your pocket." (2001) used to promote the first generation iPod's large storage capacity and compact design
- "Mini. The next big thing." (2004) used to market the iPod mini
- "The best keeps getting better" (2004) used to market the iPod 4th generation
- "10000 songs in your pocket." (2004) used to market the iPod 4th generation
- "Life is random." (2005) used to market iPod shuffle.
- "Give chance a chance." (2005) used to market iPod shuffle.
- "Random is the new order." (2005) used to market iPod shuffle.
- "Enjoy uncertainty." (2005) used to market iPod shuffle.
- iTunes
- "Rip. Mix. Burn." (2001) used to promote iTunes desktop CD burning capability, somewhat controversial
- "Rock and Roll will never die. It is, however, being reborn." (2003) used to promote the iTunes Music Store
- "The best Windows app ever." (2003) used to promote iTunes on Windows
- "Welcome to the digital music revolution." (2004) used to promote iTunes
- "Drink. Win. Play." (2005) used during the 2005 Pepsi-iTunes promotion.
Apple as a corporation
Logo
The famous Apple logo was designed by Rob Janoff in 1976 and took the form of a multi-colored rainbow Apple with a 'bite' taken out of it. [8] (http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,60597,00.html) It has stayed the same since then albeit with changes to the color scheme in various forms. Around the late 1990s it became one solid color. There was never a "definite" color for the logo, however, since it has been seen in red, blue, white, purple, etc. It is one of the most recognized brand symbols in the world.
Trademark dispute with Apple Corps
In 1978 Apple Corps, i.e. The Beatles filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement. The suit settled in 1981 with an undisclosed amount being paid to Apple Corps. This amount had been estimated to $50–$200 million, but was later revealed to be $80,000. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business.
In 1986 Apple added MIDI and audio-recording capabilities to its computers, and in 1989 Apple Corps sued again, claiming violation of the 1981 settlement agreement. In 1991 another settlement of around $26.5 million was reached. At this time, an Apple employee named Jim Reekes added a sampled system sound called xylophone to the Macintosh operating system, but Apple's legal department objected citing the agreement with Apple Corps. Reekes renamed the sound to sosumi, which he asserted was Japanese and meant nothing musical, but in fact can be read phonetically as "So, sue me".
The 1991 settlement outlines the rights each company has to the Apple trademark. While Apple Corps was given the right to use the name on any "creative works whose principal content is music", Apple Computer was given the right to use the name on "goods or services...used to reproduce, run, play or otherwise deliver such content," but not on content distributed on physical media. [9] (http://news.com.com/Apple+vs.+Apple+Perfect+harmony/2100-1027_3-5378401.html) In other words, Apple Computer agreed that it would not package, sell or distribute physical music materials.
In September 2003 Apple Computer was sued by Apple Corps again, this time for introducing iTunes and the iPod which Apple Corps believed was a violation of the previous agreement by Apple not to distribute music. Some observers believe the wording of the previous settlement favors Apple Computer in this case. [10] (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2004/tc20040930_9317_tc056.htm) Other observers speculate that Apple Computer may be forced to offer a much larger settlement this time which may even result in Apple Corps becoming a major shareholder in Apple Computers or, perhaps may result in Apple Computer splitting the iPod and related business into a separate firm. [11] (http://www.legalzoom.com/articles/article_content/article11325.html)
As of April 2005 this suit has not yet been resolved.
Trademark dispute with Abdul Traya
In July 1998 Abdul Traya and Stan Berg registered the domain name www.appleimac.com, two months after Apple announced the iMac, in an attempt to draw attention to the web-hosting business they were running out of their parents' basement. A note on their site stated that their plan was to "generate traffic to our servers and try to put the domain to sale. [sic]" [12] (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-221921.html) After a legal dispute that lasted until April 1999, Traya and Apple settled out of court with Apple paying legal fees and giving Traya a "token payment" in exchange for the domain name. [13] (http://www.macobserver.com/news/99/april/990427/applevsteen.html)
Defamation dispute with Carl Sagan
In 1994 Apple was sued by Carl Sagan for using his name as the internal code-name for the Power Macintosh 7100. Sagan lost the suit twice. See the Carl Sagan article for details.
Trademark dispute with Benjamin Cohen
In November 2000, Benjamin Cohen of CyberBritain (http://www.cyberbritain.co.uk) registered the domain name, itunes.co.uk for an mp3 search engine; his first choice, "tunes.co.uk" was taken. Apple was granted a UK restricted (non music) trademark for ITUNES on March 23 2001, and launched its popular iTunes music store service in the UK in 2004. Apple and CyberBritain are now in a dispute over the rights to the name. The story was broken by The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/06/apple_itunescouk_domain_dispute/) on the December 6 2004. For a short period of time, the domain redirected to iTunes biggest rival, Napster. The domain name now forwards to CyberBritain's cash back/rewards website QuickQuid.com (http://www.QuickQuid.com). In March 2005, .uk domain registar Nominet UK ruled in Apple's favor in the dispute citing that Cohen had made an "abusive registration," causing many bloggers and small businesses to complain that Nominet was unfairly supporting large corporations. Cohen has stated that he will appeal the case to Britain's High Court.
Apple takes on bloggers
In November 2004, three popular websites about Apple rumors released information about two unreleased Apple products, the Mac mini and an as yet unreleased product codenamed Asteroid, also known as Project Q97. Apple Insider, Power Page, and Think Secret were all brought into the suit under the grounds that they published trade secrets. The suit has brought up the current status of bloggers, and whether they hold the same protection that journalists do. In February 2005 it was decided by a court official in California that the bloggers do not have the same shield laws as journalists. They were forced to give up their sources, leading to multiple other lawsuits. In a related case, all three websites have gone on to fight the journalistic status decision, and are also in the process of settling with Apple Computer.
Diversity
Apple received a 100% rating on the first Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2002 related to its policies on LGBT employees. They have maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004.
However, it has been criticized for discriminating against African-Americans.[14] (http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,48154,00.html) In November 2001, a former product design engineer filed a lawsuit in California alleging racial discrimination in that he was refused promotions and perks, isolated from other staff and dismissed unreasonably. He further alleged he was paid less than white counterparts.
The company was also sued for sexual discrimination, although the case was dismissed after opening statements.[15] (http://www.orrick.com/practices/employment/discrimination.asp)
In 2000, Jesse Jackson singled out Apple as a "negative example" of racial tolerance due to its failure to appoint African Americans or Latinos to the board. [16] (http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/racism.shtml) Apple has still not made such an appointment.
Criticism
Apple has been criticised for their vertically integrated business model, which runs against the grain of much of the 'received wisdom' of economists, particularly for the computer industry. However, the company is profitable. Other criticisms have included that it has been very personality driven, especially in the two different eras of Steve Jobs' tenure; some even regard it as being a cult, or at least having cult-like features. Jobs' infamous reality distortion field is often cited as a criticism. From a technical standpoint, Apple has also been criticised for having a closed and proprietary architecture with the original Macintosh, and a "not invented here" syndrome against adopting open standards.
However, that trend has been largely reversed with Mac OS X, and the company now has an official policy of adopting open industry standards where they exist. Apple has now used industry standard hardware technologies for many years, which has helped to lower prices significantly. Many Apple technologies have become industry standards where no former standard existed, e.g. ZeroConf network configuration, FireWire, etc. Other technologies, invented elsewhere, only gained wide industry acceptance after Apple adopted them, including 3-1/2 inch floppy disks, SCSI, USB, Wi-Fi and, of course, graphical user interfaces. Mac OS X itself is now based on an open source kernel and core operating system called Darwin. Apple also uses an open source rendering engine called WebCore, which is based on KHTML, in its Safari web browser.
Some third-party developers are also critical of the competing factions within Apple themselves, illustrated by the perception of an ongoing rivalry between the developers of Cocoa, which came from NeXT, and those of Carbon, which came from Apple. This rivalry is seen as counterproductive and unnecessary by many developers.
Apple's retail initiative has had a mixed reception. They have been considered a success in raising awareness of the Apple brand. Retailers have suggested that the Apple-owned retail stores have preferential treatment when receiving Apple hardware, and therefore receive limited stock product earlier, and at lower prices - an accusation that has been officially denied by Apple.
Apple CEOs, 1977-present
- 1977 - 1981: Michael Scott
- 1981 - 1983: Mike Markkula
- 1983 - 1993: John Sculley
- 1993 - 1996: Michael Spindler
- 1996 - 1997: Gil Amelio
- 1997 - present: Steve Jobs
See also
- Apple Developer Connection — Developer relations program
- Macintosh clones — Discussion of Apple's licensing of the Macintosh platform
- Apple typography — Apple's type related endeavors, technological and artistic
- Mac rumors community — in recent years, a subculture has developed around rumored products
- Mactel
References
- "Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania and Business Blunders" by Jim Carlton
- "Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company" by Owen Linzmayer
- "Infinite Loop" by Michael Malone
- "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything" by Steven Levy
- 1 (http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/09/01.4.shtml) - Mac Observer "No G5 PowerBooks anytime soon"
External links
- Apple Computer Official Website (http://www.apple.com/)
- Apple-History.com (http://www.apple-history.com/)
- MacNN - Apple news site (http://www.macnn.com/)
- Macworld's Apple news site (http://www.maccentral.com/)
- Apple Computers Informations And News (http://www.applestuff.info)
- Macin-Talk.com (http://forums.macin-talk.com) - A forum about Apple, MacOS, and everything else Apple-related.
- The Apple Museum (http://www.theapplemuseum.com/)
- Apple Employee Weblogs (http://seriot.ch/AppleBlogs)
- Yellowikis:Apple_computer (http://www.yellowikis.org/wiki/index.php/Apple_computer)
- Computer History Museum (http://www.retromadness.com/) - Museum of home computing and gaming.
- OneButan (http://onebutan.com) - An Apple-centric wiki
- [17] (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1+Infinite+Loop&ll=37.331843,-122.030371&sll=37.331736,-122.030168&spn=0.005654,0.007972&sspn=.361862,.510178&t=k&hl=en) - Apple Headquarters on Google Mapsca:Apple
cs:Apple Computer da:Apple Computer de:Apple es:Apple Computer eo:Apple fi:Apple Computer fr:Apple Computer he:אפל hu:Apple Computer id:Apple Computer it:Apple Computer ja:アップル・コンピュータ ko:애플 컴퓨터 lt:Apple nl:Apple no:Apple pl:Apple pt:Apple Computer, Inc. ro:Apple Computer ru:Apple Computer sv:Apple Computer th:แอปเปิล คอมพิวเตอร์ zh:苹果电脑 id:Apple Computer it:Apple Computer pl:Apple Computer ro:Apple Computer