Kumpulkan semua informasi ttg sejarah dari perusahaan2 tersebut, mulai dari awal berdiri sampai sekarang: - perubahan

struktur - perubahan budaya - evolusi produk2 perusahaan - perubahan strategi - akan lebih bagus bila disertai juga dengan multi media movie ttg sejarah perusahaan atau produk2nya. Dikumpulkan dalam bentuk paper dan softcopy (burning di CD). Cari dan kumpulkan informasi selengkap mungkin dan dikumpulkan sebelum UTS. Sejarah Apple Inc. Pada tahun 1976, ketika bekerja pada perusahaan komputer temannya yang memproduksi Video TeleType Terminal (VTT), Wozniak mulai menggabungkan desain VTT dengan desain komputer yang sudah dia buat sebelumnya, terutama dengan menggantikan panel layar lampu kedip dengan layar video. Kemudian dia mencoba untuk memperlihatkan desain barunya itu kepada perusahaan Hewlett-Packard (HP), tapi saat itu pihak HP mengira itu barang rongsokan yang tidak ada gunanya, dan bahkan saat itu Wozniak terus-terusan diejek Disaat Wozniak merasa tidak berguna, Steve Jobs mencoba untuk menghibur dan meyakinkan Wozniak bahwa mereka berdua bisa saja membuat perusahaan komputer sendiri untuk mengembangkan desain Wozniak itu. Akhirnya mereka sepakat untuk membuat perusahaan sendiri, dan Steve Jobs mengusulkan untuk memberi nama komputer pertamanya dengan sebutan Apple. Pada bulan Agustus 1976, Wozniak melihat sebuah pameran layar berwarna yang saat itu disebut the Dazzler, dan saat itu Wozniak sangat terobsesi untuk menyempurnakan komputer Apple dengan menambahkan layar berwarna. Pada saat yang sama, dia juga ingin menyederhanakan arsitektur memori komputer Apple menjadi lebih sederhana namun tidak mengurangi performa, dan hal ini menandai pertama kali dibuatnya prosesor yang memorinya dibagi (share) dengan memori video. Komputer Apple yang pertama resmi dibuat dan dirakit di garasi di rumah orang tua Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs mentargetkan menjual komputernya itu untuk para penggemar komputer yang sudah ada. Programnya dioperasikan dengan menggunakan pita kaset biasa. Pada saat itu sudah ada software utuk pemrograman, yaitu BASIC, tetapi ketika dicoba dijalankan pada komputer Apple tetapi gagal, kemudian Wozniak membuat sortware pemrograman sendiri. Pada saat pertama kali menjual komputer Apple, mereka menggunakan slogan "Byte into Apple" bisa mempunyai dua arti, pertama yaitu "Makanlah Buah Apel, tetapi arti lainnya adalah "Silahkan Coba Komputer Apple". Tetapi bisnis tidak langsung berjalan lancar. Para penggemar komputer saat itu lebih tertarik kepada produk "the Altair" dan merk-merk yang lainnya Pada tahun 1976, Steve Jobs memutuskan untuk melebarkan sayap perusahaan, lalu dia mengontak beberapa pengusaha lokal. Setelah beberapa lama akhirnya dia berhasil memikat seorang pengusaha bernama Armas Clifford markkula yang bersedia memberikan pinjaman uang dari bank sebesar $ 250.000 untuk memenuhi angan-angan Steve Jobs dan Stephan Wozniak membuat perusahaan komputer yang lebih besar dan akan memproduksi Apple II. Sejak saat itulah pertama kali Perusahaan Apple Inc. resmi berdiri, tepatnya tanggal 3 Januari 1977. Perusahaan baru yang dibentuk Jobs dan Wozniak kemudian pindah dari garasi rumah Jobs ke markas barunya di Cupertino, dan mulailah tantangan untuk menjalankan perusahaan dengan sebaik-baiknya. Mereka harus memikirkan untuk mencari peluang untuk menjual komputer personal kepada para pengguna komputer yang sudah lebih dulu menggunakan komputer merk lain. Akhirnya mereka mulai dengan strategi mempermudah cara kerja komputer menjadi semudah mungkin dan mengotomatisasikan aplikasi-aplikasi yang selama ini dilakukan secara manual. Jobs memprakarsai penggunaan bahan plastik sebagai bahan utama cangkang komputer (casing) dan langsung digunakan pada peluncuran pertama komputer Aplle II, karena dia mempercayai bahwa penampilan juga bisa menarik hati para pengguna.

Pada tahun 1978, Apple memperkenalkan komputer Apple II+, yang merupakan komputer pertama yang mempunyai dan menggunakan Floppy Disk. Pada tahun 1981, Jobs mempunyai ide gila untuk membuat komputer Apple yang mempunyai ukuran tidak lebih dari sebuah buku, dan akhirnya komputer itu dinamakan Apple IIb. Tapi prodak Apple IIb dia batalkan karena dikhawatirkan penjualannya akan mempengaruhi penjualan Macintosh. Tetapi tidak lama dari saat itu muncul komputer Toshiba Portable, kemudian Jobs tidak kalah cerdik dengan membuat komputer portable yang sudah dilengkapi dengan diskdrive. Disaat-saat puncak kejayaan Apple Inc, terdengar kabar bahwa manajemen perusahaan mengalami masalah yang dikarenakan oleh egoisme dan antagonisme Steve Jobs yang saat itu merasa bahwa dia telah merajai dunia. Pihak perusahaan akhirnya memutuskan untuk menyewa kepala perusahaan baru untuk menghandel manajemen, dan dipilihlah John Sculley, mantan eksekutif perusahaan Pepsi. Setelah menghadapi terpaan badai selama bertahun-tahun, kini Apple Inc. sedang menikmati hasilnya. Steve Jobs boleh berlega hati karena masih dapat menyelamatkan perusahaannya yang dulu nyaris hancur karena kurang bisa mengendalikan diri. Sejarah Apple Inc. telah diwarnai dengan berbagai penemuan-penemuan yang jenius yang dibarengi dengan strategi pemasaran yang kurang bagus, berbeda dengan perusahaan Microsoft yang mempunya desain yang kurang bagus tetapi memiliki strategi pemasaran yang cemerlang. Saat ini Apple Inc. kurang bisa menguasai pasar karena mereka masih kurang mampu untuk merespon kebutuhan pasar.

Sejarah Apple, Inc. (Wikipedia) Apple, Inc. (sebelumnya bernama Apple Computer, Inc.) adalah sebuah perusahaan yang terletak di daerah Silicon Valley, Cupertino, California, yang bergerak dalam bidang teknologi komputer. Apple membantu bermulanya revolusi komputer pribadi pada tahun 1970-an dengan produknya Apple II dan memajukannya sejak tahun 1980-an hingga sekarang dengan Macintosh. Apple terkenal akan perangkat keras ciptaannya, seperti iMac, Macbook, perangkat pemutar lagu iPod, dan telepon genggam iPhone. Beberapa perangkat lunak ciptaanya pun mampu bersaing di bidang kreatif seperti penyunting video Final Cut Pro, penyunting suara Logic Pro dan pemutar lagu iTunes yang sekaligus berfungsi sebagai toko lagu online. Pra-pendirian Sebelum membantu mendirikan Apple, Steve Wozniak adalah seorang hacker elektronik. Pada tahun 1975, dia bekerja di Hewlett-Packard dan membantu temannya Steve Jobs mendisain video game untuk Atari. Pada saat itu, Wozniak telah membeli computer time pada bermacam jenis minicomputer yang di-host oleh Call Computer, sebuah perusahaan timesharing. Terminal komputer pada saat itu mayoritas berbasis kertas; thermal printer seperti Texas Instruments Silent 700 adalah terminal yang paling maju. Wozniak melihat sebuah artikel di majalah bernama Popular Electronics edisi 1975 yang berisikan bagaimana cara untuk membuat terminal komputer sendiri. Menggunakan alat-alat yang dapat dibeli di toko, Wozniak merancang dan membuat komputer bernama Computer Conversor, sebuat video teletype yang bisa dipakai untuk mengakses minicomputer di Call Computers. Disainnya kemudian dibeli oleh Call Computers dan beberapa unit terjual. Pada tahun 1975 Wozniak mulai menghadiri pertemuan sebuah klub bernama Homebrew Computer Club. Microcomputer baru seperti Altair 8800 dan IMSAI menginspirasinya untuk memasang sebuah mikroprosesor pada video teletype-nya untuk menjadikannya sebuah unit komputer yang lengkap. Pada saat itu CPU yang banyak tersedia adalah Intel 8080 seharga $US 179 dan Motorola 6800 seharga $US 170. Wozniak lebih tertarik pada Motorola 6800 tetapi harganya terlalu mahal. Dia pun kemudian sadar dan hanya mendisain komputer di atas kertas. Ketika MOS Technology memproduksi chip 6502 pada tahun 1976 dengan harga $US 20, Wozniak membuat sebuah versi BASIC untuk chip tersebut dan mulai mendisain sebuah komputer untuk menjalankannya. Chip 6502 didisain oleh orang yang sama yang telah mendisain Motorola 6800. Wozniak kemudian berhasil membuat komputer tersebut dan membawanya ke pertemuan-pertemuan Homebrew Computer Club untuk dipamerkan. Pada satu pertemuan Wozniak bertemu teman lamanya Steve Jobs yang tertarik akan potensi komersialisasi komputer-komputer kecil. Tahun-tahun pertama Steve Jobs dan Steve Wozniak sudah berteman sejak lama. Bertemu pertama kali pada tahun 1971 ketika seorang teman memperkenalkan Wozniak yang saat itu berumur 21 tahun kepada Jobs yang saat itu baru berumur 16 tahun. Jobs berhasil membujuk Wozniak untuk membuat komputer dan menjualnya. Jobs mendekati sebuat toko komputer lokal The Byte Shop yang tertarik untuk membeli komputer tetapi hanya komputer yang sudah terpaket lengkap, pemilik toko tersebut Paul Terrell mengatakan ia siap membeli 50 unit seharga $US 500 satunya. Komputer buatan Wozniak hanya memiliki beberapa kelebihan. Salah satunya dapat menggunakan TV sebagai monitor di mana saat itu banyak komputer tidak memiliki monitor sama sekali. Monitor ini bukanlah seperti monitor modern dan hanya menampilkan teks dengan kecepatan 60 karakter per detik. Komputer ini bernama Apple I dan memiliki kode bootstrap pada ROM-nya yang membuatnya lebih mudah untuk dihidupkan. Akhirnya dengan paksaan Paul Terrell Wozniak juga mendisain sebuah mekanisme kaset untuk membuka dan menyimpan program dengan kecepatan 1,200 bits/detik, sebuah kecepatan yang cukup tinggi

pada saat itu. Walaupun komputer tersebut cukup sederhana disainnya adalah sebuah masterpiece, menggunakan jumlah komponen yang jauh lebih sedikit dengan komputer-komputer sejenisnya dan berhasil memberi reputasi kepada Wozniak sebagai seorang master designer dengan cepat. Dibantu oleh satu orang lagi teman Ronald Wayne, bertiga mereka mulai memproduksi komputer tersebut. Dengan menggunakan berbagai cara termasuk meminjam ruangan dari teman dan keluarga, menjual bermacam harta pribadi (seperti kalkulator dan sebuah mobil VW Combi), memulung dan sedikit menipu. Jobs berhasil mendapatkan komponen-komponen yang dibutuhkan untuk produksi sementara Wozniak dan Wayne membuat komputer-komputer tersebut. Selesai dan dikirim pada bulan Juni, mereka dibayar sesuai janji oleh Paul Terrell. Pada akhirnya, 200 unit Apple I diproduksi. Tapi Wozniak sudah lebih maju daripada Apple I. Banyak elemen design Apple I dibuat karena keterbatasan dana yang dimiliki oleh mereka untuk membuat sebuah prototype. Tapi dengan pendapatan dari penjualan Apple I, dia bisa memulai produksi komputer yang lebih canggih, Apple II; Apple II diperkenalkan kepada publik pada West Coast Computer Faire pada bulan April 1977. Perbedaan utama dengan Apple I adalah tampilan TV yang didesign total, di mana tampilan disimpan di memori. Dengan cara ini monitor tidak hanya bisa menampilkan teks juga bisa menampilkan gambar dan pada akhirnya warna. Pada saat yang sama Jobs menekankan disain casing dan keyboard yang lebih baik dengan pemikiran bahwa komputer tersebut harus lengkap dan siap langsung dinyalakan. Apple I hampir bisa seperti itu namun pengguna masih harus memasang berbagai macam komponen dan menulis kode untuk menjalankan BASIC. Menyadari membuat komputer seperti itu akan memakan banyak biaya. Jobs mulai mencari uang tunai namun Wayne sedikit ragu karena ia pernah mengalami kegagalan perusahaan empat tahun sebelumnya dan akhirnya keluar dari perusahaan. Jobs akhirnya bertemu dengan Mike Markkula yang menjamin pinjaman bank sebanyak $US 250.000 dan mereka bertiga membentuk perusahaan Apple Computer pada 1 April 1976. Dengan dana dan disain bentuk yang baru, Apple II dilepas pada tahun 1977 dan menjadi komputer yang biasanya diasosiasikan dengan munculnya pasar PC. Jutaan unit terjual sampai tahun 1980an. Ketika Apple go public pada tahun 1980, mereka menghasilkan dana terbanyak sejak Ford go public pada tahun 1956. Berbagai jenis model Apple II diproduksi, termasuk Apple IIe dan Apple IIgs. Apple III dan Lisa Memasuki dekade 1980, Apple menghadapi kompetisi dalam bisnis komputer pribadi. Salah satu penantang besar adalah IBM, perusahaan ternama pertama di bidang komputer. Komputer IBM yang menggunakan sistem operasi DOS yang dilisensi kepada IBM oleh Microsoft meraih porsi yang besar dalam pangsa pasar komputer meja untuk perusahaan besar yang tergolong masih muda. Beberapa perusahaan yang lebih kecil menggunakan Apple II, tetapi Apple merasa perlu mengeluarkan model baru yang lebih maju untuk bersaing di bidang komputer meja bagi perusahaan besar. Maka para perancang Apple III dipaksa untuk mengikuti keinginan Steve Jobs yang terlalu tinggi dan mustahil untuk dipenuhi. Salah satu diantaranya adalah menghilangkan kipas pendingin - yang menurut Steve Jobs tidak elegan. Mesin baru tersebut kemudian sangat sering mengalami overheating dan sebagian model awalnya harus ditarik dari pasaran. Apple III tergolong sangat mahal walaupun Apple berusaha mengeluarkan versi yang diperbaiki pada tahun 1983 yang juga gagal di pasaran. Sementara, beberapa grup di dalam Apple juga berusaha mengembangkan jenis komputer pribadi baru, dengan teknologi maju seperti antarmuka pengguna grafis menggunakan mouse, object-oriented programming dan kemampuan menggunakan network. Orang-orang tersebut seperti Jef Raskin dan Bill Atkinson mencoba meyakinkan Steve Jobs untuk memberikan dukungan sepenuhnya dalam mengembangkan ide mereka.

Hanya setelah mereka membawa Steve Jobs untuk melihat teknologi yang dikembangkan di Xerox PARC dalam komputer Alto pada bulan Desember 1979 maka yakinlah Steve Jobs bahwa masa depan akan menghadirkan komputer yang grafik-intensif dan icon-friendly. Walaupun ide tersebut mengundang ketidaksetujuan ahli riset dari PARC banyak yang akhirnya bekerja untuk Apple seperti Larry Tesler, Xerox mengijinkan insinyur dari Apple untuk mengunjungi fasilitas PARC dengan perjanjian bahwa Apple akan menjual satu juta saham mereka sebelum perusahaan tersebut go-public (total harga saat itu berkisar AS$18 juta). Apple Lisa dilepas pada bulan January 1983 dengan harga AS$ 10.000. Sekali lagi, Apple mengenalkan produk yang tergolong sangat maju pada saat itu, tetapi terlalu mahal (kesalahan ini akan terus diulang Apple selama beberapa tahun kedepan), dan sekali lagi Apple gagal meraih pasaran yang tersedia. Apple Lisa kemudian diberhentikan pada tahun 1986. Macintosh Proyek Lisa dilepas dari kendali Steve Jobs saat masih separuh jadi. Steve Jobs kemudian mengalihkan perhatiannya kepada proyek Macintosh, yang pada awalnya dianggap sebagai sejenis Lisa yang lebih murah. Apple Macintosh diluncurkan pada tahun 1984 dengan iklan televisi berjudul 1984 yang didasarkan dari novel karya George Orwell yang juga diberi nama 1984, dengan pernyataan, "On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'" maksud dari kata-kata tersebut adalah Macintosh yang baru akan membebaskan komputer dan informasi dari kekangan perusahaan besar dan technocrats. Apple juga membuahkan konsep pewarta Apple (Apple evangelist) yang dipelopori oleh karyawan Apple bernama Guy Kawasaki. Walaupun ada kekhawatiran mengenai kurangnya piranti lunak yang tersedia, layar hitam putih dan arkitekturnya yang terutup, merek Macintosh pada akhirnya menjadi produk yang berhasil bagi Apple bahkan sampai hari ini. Banyak yang merasa bahwa kesuksesan itu seharusnya jauh lebih besar dari kenyataannya. Ketika Bill Gates pendiri dan sekarang pemimpin Microsoft mengunjungi kantor besar Apple di Cupertino, Steve Jobs menunjukkan sebuah prototipe dari antarmuka pengguna grafis untuk Macintosh. Pada tahun 1985 Microsoft meluncurkan Windows, antarmuka pengguna grafis buatan mereka sendiri untuk komputer IBM. Pada saat itu sistem komputer IBM sudah di-reverse engineered dan banyak perusahaan juga membuat komputer yang kompatibel dengan IBM. Walaupun Apple memberi lisensi untuk beberapa produk lainnya mereka tidak pernah memberikan izin perusahaan lain untuk membuat komputer yang kompatibel dengan Macintosh sehingga Microsoft bisa mendominasi pangsa pasar yang ada. Pada saat itu Apple sadar bahwa mereka sudah terlambat untuk merebut kembali kekuasaan pasar yang pernah mereka miliki. Komputer Macintosh kompatibel yang dijual pada tahun 1990an pun hanya meraih kesuksesan yang kecil. Walaupun Windows versi pertama sangat ketinggalan zaman dibanding Macintosh, piranti lunak tersebut dan komputer yang kompatibel dengan Windows bisa dibeli dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah dibanding sebuah Macintosh. Ditambah lagi perbaikan yang dilakukan Microsoft secara cepat mengejar ketinggalan mereka. Sekaligus juga karena keterbukaan yang dimiliki oleh komputer yang kompatibel dengan IBM menyebabkan lebih banyak piranti lunak tersedia untuk Windows dibanding Macintosh.

Ipod Nano keluaran Apple pada tahun 2005 Keadaan sekarang Setelah kegagalan Macintosh Portable pada tahun 1989 Apple mencoba memperkenalkan sebuah komputer portabel yang lebih populer PowerBook di awal dekade 1990. Generasi pertama produk ini dirancang bersama Sony dan memberikan layout untuk komputer portabel yang masih dipakai sampai saat ini: engsel

belakang untuk mendukung layar, keyboard yang diletakkan menjorok ke belakang dan trackball (yang kemudian menjadi trackpad) diposisikan di depan keyboard tersebut. Namun merek PowerBook mengalami kegagalan setelah model PowerBook 5300 memiliki banyak masalah dalam kualitasnya seperti baterai yang gampang rusak, kerangka yang gampang keropos dan layar yang tidak bagus. Produk dari Apple yang dulu dan sekarang juga meliputi sistem operasi seperti ProDOS, Mac OS, Mac OS X, and A/UX, produk networking seperti AppleTalk, dan program multimedia seperti QuickTime and seri piranti lunak Final Cut. Pada tahun 1994, Apple memperbarui produk Macintosh mereka dengan mengenalkan seri Power Macintosh, yang menggunakan prosesor PowerPC hasil kerjasama IBM, Motorola dan Apple. Prosesor ini menggunakan arsitektur RISC, yang jauh berbeda dengan seri Motorola 680X0 sebelumnya. Sistem operasi milik Apple disesuaikan agar piranti lunak yang dikembangkan untuk prosesor yang lebih tua bisa berjalan dengan seri prosesor PowerPC. Setelah permasalahan kepemimpinan di dalam Apple dengan CEO baru John Sculley di dekare 1980-an, Steve Jobs keluar dari Apple dan mendirikan perusahaan NeXT Inc., yang pada akhirnya gagal, sekalipun memiliki awal yang baik. Dikemudian hari, Dalam usaha Apple untuk menyelamatkan perusahaannya, mereka membeli NeXT sekaligus dengan sistem operasi UNIX-based-nya NeXTstep yang juga membawa kembali Steve Jobs ke dalam perusahaan yang didirikannya. Sata satu langkah pertama yang dia lakukan sebagai pemimpin sementara di Apple adalah mencetuskan ide untuk mengembangkan iMac, produk yang akan menyelamatkan Apple dari kehancurannya sekaligus memberikan waktu bagi mereka untuk merampingkan sistem operasi yang sudah ada. Produk yang dirilis Apple setelah itu adalah Apple Airport yang menggunakan teknologi Wireless LAN untuk menyambungkan sebuah komputer ke Internet tanpa menggunakan kabel. Mereka juga mengeluarkan iBook dan PowerMac G4. Di awal tahun 2002, Apple mengeluarkan iMac G4. Komputer ini memiliki bagian dasar yang separuh bulat dan layar datar yang ditopang dengan leher yang bisa digerakkan. Model ini diberhentikan di musim panas 2004. Sebuah model yang baru yang menggunakan prosesor prosesor G5 dilepas pada tanggal 31 Agustus 2004 dan mulai dijual di pertengahan September pada tahun yang sama. Model ini meniadakan bagian dasar dan mengemas seluruh unit proses pusatnya (central processing unit) di belakang layar komputer yang ditopang oleh sebuah kaki aluminium yang ramping. Komputer yang dijuluki iMac G5 ini adalah komputer meja tertipis di dunia, dengan ketebalan yang hanya dua inci atau 5,1 cm. Di pertengahan 2003, Apple mengeluarkan prosesor PowerPC generasi kelima yang menggunakan seri prosesor PowerPC 970 yang dikembangkan oleh IBM. Ini adalah komputer 64 bit yang pertama kali tersedia untuk umum. Pada tahun 2001, Apple memperkenalkan Mac OS X, sebuah sistem operasi yang didasarkan dari NeXTstep yang menggabungkan stabilitas, kehandalan dan keamanan yang dimiliki UNIX dengan kemudahan dalam menggunakan Macintosh ke dalam sebuah piranti lunak yang bisa dipakai baik bagi mereka yang bergerak di bidang profesional maupun perseorangan. Mac OS X juga memiliki sebuah program bernama Classic Environment yang bisa menjalankan piranti lunak yang dirancang untuk sistem operasi 9.1-9.2.2 yang lama. Apple juga memberikan pilihan bagi pengembang piranti lunak yang lama untuk menggunakan teknologi Carbon agar program mereka bisa diadaptasi secara langsung ke dalam Mac OS X. Dengan cara ini, sebuah program bisa memanfaatkan semua fitur baru yang tersedia dalam Mac OS X. Pada Januari 2007, Apple memasuki pasar telepon genggam dengan memperkenalkan iPhone, yang akan dirilis pada tahun yang sama di AS. Pada saat yang sama, nama perusahaan juga akan dipangkas dengan menanggalkan kata "Computer" untuk mewakili diversifikasi produk perusahaan tersebut. Namun, pada tahun 2011, CEO Apple digantikan oleh Tim Cook , dikarenakan mundurnya Steve Jobs dari jabatannya pada tanggal 24 Agustus 2011. Kemudian, pada tanggal 5 oktober 2011, Steve Jobs yang merupakan mantan CEO dan pendiri Apple, meningal dunia karena kanker pankreas.

Trivia Ketika tenggat waktu memberikan nama untuk bisnisnya telah mencapai 3 bulan, Steve Wozniak kemudian menawarkan kepada staffnya: "Jika sampai pukul 5 sore hari ini tidak ada yang menemukan nama yang baik untuk perusahaan ini, maka nama tersebut akan diambil dari apapun yang saya suka..". Setelah pukul 5 sore, masih tidak ada yang menemukan nama yang tepat, kebetulan Steve Wozniak sedang memakan buah apel saat itu, dan sesuai dengan pernyataannya, perusahaan tersebut mengambil nama dari buah apel sebagai perusahaan Apple Computers. Apple di Indonesia Seperti di negara lain, kepopuleran iPod juga sudah menyebabkan "halo" effect bagi komputer Mac di Indonesia. Telah bermunculan beberapa milis fanatik Apple seperti Mac Club Indonesia, Mac.web.id, idMac, dan id-Apple, dan beberapa komunitas lain. Komunitas pengguna produk Apple di Indonesia sempat disorot oleh acara e-Lifestyle" (Metro TV) di beberapa episode yang berbeda.

http://portal.paseban.com/news/3609/sejarah-apple http://portal.paseban.com/news/4091/apple-app-store

Gaya Manajemen Nan Elegan dari Apple

Written by Yodhia Antariksa

iMac, iPod, iTunes, dan iPhone sungguh merupakan deretan karya teknologi yang amat estetik. Deretan produk elegan dengan sentuhan seni yang mengesankan. Deretan produk yang barangkali ingin menggapai dengan sepenuh hati apa itu makna keindahan yang sempurna. Dan melalui deretan produk inilah, Apple kemudian menyeruak menjadi pendekar paling tangguh dalam era konvergensi digital masa depan. Dalam lima tahun terakhir, Apple memang terus bergerak menggapai langit prestasi. Setelah produk iPodnya melambung dan membuat para petinggi Sony kelabakan, kini Apple hendak menggoyang kedigdayaan Nokia dengan produknya yang memukau, iPhone. Sementara jutaan orang setiap hari mengunjungi kios musiknya via iTunes. Pendeknya, menyaksikan kisah Apple ibarat menikmati jus apel yang segar dan menyehatkan. Lalu, apa sesungguhnya faktor kunci dibalik menjulangnya kerajaan Apple? Penyelidikan terhadap proses bisnis yang dilakoni oleh Apple membawa kita pada tiga elemen kunci yang mungkin bisa menjelaskan kejayaan perusahaan dari Cupertino, California ini. Elemen yang pertama dan mungkin paling vital adalah eksistensi sang CEO dan juga pendiri, Steve Jobs. Tak pelak, pria yang suka berpenamilan casual ini merupakan figur kunci dibalik ketangguhan Apple. Melalui visinya yang tajam dan citarasa yang kuat akan produk-produk teknologi berestetika, Steve telah menjelmakan dirinya sebagai jangkar yang amat menentukan ke arah mana bahtera Apple hendak dilayarkan.

Pertautan Steve Jobs dengan Apple sendiri merupakan sebuah kisah yang panjang nan berliku. Pria yang drop out saat kuliah di semester pertama ini mendirikan perusahaan Apple ketika usianya baru masuk 22 tahun (!) dari sebuah garasi mobil di rumah kontrakan. Di tahun-tahun awal berdirinya pada pertengahan tahun 70-an, Apple sempat mengguncang dunia dengan mengeluarkan produk personal computer pertama di dunia. Namun seiring berjalannya waktu, nasib Steve Jobs sendiri justru berakhir tragis : pada tahun 1986 ia justru dipecat dari Apple. Sejak ia pergi, Apple limbung dan didera kegagalan demi kegagalan. Setelah sempat berpetualang dengan mendirikan perusahaan Pixar (yang memproduksi film animasi sukses seperti Toy Story, Finding Nemo dan Cars), Steve Jobs melakukan langkah comeback : kembali direkrut untuk mengomandani Apple. Saat itu, tahun 1997, Apple tengah berada pada titik nadir, dan banyak orang

meramalkan perusahaan ini sebentar lagi akan masuk liang kubur. Senjakala kematian mengintai dan mereka tak yakin Steve Jobs mampu menjelmakan dirinya menjadi sang dewa penyelamat.

Toh sejarah kemudian menjadi saksi : betapa Steve Jobs telah melakukan proses comeback yang spektakuler. Steve Jobs sendiri sejatinya merupakan figur yang unik. Brilian, memiliki kepekaan seni yang mumpuni (ia pernah belajar kaligrafi), namun sekaligus memiliki sense of strong leadership. Pada sisi lain, Steve adalah pribadi yang selalu memburu titik kesempurnaan baik pada aspek desain ataupun dalam proses manufakturing beragam lini produknya. Begitu ia yakin dengan visi desain produknya, maka ia akan bekerja mati-matian bersama para engineernya untuk memastikan agar desain itu benar-benar dapat diproduksi dengan penuh kesempurnaan. Kisah penciptaan iPod dan iPhone barangkali tak akan pernah terjadi tanpa sikap perfeksionis dan sekaligus proses kepemimpinan yang kuat dari Steve Jobs. Elemen kedua yang menjadi penentu keberhasilan Apple adalah ini : sinergi yang sempurna antara beragam tim baik tim desain, tim software, dan tim hardware. Semua melakukan kolaborasi secara paralel dan simultan. Proses penciptaan produk di Apple tidak dilakukan secara setahap demi setahap, dimana setelah desain selesai lalu diserahkan ke bagian software, lalu diteruskan lagi ke bagian hardware. Sebaliknya, dalam prosesnya semua aspek ini dikerjakan bersama-sama secara simultan. Essentially it means that products dont pass from team to team. Its simultaneous and organic. Products get worked on in parallel by all departments at once design, hardware, software in endless rounds of interdisciplinary design reviews,demikian tulis majalah Time dalam liputannya yang memikat tentang Apple.

Elemen yang terakhir mungkin lebih jarang diketahui orang. Elemen ini adalah hadirnya sang jenius lain bernama Jonathan Ive yang menjabat sebagai Chief Design Apple. Jonathan Ive adalah seorang desainer produk brilian yang telah memiliki peran amat sentral dalam sejarah kelahiran produk-produk legendaris Apple. Ive-lah yang menjadi otak dibalik lahirnya produk iMac, iPod dan iPhone. Dengan kata lain, sosok inilah yang dengan jitu menerjemahkan visi Steve Jobs menjadi kenyataan melalui rangkaian produk yang elegan dan penuh nuansa keindahan. Demikianlah tiga elemen kunci yang kira-kira bisa menjelaskan tentang melambungnya prestasi Apple. Jika kita telisik, ketiga elemen ini semuanya bermuara pada people management : elemen yang pertama tentang leadership yang kuat dan visioner, yang kedua tentang kekuatan sinergi, dan yang ketiga tentang pengembangan kompetensi dan keahlian. Rangkaian produk Apple selama ini memang selalu menebarkan pesona yang menggetarkan. Namun dibalik itu semua, mereka juga telah memberikan contoh yang sempurna tentang bagaimana menjalankan proses people management secara elegan.

http://rizheka.wordpress.com/ Pasar Yang Dibidik Pasar yang dibidik Apple inc antara lain kalangan pelajar, pekerja, pemerintahan, serta masyarakat internasional. Strategi Pemasaran Strategi pemasaran produk Apple bermacam macam. Ada yang secara langsung kepada konsumen ( Mac dan ipod ) dan ada pula yang memalui makelar yaitu dengan cara bundling dengan beberapa operator selular ( iphone 3G dan iphone 3GS ). Di sini saya akan menjabarkan mengapa Apple menggandeng operator selular untuk memasarkan iphone 3G dan iphone 3GS. Berikut ini adalah 4 alasan mengapa Apple menggandeng operator selular untuk memasarkan iphone : 1.Strategi Aras Korporasi Menjualnya secara eceran, melalui distributor ataupun melalui kerjasama dengan operator selular adalah sebuah pilihan. Sebuah cara dalam berdagang dan ini tidak melanggar etika bisnis. Cara ini dipilih sebagai strategi perusahaan dalam berbisnis. Hal utama adalah bisa mendatangkan margin. 2. Berkelas dan Ekskusif Dengan memilih tidak melayani pelanggan secara langsung, RIM dan Apple Inc ingin menonjolkan kesan mewah dan hanya untuk kalangan tertentu. Dengan harga yang cukup tiggi dan dipaket bersama jasa operator selular artinya hanya orang-orang yang berduit saja yang mau secara rutin mengeluarkan biaya bulanan. IPhone dan Blackberry yang dibeli selain dari operator selular adalah produk Haram. 3. Membangun Loyalitas Salah satu sifat mendasar manusia adalah ingin dihargai dan diakui. Dengan menggunakan produk yang bukan sejuta umat, secara tidak langsung penggunanya merasa bahwa mereka sebagian kecil kaum yang sukses secara materi. Loyalitas pada perangkat ini terus mereka pertahankan demi status sosial. 4. Mengikat Konsumen Cinta itu tumbuh karena kebiasaan, konon begitu katanya. Kewajiban berlangganan dalam waktu tertentu, minimal 2 tahun untuk bisa menggunakan IPhone akan membuat orang cinta mati. Seperti nikotin atau zat adiktif, ada yang hilang jika berhenti memakainya. Apalagi ditambah dengan berbagai service yang menarik dari operator. Bahkan Barrack Obama ngotot untuk bisa tetap bermain dengan BlackBerrynya walaupun sebagai presiden tidak dibenarkan oleh protokoler kepresidenan US, akhirnya ia diizinkan. ANALISIS SWOT Kekuatan.

Apple adalah perusahaan yang sangat sukses. Penjualan dari pemutar musik iPod telah meningkatkan laba kuartal kedua hingga $ 320 (Juni 2005). Persepsi merek yang menguntungkan juga meningkat penjualan komputer Macintosh. Jadi iPod perusahaan memberikan akses ke seluruh seri baru segmen yang membeli ke bagian lain dari merek Apple. Penjualan dari produk-produk notebook juga sangat kuat, dan merupakan kontribusi besar untuk pendapatan untuk Apple. Merek adalah yang paling penting. Apple adalah salah satu yang paling mapan dan sehat merek IT di Dunia, dan memiliki seperangkat sangat setia antusias pelanggan yang mendukung merek. Kesetiaan yang begitu kuat berarti bahwa tidak cukup hanya merekrut pelanggan baru, hal itu tetap mereka

yaitu mereka datang kembali untuk lebih banyak produk dan jasa dari Apple, dan perusahaan ini juga memiliki kesempatan untuk memperluas produk-produk baru kepada mereka, misalnya iPod. Kelemahan.

Hal ini melaporkan bahwa iPod Nano Apple mungkin memiliki layar rusak. Perusahaan telah berkomentar bahwa batch dari produk layar yang patah di bawah pengaruh, dan perusahaan menggantikan semua item rusak. Hal ini merupakan tambahan masalah dengan iPod awal baterai yang rusak, di mana perusahaan menawarkan pelanggan bebas kasus baterai. Ada tekanan pada Apple untuk meningkatkan harga dari musik download file, dari industri musik itu sendiri. Banyak dari perusahaan-perusahaan ini membuat lebih banyak uang dari iTunes (yaitu musik download file) dari dari penjualan CD asli mereka. Apple telah menjual sekitar 22 juta iPod pemutar musik digital dan lebih dari 500 juta lagu meskipun toko musik iTunes. Bertanggung jawab atas 82% dari semua musik download secara legal di AS. Perusahaan ini tegas, tetapi jika menyerah pada produser musik, hal itu dapat dianggap sebagai kelemahan komersial. Awal tahun 2005 Apple mengumumkan bahwa itu adalah untuk mengakhiri hubungan lama dengan IBM sebagai pemasok chip, dan bahwa itu akan beralih ke Intel.Beberapa ahli industri berkomentar bahwa swap bisa membingungkan konsumen Apple.

Kesempatan.

Apel memiliki kesempatan untuk mengembangkan pemutar musik iTunes dan teknologi ke dalam ponsel format. Para perangkat ponsel Rokr dikembangkan oleh Motorola. Ini memiliki layar warna, speaker stereo dan sebuah sistem kamera muka. Sebuah versi dari Apple toko musik iTunes telah dikembangkan untuk telepon sehingga pengguna dapat mengelola trek toko mereka di atasnya. Download yang tersedia melalui kabel USB, ands perangkat lunak pada handset musik jeda jika telepon panggilan masuk baru aliansi strategis teknologi dan menawarkan kesempatan untuk Apple. Podcast di-download acara radio yang dapat di-download dari Internet, dan kemudian diputar ulang pada iPod dan perangkat MP3 lainnya pada kenyamanan pendengar.Para pendengar dapat berlangganan Podcast gratis, dan pada akhirnya pendapatan dapat dihasilkan dari dibayar untuk berlangganan atau melalui pendapatan yang dihasilkan dari penjualan download lainnya.

Ancaman.

Ancaman terbesar bagi perusahaan-perusahaan IT seperti Apple adalah sangat tinggi tingkat kompetisi di pasar teknologi. Sukses kompetisi menarik, dan Apple bekerja sangat keras untuk penelitian dan pengembangan dan pemasaran dalam rangka untuk mempertahankan posisi kompetitif. Popularitas iPod dan Apple Mac tunduk pada permintaan, dan akan terpengaruh jika ekonomi mulai goyah dan permintaan jatuh untuk produk mereka. Ada juga produk tinggi efek substitusi dalam inovatif dan bergerak cepat habis pakai TI pasar. Jadi iPod dan MP3 aturan hari ini, tapi baru kemarin itu CD, DAT, dan Vinyl.Teknologi Besok mungkin akan sama sekali berbeda. Teknologi nirkabel dapat menggantikan kebutuhan fisik pemutar musik. Pada tahun 2005 Apple memenangkan kasus hukum yang memaksa nama Blogger untuk sumbersumber informasi yang empted pra-peluncuran produk Apple baru. Itu menduga bahwa karyawan Apple sendiri telah membocorkan informasi rahasia tentang produk asteroid baru mereka. Tiga orang dituntut, semua milik Apple upeti situs, dan penggemar berat produk perusahaan. The blog telah muncul di situs mereka, dan mereka dipaksa untuk mengungkapkan sumber mereka. Yang berkuasa melihat kerahasiaan komersial lebih penting sebagai hak untuk pidato individu. Apple rentan terhadap kebocoran yang dapat merugikan mereka keuntungan.

Visi An Apple at every desk.

Misi Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

ANALISIS STRATEGI PERUSAHAAN APPLE COMPUTER.Inc

iMac, iPod, iTunes, dan iPhone sungguh merupakan deretan karya teknologi yang amat estetik. Deretan produk elegan dengan sentuhan seni yang mengesankan. Deretan produk yang barangkali ingin menggapai dengan sepenuh hati apa itu makna keindahan yang sempurna. Dan melalui deretan produk inilah, Apple kemudian menyeruak menjadi pendekar paling tangguh dalam era konvergensi digital masa depan. Dalam lima tahun terakhir, Apple memang terus bergerak menggapai langit prestasi. Setelah produk iPodnya melambung dan membuat para petinggi Sony kelabakan, kini Apple hendak menggoyang kedigdayaan Nokia dengan produknya yang memukau, iPhone. Sementara jutaan orang setiap hari mengunjungi kios musiknya via iTunes. Pada 2007 versi majalah Fortune, Apple Computer, Inc. menempati peringkat kelima perusahaan yang dikagumi dunia, bahkan peringkat nomer satu perusahaan paling inovatif di dunia berdasarkan survei ekstensif kepada ribuan eksekutif di seluruh dunia yang dilakukan oleh majalah Business Week adalah Apple. Terdapat duabelas pelajaran manajemen yang dikategorikan dalam empat hal: membuat produk sebagai raja, membuat pelanggan sebagai raja, menerjang pola yang ada dalam pemasaran, dan memperbaiki pimpinan dan rencana kerja. Salah satu contoh adalah tentang bagaimana Steve Jobs (salah satu pendiri Apple) memvisualisasikan visi nya ke dalam bentuk yang nyata dan bisa dimengerti semua karyawan dengan mudah. Dalam pengembangan produk, tidak bisa kita pungkiri bahwa Apple sangat menomorsatukan hal ini. Lihat saja iPod dengan desain yang elegan, mudah digunakan dengan menu sentral berbentuk seperti roda, dan pemilihan warna kemasan yang menarik. Ini baru dari segi penampilan. Dalam hal perangkat, iPod didesain dengan teknologi hard drive secara teliti. Dalam hal perangkat lunakpun, setiap produk Apple selalu dikembangkan dengan prinsip berimbang menggabungkan konsistensi dan kontinuitas. Setiap aplikasi yang dikembangkan selalu konsisten sehingga tidak ada masalah dalam perkembangan versi selanjutnya. Fitur yang telah adapun disempurnakan dengan menggunakan asas kontinuitas sehingga pengguna bisa merasakan manfaatnya secara berkesinambungan. Apple selalu menekankan pada bagaimana menciptakan kebutuhan bagi pelanggan melalui inovasi. Hal ini diawali dengan visualisasi dari visi secara gamblang. Ambil contoh misalnya saat Steeve Jobs memimpin rapat. Ia membuka tas plastik yang dibawanya, menuangkannya ke atas meja dan ternyata merupakan tiruan (mock-up) yang berbentuk seperti buku agenda yang terbelah dua. Belahan pertama adalah keyboard sedangakan belahan kedua adalah layar LCD. Dengan jelas Steve mengatakan bahwa Apple harus bisa membuat komputer dengan bentuk seperti buku agenda. Maka lahirlah PowerBook yaitu sebuah notebook

dengan trackball di keyboard nya. Kepiawaian Steve Jobs dalam membumikan visi ini perlu mendapatkan acungan jempol. Strategi pemasaran yang dilakukan Apple juga sangat praktis. Belajar dari Harley Davidson, Apple memasarkan produknya melalui komunitas. Dengan adanya komunitas seperti MUG (Macintosh Users Group) maka masalah teknis bisa diselesaikan oleh komunitas pengguna dan sekaligus bertindak sebagai corong Apple dalam menyebarkan hal-hal positif mengenai Apple. Strtaegi ini jitu dan efektif bila disertai dengan produk yang handal. Dalam hal kepemimpinan., Apple telah berkali-kali mengalami perubahan CEO. Bahkan Steve Jobs, meskipun pada awalnya adalah pendiri, pernah juga dikeluarkan dari Apple.. Setiap CEO memiliki visi dan gaya yang berbeda. Cara melihat gaya masing-masing adalah, salah satunya, dalam pengalokasian anggaran untuk penelitian dan pengembangan (litbang). Karena ini adalah bisnis berbasis teknologi, peran litbang sangat vital dalam mendukung pelaksanaan inovasi yang dikembangkan. Dua belas pelajaran manajemen yang ada pada perusahaan Apple Computer Inc. adalah sebagai berikut: 1. Toko Khusus Apple Sebelum ada Apple Store, seringkali distributor produk-produk Apple tidak memiliki staf yang menguasai pengetahuan produk secara lengkap, sehingga kelebihan-kelebihan Apple tidak tersampaikan kepada calon konsumen. Untuk itu, keberadaan Apple Store sangat diperlukan untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut. Apple Store telah menjadi sebuah pusat pelayanan Apple yang sangat ramah dan menyenangkan, di mana konsumen bisa mendalami teknologi-teknologi yang ditawarkan oleh Apple dan bertemu dengan sesama penggemar Apple lainnya. 2. Solusi Penuh Produk dan aksesoris Apple saling melengkapi satu sama lain. Pengguna iPod bisa mendownload dan memasukkan musik melalui program iTunes. Selain itu, Apple juga melengkapi Mac dengan hardware dan software buatan sendiri yang lengkap, sehingga para pengguna tidak perlu pusing mencari program yang cocok. 3. Apakah Anda Seorang Mac? Akui saja kalau merek Apple adalah sebuah merek yang hip, artinya bisa memberikan para penggunanya sebuah citra muda, modern, dan cerdas. 4. Produk yang Variatif Banyak konsumen mungkin belum siap untuk menggunakan Mac. Namun, melalui produkproduk yang lebih murah seperti iPod, Apple berusaha mengenalkan dan mengakrabkan kecanggihan produk-produknya kepada para konsumen. Dengan demikian, Apple berusaha menciptakan keinginan dari para konsumen untuk kemudian menggunakan Mac. 5. Format yang Unik Pengguna iPod tentu saja mengetahui kalau musiknya menggunakan format yang tidak umum, yaitu .aac. Hal ini bisa membuat para pengguna iPod malas untuk mengganti dengan pemutar MP3 lain dan justru ingin menggantinya dengan produk Apple yang lebih baru lagi. Terciptalah kesetiaan konsumen. 6. Sumber Makan untuk Media Apple seringkali memberikan bocoran-bocoran gosip melalui internet, di mana hal tersebut biasanya dimanfaatkan oleh para blogger untuk memberikan informasi baru. Hal ini biasanya menimbulkan rasa penasaran dari para konsumen. 7. Penjualan Pendidikan Dengan menjual produk-produknya kepada sekolah-sekolah dan universitas, Apple mengubah konsep kelas menjadi ruang pameran. Hal ini membuat para murid yang

menggunakan produk Apple menjadi sangat akrab dengan interface Apple dan bisa merasakan kinerja superiornya. Dengan cara seperti ini, Apple menciptakan pelanggan bahkan sebelum mereka tahu kalau mereka adalah pelanggan. 8. Produk yang Menjawab Apple sangat memperhatikan keinginan konsumen, jadi produk-produknya merupakan hasil dari penelitian yang matang dan desain yang kuat. Hal inilah yang menjadi kunci kepuasan pelanggan. 9. Meng-outsourcing Hal yang Tidak Menyenangkan Dalam kasus iPhone, siapa yang diprotes oleh konsumen karena iPhone tidak bebas untuk digunakan oleh segala operator? Apakah Apple? Jawabnya adalah AT&T. Apple tetap tenang di belakang layar sebagai penghasil produk bermutu dan AT&T adalah pihak pemberi jasa yang menyebalkan. 10. Konsisten Semua produk Apple memiliki rancangan dasar yang sama. Jadi, semua pengguna produk Apple akan memiliki bayangan awal terhadap produk baru Apple yang akan luncur, sehingga memudahkan mereka untuk beradaptasi dan melakukan pembelian ulang. 11. Inovasi Baru Walaupun rancangan dasarnya sama, tetapi tidak dengan portfolionya. Apple selalu menghadirkan inovasi baru bagi para konsumennya, dimulai dari saku, meja kerja, kantor, dan ruang keluarga. 12. Daya Tarik Dari segi kemasan sampai kepada fitur produk, semuanya menimbulkan rasa kagum bagi para pemakainya.

Apple Now World's Most Valuable Brand Senin, 27 Februari 2012 WIB Oleh : Debbie Kusuma (Management Sales) - Apple, Inc. (sebelumnya bernama Apple Computer, Inc.) adalah sebuah perusahaan yang terletak di daerah Silicon Valley, Cupertino, California, yang bergerak dalam bidang teknologi komputer. Apple membantu bermulanya revolusi PC pada tahun 1970-an dengan produknya Apple II dan memajukannya sejak tahun 1980-an hingga sekarang dengan Macintosh. Apple terkenal akan perangkat keras ciptaannya, seperti iMac, Macbook, perangkat pemutar lagu iPod, dan telepon genggam iPhone. Beberapa perangkat lunak ciptaanya pun mampu bersaing di bidang kreatif seperti penyunting video Final Cut Pro, penyunting suara Logic Pro dan pemutar lagu iTunes yang sekaligus berfungsi sebagai toko lagu online. Seperti di negara lain, kepopuleran iPod juga sudah menyebabkan "halo" effect bagi komputer Mac di Indonesia. Telah bermunculan beberapa milis fanatik Apple seperti Mac Club Indonesia, Mac.web.id idMac, dan id-Apple, dan beberapa komunitas lain. Komunitas pengguna produk Apple di Indonesia sempat disorot oleh acara e-Lifestyle" (Metro TV) di beberapa episode yang berbeda.

Apple Now World Tidak hanya Apple melampaui Microsoft dalam kapitalisasi pasar untuk menjadi yang perusahaan kedua yang paling berharga AS pada tahun 2010 menurut sebuah penelitian yang diterbitkan oleh lembaga penelitian global Millward Brown. Berkat keberhasilan tablet iPad dan mobile iPhone, brand value Apple melonjak 84% menjadi $, 153.300.000.000. Dengan peningkatan 246% dalam brand value maka ini merupakan satu lompatan terbesar dari perusahaan manapun yang ada di dunia ini. Saat ini diakui bahwa Apple merupakan merek paling berharga di dunia Peter Walshe, global Brandz direktur Millward Brown, mengatakan keberhasilan Apple mencerminkan fakta bahwa produknya tidak hanya sangat diinginkan oleh konsumen tetapi juga dilihat oleh perusahaan sebagai sesuatu yang berguna. Bukti anekdotal adalah bahwa jika karyawan diberi dua pilihan pekerjaan yang serupa mereka memilih untuk bekerja di satu perusahaan dengan teknologi yang lebih baik bagi karyawan - misalnya iPad. Apple juga berhasil menjadikan dirinya sebagai satu merek barang mewah, membuatnya sebagai produk yang lebih mahal, sehingga dapat meningkatkan keinginan mereka untuk memilikinya. Peringkat brand value lainnya didominasi oleh perusahaan teknologi, dari 6 urutan teratas ditempati oleh Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, AT & T dan China Mobile.

Strategi Sukses Apple dibawah Steve Jobs Internet advertising merupakan strategi yang efektif untuk dapat menjangkau customer dengan biaya yang relative kecil dan memiliki kemampuan untuk menjangkau customer yang terjauh sekalipun. Selain itu customer secara cepat dapat memperbandingkan produk yang sejenis baik dari kwalitas maupun harganya. Sehingga produk superiorlah yang akan berhasil memenangkan pasar. Diperlukan satu implementasi untuk menjadikan produk anda menjadi unggulan. Disinilah akan timbul satu ide-ide cemerlang untuk menciptakan satu produk yang baru dan genius. Dan inovasi-inovasi baru akan ditemukan. Secara keseluruhan maka ide yang cemerlang ini akan menciptakan satu terobosan yang baru yang sanggup mencengangkan setiap orang dan dapat dideklarasikan kepada dunia. Contoh terbaik adalah Apple iPhone.

Return to Apple Kembali pada tahun 1997 ketika Steve Jobs pertama kali datang kembali ke Apple, sejak ia keluar pada tahun 1985, dengan jelas Steve Job menjelaskan strategi suksesnya. Dimana kunci kesuksesannya sanggup mendorong perusahaannya untuk bersaing dengan perusahaan minyak besar Exxon Mobil yang pada saat itu merupakan perusahaan terbesar di AS. Pada Worldwide Developers Conference di tahun itu, Jobs memberikan Q&A, Steve Jobs menjelaskan apa yang akan menjadi fokus utama perusahaan dan strategi-strategi yang membuat Apple seperti sekarang ini. Ini merupakan gabungan dari desainers yang berbakat, marketing specialists, dan adanya satu visi dan yang paling penting adalah strategy menempatkan pelanggan sebagai focus utamanya. Hal itulah yang sanggup membuat Apple bangkit dari kebangkrutannya di akhir 1980an dan pertengahan 1990an. Pada kesempatan lain Steve Jobs mengatakan bahwa Apple mencoba datang dengan satu strategi dan visi. Dan itu dimulai dengan : 'What incredible benefits can we give the customer?' "Apa manfaat yang luar biasa yang dapat kita berikan kepada pelanggan ? Jadi bukanlah strategi seperti ini yang diterapkan dalam perusahaan Apple : Let's sit down with the engineers, and figure out what awesome technology we have and then figure out how to market that. Mari kita duduk dengan para insinyur, dan mencari tahu teknologi luar biasa yang kita miliki dan kemudian mencari cara untuk memasarkan produk tersebut Great Product and Customer Experience Steve Jobs sanggup menunjukkan filosofi itu sendiri yaitu, dari saat Anda berjalan ke Apple Store, membeli MacBook atau iPad, membawanya pulang dan membukanya, maka Anda akan merasa ada sesuatu yang berbeda terjadi. Perusahaan lain telah mencoba untuk meniru ini, tetapi Apple membuat satu seni tersendiri bagi konsumen. Inilah yang membuat Apple meraih sukses yang besar. Apel berfokus tidak hanya pada produk yang hebat tetapi juga satu pengalaman yang baru bagi pelanggannya / customer experience. Pada saat yang sama Jobs menjelaskan bagaimana suatu perusahaan yang berfokus pada pelanggan berarti adakalanya Anda harus membunuh beberapa teknologi yang menarik untuk memperoleh hal-hal terbaik. Ini adalah advice manajemen yang baik untuk segala organisasi ataupun bisnis apapun

Inovation Apple menjadi perusahaan yang terdepan dengan berani untuk mengambil risiko, dan berusaha untuk berinovasi. Pada saat Steve Jobs masuk kembali ke Apple company, maka dia menemukan banyaknya produk dari perusahaan itu, saat itu Apple memiliki 15 platform dengan jutaan varian. Dan perusahaan-perusahaan lain sejenisnya dapat meluncurkan lusinan produk dengan jutaan varian di pasar. Dan Jobs berkata, Saya tidak dapat mengerti, bagaimana kita dapat menjelaskan produk yang bagus kepada orang lain, bahkan kita senditi tidak tau produk mana yang dapat direkomendasikan Jobs secara dramastis mengubah roadmap produk Apple dan membuatnya efisien. Saat ini Apple hanya menawarkan empat produk dengan rencana penawaran yang sederhana. Hal inilah yang membuat Apple berbeda dari competitor yang lain.

Pada MacWorld 1998, Setelah merilis iMac, Steve Jobs memiliki fakta yang mendukung kesuksesannya. Keuntungan yang bergelombang, sampai $ 47 juta pada kwartal pertama, dan menjadi $ 55 juta pada kwartal kedua. Dia telah meluncurkan Apple.com sebuah situs yang meroket dari 1 juta hits per hari menjadi lebih dari 10 juta. Dan nilai pasar Apple telah meningkat menjadi empat kali lipat menjadi sekitar $ 4 miliar. Demikianlah Apple dibawah Steve Jobs yang dikenal luas sebagai seorang visioner, perintis dan jenius dalam bidang bisnis, inovasi dan desainer produk berhasil mengubah wajah dunia modern. Dan saat ini kita mengenal Apple sebagai the most valuable brand and company in the world Menurut Philip Swan, Researchers Vibinews.com, peran Steve Jobs dalam hal ini tidak dapat disangkali sangat besar, dialah yang membesarkan Apple. Namun demikian Apple mampu mengembangkan dirinya sehingga tidak hanya tergantung hanya kepada Steve Jobs. Jobs berhasil membangun perusahaan yang mempunyai inovasi yang customer centric menjadi sesuatu yang terkemuka, dan melahirkan pemimpinpemimpin lain sehingga walaupun Steve Jobs telah meninggalkan Apple (dan kita semua), Apple tetap dapat meneruskan kepemimpinannya dalam bidang teknologi dan menjadi merek yang paling berharga di dunia. Tentu saja tahun-tahun ke depan menjadi tantangan yang besar bagi Apple, sanggupmempertahankan kepemimpinannya, dapat tetap mempertahankan kesuksesannya? Dapat tetap merilis produk-produk yang inovatif dan dinantikan pelanggannya ? Pertanyaan yang akan kita ketahui jawabannya dalam beberapa tahun ke depan. apakah

Apple Timeline 1967-1975

1967: Jef Raskin (Mac creator) writes Ph.D. thesis on the Graphical User Interface (GUI) at Penn State University. In his thesis he coins the term "QuickDraw" for the first time. This will eventualy become the name of the Mac's graphics routine 17 years later. 1968: Bill Fernandez introduces his high school buddy Steve Jobs to his neighbor Steve Wozniak. Enough said. 1970: Xerox opens Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and employs the greatest minds in the field to research advances in computer science. Raskin begins to take several trips to PARC as a visiting scholar for the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. 1972: Jobs becomes one of the first 50 employees at Atari, under Atari founder Nolan K. Bushnell. Jobs later asks Woz for help in creating the sequel to the smash hit "Pong", entitled "Breakout". Jobs cheats Woz out of $5000. 1973: PARC finishes work on the $40,000 Alto. It becomes the first true PC, and first GUI-operated computer. It also used the first laser printer, and was connected to other Altos using the first Ethernet network. 1975: Woz begins attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. Woz becomes intrigued by the Altair 8800 often shown there. He cannot afford one so he decides to build his own microcomputer. Work begins on the Apple I.

1976

March: Woz finishes work on the Apple I. He first asks his employer, Hewlett Packard, if they are interested in an $800 machine that runs BASIC. All the departments in HP turns down his offer. April 1: Apple Computer Company is founded by Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ron Wayne. May: $666.66 Apple I introduced at the Home Brew Computer Club meeting. Paul Terell, president of Byte Shop chain, makes 50 orders. June: Byte Shop order finished 1 day before deadline. Ron Wayne leaves company. Fall: Woz shows an Apple II prototype to Commodore representatives. Commodore turns him down. August: Jobs asks his former boss, Nolan Bushnell, for information on investors. Bushnell recommends Don Valentine, who in turn recommends Mike Markkula, who becomes a key person in Apple's history for over twenty years. October: Commodore buys MOS Technology, the company who makes the processors powered by the Apple I and II.

1977

January 3: Apple Computer, Inc. is officially created after the company is incorporated. Mike Markkula invests $92,000 in Apple, with intent to invest $250,000. April: The Apple II is publicly introduced for $1295.

1978

January 3: 34-year-old Jef Raskin joins Apple Computer exactly one year after becoming incorporated. Becomes employee #31. June 17: Jobs' daughter, Lisa Nicole, is born out of wedlock. He initially denies the possibility of being the father, but came to accept her.

1979

January: Daniel Fylstra writes CalcuLedger (later to become VisiCalc). Offers it to Apple and Microsoft for $1 million. Both turn him down. Spring: Raskin refuses proposal to work on Annie Project, a $500 game machine. Suggests a GUI project instead. May: Raskin writes proposal for the PITS (Person In The Street's) Computer. It would supposedly to solve the complexities of the Apple II. June: Apple II+ introduced for $1195. July 30: The Lisa Project, a $2000 Apple III-like computer, begins under Ken Rothmuller. Expected release was March 1981. August: Apple liscenses AppleSoft BASIC from Microsoft for $21,000. Written by Randy Wigginton, who also created MacWrite. September: Raskin gets approval to begin work on Macintosh Project, a $500 portable computer smilar to his PITS proposal. October: Fylstra releases VisiCalc. It becomes one of the most successful programs ever, being the first "killer app". November: Jobs takes his first visit to PARC in exchange for allowing Xerox to invest $1 million in Apple. December: Jobs returns to PARC with several vice presidents and management heads.

1980

March: Lisa project revamped to include all the features of the Alto, with several more. Rothmuller complains the specs are too much to be accomplished if they want to retain the current release schedule and keep the final price reasonable. Jobs fires Rothmuller for "not cooperating", later replaced by John Couch. Summer: Jobs hires 15 Xerox employees to work on the Lisa Project. May 19: The Apple III is released at the National Computer Conference (NCC) for $4340 to $7800 depending on configuration. December 12: Apple goes public. Apple's share rises 32% that day, making 40 employees instant millionares. Jobs, the largest shareholder, makes $217 million dollars alone. Markkula makes $203 million that day, an incomprehensible 220,700% return on investment . Neither Jef Raskin, nor Daniel Kottke (one of the original Apple employees) were allowed to buy stock and so made no money during this time.

1981

January: Jobs forces himself into the Macintosh Project, after earlier dismissing and often trying to cancel it. March: Mike Markkula becomes president of Apple. The original ship date for the Lisa is missed, coming out 3 years later. June: An improved variation of the Alto, the $16,595 Xerox Star is introduced at NCC. It included dragging and double clicking of icons. August 12: IBM introduces the IBM PC for $1565. With 16k RAM, a 5.25" floppy drive, running the first version of MS-DOS, it is a rather pitiful computer that rarely reached the efficiency of the Apple II released 4 years earlier. Nevertheless, it becomes an instant success.

1982

January 22: Jobs convinces Bill to write a BASIC interpreter for the Mac. This will become the failed MS BASIC. February: The Mac case-design is finished and finally approved. All the signatures of the members of the project are placed inside the mold. March 1: After Jobs forces Raskin out of the Macintosh project, he officially resigns. July 30: The applications bundled with the Lisa finally work together under the OS for the first time. September 1: Lisa is declared ready for market.

Late in the year: Chiat/Day writes "1984" ad, originally for the Apple II. It is never run.

1983

January 19: The Lisa is introduced for $9998. The Apple IIe is introduced for $1395, later aguably becoming the most successful and most popular Apple computer. It will be produced for 10 and a half more years. Spring: Chiat/Day rewrites "1984" for use in the now famous commercial advertising the Macintosh during Super Bowl XVIII. May: Apple enters Fortune 500 at #411 after only five years of existence. It becomes the fastest growing company in history. April 8: JObs convinces John Sculley, tehn president of PepsiCo, to become president and CEO of Apple. May 16: The original ship date for the Macintosh at the NCC is missed. September: Lisa released without bundled software for $6995. October 7: The Macintosh Introduction Plan, a list of popular developers and celebrities that are invited to beta-test the Mac, is written. November: The Lisa and Macintosh divisions are combined to form the Apple 32 SuperMicro Division. December: The Apple III+ is introduced for $2995. It replaced the defective Apple III models. December 15: Chiat/Day airs "1984" for the first time. It was aired in the sign-off slot of KMVT Channel 11, at 1:00 AM (coincidentally, on my third birthday). This is customary for the company, so it can be elligible for the advertising awards issued that year. Late 1983: IBM sells 1 million IBM PCs, and introduces the big flop IBM PC/Jr. Bill Gates first announces Windows, and how the GUI will revolutionize the PC. Microsoft will not release it for 4 more years.

1984

January 17: The 30-second version of "1984" appears in theater previews across the country. It was so admired, it was often replayed for free. January 22: Apple airs "1984" during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII to a crowd of January 24: $2495 Macintosh and $3495 Lisa 2 introduced. April 24: Apple IIc introduced at the Apple Forever Conference in San Diego. The Apple III+ is finally discontinued. September: Apple IIc wins Industrial Design Excellence Award. Microsoft announces and released Word, Multiplan, File, Chart, BASIC, and other programs.

1985

January: Apple renames the Lisa 2/10 the Macintosh XL, and discontinues all other Lisa configurations. January 20: "Lemmings" commercial bombs at Super Bowl XIX. March: Apple IIe enchanced introduced. April 29: Macintosh XL discontinued. May 15: The last Lisa/Mac XL is produced at a Carrollton, Texas factory. Sun Remarketing buys thousands of the last Lisas, and is able to sell most of them at fair prices after upgrading them with current Macintosh technology. May 24: Jobs tries to force Sculley out of Apple by forming a coup against him. May 31: Jobs is stripped of all his duties. He job description becomes "global thinker", and his remote office dubbed "Siberia". July 29: Gates sends Scully a memo suggesting licensing of the Mac OS and prospective companies who might create Mac clones. September: Apple sells 500,000 Macintosh models. September 12: Jobs announces intent to create new company with other "lower-level" employees.

September 17: Jobs distributes his resignation letter to Apple and several other news media figures. September 23: Apples files suit against Jobs. Apple claims Jobs knows sensitive technology secrets that he might use in his new company. November 22: Sculley signs agreement to let Bill Gates use Mac technology in Windows, if Microsoft continues to produce products for the Mac. Microsoft releases Excel for Macintosh.

1986

January: Apple settles law suit against Jobs out of court. Jobs agrees not to hire any Apple employees for 6 months, and to always make computers that are more powerful than anything Apple has to offer...yes, you read right. February: Jobs finishes selling all but one of his 6.5 million shares of stock to begin NeXT, Inc. June: Paul Rand, responsible for the IBM logo, designs the NeXT logo and suggests the use of the small "e". September: The Apple IIGS is introduced for $999. Aldus introduces the TIFF format, later to become the desktop publishing standard. Compaq introduces the first Intel 386 PC, replacing IBM as the PC technology leader.

1987

January: Apple renames the Lisa 2/10 the Macintosh XL, and discontinues all other Lisa configurations. January 3: Apple celebrates its tenth birthday. A coffee table book, So Far, later chronicles the experiences of the last ten years. Early in the year: Ross Perot invests $20 million in NeXT, Inc. Spring: Projected release of first NeXT machine. The NeXT Computer would be a year and a half late. March 17: Apple declares 6 different Mac Pluses the 1 milionth Mac. Raskin is presented with one of them, which he still uses. August 11: Microsoft releases the first version of its GUI OS, Windows 1.01. It's arcane user interface is almost unsuable, a large disapointment. The IIe extended is introduced. Raskin releases the Canon Cat, a computer that was much more like his PITS proposal several years back. Though it fails to become popular due to lack of production by Canon, it wins several design awards.

1988

January: Microsoft releases the second version of Windows, version 2.03. Seeing as 1.01 was almost unusable, many improvements (much of which was taken from the Mac) were made. Such include Mac-like icons, and overlapping instead of tiling windows. Even so, Windows was still not up to par to the first Alto OS, written 15 years before. September: The Apple IIc+, the last in the Apple II line, is introduced. GS/OS System 1, a Mac-like GUI for the IIGS, is introduced. October 12: the NeXT Computer is released for $6500. It included a 25 MHz '30 processor, 8 MB RAM, 250 MB optical disk drive, math co-processor, digital processor for real time sound, faxmodem, and a 17" monitor. Apple's newest Mac was half as fast, with no peripherals for $1000 more.

1989

February: Apple Corps., the Beatle's record company, files a trademark infringement suit against Apple. September: Apple rents space at the Logan landfill and trashes the remaining 2,700 Lisa models.

September 18: The NeXTstep OS is introduced. It will eventually be bought by Apple and used in its next generation OS, Rhapsody.

1990

February: Dan'l Lewin, a NeXT founder, resigns. May 22: Windows 3.0 released September 18: The NeXTstation is released for $4995, one year after the introduction of the NeXTstep OS. It used the new 25 MHz '40, 2.88 MB floppy drive, 105MB HD, 8MB RAM, and monochrome monitor. Also introduced was the NeXTstation Color for $7995 with a 16" monitor capable of 4,096 colors, and 12 MB RAM. The $7995 NeXTcube was next, with the same configuration as a NeXTstation Color except it could use a 32-bit video board for 16.7 million colors inAdobe's Display Postscript.

1991

January: Microsoft releases the second version of Windows, version 2.03. Seeing as 1.01 was almost unusable, many improvements (much of which was taken from the Mac) were made. Such include Mac-like icons, and overlapping instead of tiling windows. Windows was still not up to par to the first Alto OS, written 15 years after the release of Win 2.03. April: Susan Barnes, a NeXT founder, resigns. April 12: Sculley gives a demonstration to IBM engineers of a IBM PS/2 Model 70 running Pink, a now defunct object-oriented OS that made IBM-compatible computers look a lot like Macs running System 7. June: Ross Perot, one of NeXT's board of directors and founder, resigns saying it was one of his biggest mistakes. July 3: IBM sent a letter of intent to Apple, saying it would help finish Pink and liscense its RISC processor in the works (PowerPC). October 2: The Apple/IBM alliance becomes official. Among the many agreements, Apple and IBM will create PowerPC-based machines and produce two companies, Taligent and Kaleida. The former a now-defunct company that worked on the now-defunct Pink, the latter a company that produces multimedia tools. October 9: Apple settled suit with Apple Corps, agreeing to pay $26.5 million.

1992

January 22: Steve Jobs announces NeXTstep 3.0, NeXTstep 486, a version of NeXTstep that could run on an Intel 486 simultaneously with MS-DOS, and promises 33 MHz '40 processor versions of the NeXTcube and NeXTstation/Color at the NeXTWORLD Expo in San Fransisco. NeXT would eventually move its OS entirely to the Intel x86 platform.Coincidently, the exposition is held at the same time and in the same city as the Macworld Expo. March-May: Microsoft introduces Windows 3.1. Microsoft does not make another update (besides 3.11) for 3 years. Even today Windows 3.1 has about 40% market share. Windows 95 and Mac OS are both at around 16-17%. Late September: NeXTstep 3.0 is released. June: Bud Tribble, a NeXT founder, resigns.

1993

January: Rich Page, a NeXT founder, resigns. February 10: Jobs lays off 280 of his 530 NeXT employees on "Black Tuesday". Sells his hardware line to Canon, and tries to become a Microsoft-like company by concentrating only on the NeXTstep OS for the Intel x86 platform. April: Motorola ships the first 50 MHz and 66 MHz PowerPC 601. The first generation of PowerPCs has begun. George Crow, the last NeXT founder besides Jobs, resigns.

May: NeXTstep for Intel Processors (compatible with 486 and Pentium processors) is released. June 18: Michael Spindler replaces Sculley as CEO of Apple. Sculley holds chaiman position. September: Software developers, most notably Aldus and Adobe, show beta native-PowerPC versions of their applications. October: IBM releases 50 MHz, 66 MHz, and 80 MHz PowerPC 601, and an 80 MHz 604. October 15: Sculley resigns from Apple, joins the ailing Spectrum. November: Apple liscenses PowerPC ROMs to DayStar Digital, so they can begin creating PPC Upgrade cards. DayStar also later becomes one of the first Mac OS liscense holders, as well an authority in multiprocessing PowerPC-based Macs.

1994

January: Apple releases the 66 MHz PowerPC Upgrade Card, the first commercial PowerPC product. February: Apple announces the Copland Project (defunct Mac OS 8, superceded by Rhapsody). May 9: Kaleida lays off 20% of its employees. March 14: Apple releases the first PowerMacs (6100/60, 7100/66, 8100/80) using the PowerPC 601. June: Apple releases System 7.5, with a bunch of new features everybody already had as shareware. September: Apple licenses the Mac OS to Radius and Power Computing. November-December: IBM and Motorola ship 66 MHz and 80 MHz 603, and a 100 MHz 604. PReP (a.k.a. CHRP, PPCP) Project begins, which will be able to run Windows 95/NT and the Mac OS in one PowerPC machine. An object oriented version of Windows NT (3.5?) is released.

1995

February: IBM and Motorola introduce the 100 MHz 603e, up to 30% faster than a 603. April: IBM releases 120 MHz 601. May: Power Computing releases the first Mac clones, including the very successful Power 100. June: Apple releases the first PCI Mac, the $5000 PowerMac 9500/120 using the new Tsunami motherboard. November: PReP becomes CHRP as Apple, IBM , and Motorola releases the first CHRP specifications.

1996

February: Apple liscenses the Mac OS to Motorola, allows authority to subliscense for the first time. April 1: Apple celebrates its 20th birthday. The 20th Anniversary Macintosh is announced to commerate the occasion. April: IBM releases 166 MHz and 180 MHz 604e. May-July: Apple liscenses Mac OS to IBM. PowerPC 603e and 604e reach 200 MHz. August: Apple kills Copland Project. IBM and Motorola demo their CHRP prototypes. The third generation of PowerPC processors (G3) is announced. Motorola, Apple, and IBM predict an exponential gain in performance. October: System 7.55 is introduced. December: Apple buys NeXT, Inc. for $430 million. Development of Windows NT for PowerPC stops.

1997

January 24: Mac OS 7.6, the first part of Apple's new OS strategy, is released exactly 13 years after the introduction of the Macintosh. January 26: Steve Jobs, back as an "advisor" due to the NeXT deal, announces the future of Rhapsody, Mac OS 8, Allegro, and Sonata, the Mac, NeXT, and Apple in general at Macworld Expo. April: Motorola introduces 300 MHz 603e. June: Motorola introduces 350 MHz Mach 5 604e.

July: President and CEO Gil amelio and VP Ellen Hancock are forced to resign. July 22: Mac OS 8 is finally released. Selling 1.25 million copies in less than 2 weeks, it becomes the best-selling software in that period. August 6: former "advisor" Steve Jobs becomes "de facto head", announces Microsoft alliance at the Macworld Expo in Boston. Among the agreements are a cross-platform liscense, $150 million invested in Apple stocks, an undisclosed ammount of money for Apple (rumored to be $800 million), the production of MS Office for 5 years, and MS Internet Explorer as the default browser for the Mac OS. September: Motorola releases PowerPC 750 (G3) processor. Apple releases PowerMac 9600/350. September 2: Apple buys Power Computing's liscense and core assets, halts all CHRP liscensing. Motorola suspends shipment of StarMax 6000, the first CHRP Mac. September 11: Motorola discontinues all StarMax models and leaves Mac-clone market altogether. IBM later does the same. September 16: formerly "de facto head" Steve Jobs becomes "interim CEO" of Apple. Jobs remains CEO to this day. October: Apple seeds Rhapsody Developer Release 1.0. The new next-generation OS holds great promise for the computer industry. November 10: At worldwide "Apple Event", Apple releases the PowerMac G3. The Apple Store is also introduced, and a deal is made with CompUSA for an "Apple store within the store". Though this greatly increases Mac sales, many disapointed by lack of bigger news. December: The US Justice Department forces Microsoft to stop forcing clone vendors to bundle MS Internet Explorer with Windows 95.

1998

January 7: Jobs announces a projected $47 million profit for the first quarter at Macworld Expo, finally bringing Apple back to profitability. January 31: Power Computing goes out of business for good. All office computers and supplies are auctioned off. Owners of Power Computing stock are mailed Apple stock. February 4: IBM shows off their 1.1 GHz (1100 MHz) PowerPC processor. February 27: After a little over 5 years, the Newton/eMate line has been discontinued by Apple. Instead, mobile-based products using Mac OS technology will be developed by 1999. Bandai also liquidates all Bandai @World (Pippin) consoles. This leaves the Macintosh once again as Apple's only computing platform. March 15: Apple "stores within stores" open in all of the 149 CompUSA locations across the country, answering the cry of many Mac users who loathe the patheticly small, incomplete, and out of stock Apple sections most retail computer stores provide. May: Apple announces the iMac and new PowerBook G3 models. Two of the most innovative machines I've ever seen. July: Apple announced their third consecutive profit, $101 million, higher than anyone had expected. "Apple is back" stories surface all over Internet, print, and TV. Macworld Expo higlights the many features of the iMac, and reveals Apple's software and hardware strategies for the rest of the millenium. July 30: Motorola releases 333, 366, and 400 MHz PowerPC processors. Planned to be used in the upcoming PowerMac G3 Pro models, as well as a revamped PowerBook G3, these chips are by far less energy consuming than even the older, slower G3s. The new G3 processors reportedly gain supercomputer status by government agencies. August 7: Apple announces 150,000 preorders for the iMac. Apple goes over $40/share, highest stock market price in three years. August 15: iMac is finally released to an incredibly anxious comnsumer market. Sold in numbers like nothing I've ever seen. September 1: iMac becomes the second best selling computer for the month of August, even though it was only on sale for two weeks. October: Morotorla releases the specs for the upcoming G4 series. The new processors will push microprocessor technology to the edge of possibility.

October 14: Apple announces its first profitable year since 1995. Mac OS 8.5 is released to an ecstatic audience, promised Copland features appear. It is found that 43% of all iMac buyers are new to the Macintosh platform, an unimaginable number of new prospective buyers.

Pre-foundation

Garage of Steve Jobs' parents on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had withdrawn from Reed College and UC Berkeley, respectively by 1975. Wozniak designed a video terminal 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. Aside from their interest in up-to-date technology, the impetus for "the two Steves" seems to have had another source. In his essay From Satori to Silicon Valley(published 1986), cultural historian Theodore Roszak made the point that the Apple Computer emerged from within the West Coast counterculture and the need to produce print-outs, letter labels, and databases. Roszak offers a bit of background on the development of the two Steves prototype models. 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 terminal 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.

The Apple I was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.

The very first Apple Computer logo, drawn byRonald Wayne, depicts Isaac Newton under an apple tree.

The Apple logo in 1977 created by Rob Janoff with the rainbow color theme used until 1998.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 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 US [2] $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 I 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 and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my [3] 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; text was displayed at a terribly slow 60 characters per second. However, this was still faster than the teleprinters used on contemporary machines of that era. 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) and scrounging, Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while Wozniak and Wayne assembled them. But the owner of the Byte Shop was expecting complete computers, not just printed circuit boards. The boards still being a product for the [4] customers Terrell still paid them. Eventually 200 of the Apple I's were built. [edit]Apple

II

Main article: Apple II series 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 greatly improved machine, the Apple II; it was presented to the public at the first West Coast Computer Faire on April 16 and April 17, 1977. On the first day of exhibition, Jobs introduced Apple II to a Japanese chemist named Toshio Mizushima who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan. 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 be fiscally burdensome. 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 lend 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 US$250,000, and the three formed Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. The name Apple was chosen because the company to beat in the technology industry at the time was Atari, and Apple Computer came before Atari alphabetically and thus also in the phone book. Another reason was that Jobs had [5] happy memories of working on an Oregon apple farm one summer. With both cash,and a new case design in hand thanks to designer Jerry Manock, the Apple II was released in 1977 [citation needed] and became the computer generally credited with creating the home computermarket . Millions were sold well into the 1980s. A number of different models of the Apple II series were built, including the Apple IIe and Apple [citation needed] IIGS, which could still be found in many schools as late as 2005. [edit]Apple

III

Main article: Apple III

Apple III

By the early 1980s, Apple Computer faced increasing competition. While the Apple II was already established as a successful business-ready platform because of Visicalc, Apple was not content. The Apple III (Apple 3) was designed to take on the IBM PC in the business environment. The Apple III was a relatively conservative design for computers of the era. However, Steve Jobs did not want the computer to have a fan; rather, he wanted the heat generated by the electronics to be dissipated through the chassis of the machine, forgoing the cooling fan. Unfortunately, the physical design of the case was not sufficient to cool the components inside it. By removing the fan from the design, the Apple III was prone to overheating. This caused the integrated circuit chips to disconnect from the motherboard. Customers who contacted Apple customer service were told to "drop the computer on the desk", which would cause the ICs to fall back in to place. Thousands of Apple III computers were recalled and, although a new model was introduced in 1983 to rectify the problems, the damage was already done. [edit]Apple

IPO

On December 12, 1980, Apple launched the Initial Public Offering of its stock to the investing public. When Apple went public, it generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956 and instantly created more [6] millionaires (about 300) than any company in history. Several venture capitalists cashed out, reaping billions in longterm capital gains. In January 1981, Apple held its first shareholders meeting as a public company in the Flint Center, a large auditorium at nearby De Anza College, which is often used for symphony concerts. (Previous meetings were held quietly in smaller rooms, because there had only been a few shareholders.) The business of the meeting had been planned (or choreographed) so that the voting could be staged in 15 minutes or less. In most cases, voting proxies are collected by mail and counted days or months before a meeting. In this case, after the IPO, many shares were in new hands. Steve Jobs started his prepared speech, but after being interrupted by voting several times, he dropped his prepared [citation needed] speech and delivered a long, emotionally charged talk about betrayal, lack of respect, and related topics. [edit]Xerox

PARC and the Lisa

Main article: Apple Lisa

Lisa

While Apple Computers business division was focused on the Apple III, a separate group was focused on a computer [citation needed] that would change the world. While the Apple III was another iteration of the text-based computer, this new machine would feature a completely different interface and introduce the words mouse, icon, and desktop into the lexicon of the computing public. In return for the right to buy US$1,000,000 of pre-IPO stock, Xerox granted Apple Computer three days access to the PARC facilities. After visiting PARC, they came away with new ideas that would complete the foundation for Apple [7][8][9][10] Computer's first GUI computer, the Apple Lisa.

The first iteration of Apple's WIMP interface was a floppy disk where files could be spatially moved around. After months of usability testing, Apple designed the LISA interface of windows and icons. The Lisa was introduced in 1983 at a cost of US$9,995. Because of the high price, Lisa failed to penetrate the business market. [edit]Macintosh

and the "1984" commercial

Main article: Macintosh The Macintosh 128k was announced to the press in October 1983, followed by an 18-page brochure included with [11] various magazines in December. Its debut, however, was announced by a single national broadcast of the now famous US$1.5 million television commercial, "1984". It was directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter [12] [13] of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a "watershed event" and a [14] "masterpiece." 1984 used an unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apples Macintosh computer on it) as a means of saving humanity from [15] "conformity" (Big Brother). These images were an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother." For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than US$2.5 million to buy all [16] 39 of the advertising pages in the issue. Apple also ran a Test Drive a Macintosh promotion, in which potential buyers with a credit card could take home a Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. While 200,000 people participated, dealers disliked the promotion, the supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many were returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold. This marketing campaign caused CEO John [17][18] Sculley to raise the price from US$1,995 to US$2,495 (adjusting for inflation, about US$5,000 in 2007). Two days after the 1984 ad aired, the Macintosh went on sale. It came bundled with two applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. Although the Mac garnered an immediate, enthousiastic following, it was too radical for some, who labeled it a mere "toy". Because the machine was entirely designed around the GUI, existing text-mode and command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten; this was a challenging undertaking that many software developers shied away from, and resulted in an initial lack of software for the new system. In April 1984 Microsoft's MultiPlan migrated over from MS-DOS, followed by Microsoft [19] Word in January 1985. In 1985, Lotus Software introduced Lotus Jazz after the success ofLotus 1-2-3 for the IBM [20] PC, although it was largely a flop. Apple introduced Macintosh Office the same year with the lemmings ad, infamous [17] for insulting potential customers. It was not successful. Macintosh also spawned the concept of Mac evangelism which was pioneered by Apple employee, and later Apple [citation needed] Fellow, Guy Kawasaki. Despite initial marketing difficulties, the Macintosh brand was eventually a success for Apple. This was due to its introduction of desktop publishing (and later computer animation) through Apple's partnership with Adobe Systems which introduced the laser printer and Adobe PageMaker. Indeed, the Macintosh would become known as the de-facto platform for many industries including cinema, music, advertising, publishing and the arts. [edit]1985: Jobs leaves Apple After an internal power struggle, the board of directors sided with Sculley and Jobs was asked to resign. In a show of defiance at being booted from Apple Computer, Jobs sold his 6.5 million shares in the company for $70 million. Jobs then acquired the visual effects house, Pixar for $5M. He also went on to found NeXT Inc., a computer company that built machines with futuristic designs and ran the UNIX-derived NeXTstep operating system. NeXTSTEP would eventually be developed into Mac OS X. While not a commercial success, due in part to its high price, the NeXT computer would introduce important concepts to the history of the personal computer (including [21] serving as the initial platform for Tim Berners-Lee as he was developing the World Wide Web). [edit]1985-1997:
[citation needed]

Sculley, Spindler, Amelio

Macintosh SE

[edit]Corporate

performance

See also: List of mergers and acquisitions by Apple Under leadership of John Sculley, Apple issued its first corporate stock dividend on May 11, 1987. A month later on June 16, Apple stock split for the first time in a 2:1 split. Apple kept a quarterly dividend with about 0.3% yield until [citation needed] November 21, 1995. Between March 1988 and January 1989, Apple undertook five acquisitions, including [22] [23] [24] [25] software companies Network Innovations, Styleware, Nashoba Systems, and Coral Software, as well as [26] satellite communications company Orion Network Systems. [edit]Apple

II family of the 1980s

See also: Timeline of Apple II Family Apple now had two separate, incompatible platforms: the Apple II, an affordable, expandable home computer, and the Apple Macintosh, the closed platform for professionals. John Gruber, among others, has speculated that this platform incompatibility was the main reason the Macintosh did not share the initial commercial success which was [27] experienced by the Apple II in the late 1970s. However, by the mid - 1980s, the Apple II was now competing with [citation needed] the IBM PC and its clones, and a new energy was focused upon marketing the Macintosh. Thus, Apple continued to sell both lines promoting them to different market segments: the Macintosh to colleges, college students, and knowledge workers, and the Apple II to home users and public schools. 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, an Apple II positioned as something of a hybrid product with a mouse-driven, Mac-like operating environment. Apple II computers remained an important part of Apple's business until they were [citation needed] discontinued in the early 1990s. [edit]Mac

family

See also: Timeline of Macintosh models 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 andMac 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.

On February 19, 1987, Apple registered the "Apple.com" domain name, making it one of the first hundred companies [28] to register a .com address on the nascent Internet. [edit]Early-mid

1990s

In the late 1980s, Apple's fiercest technological rivals were the Amiga and Atari ST platforms. But by the 1990 s, computers based on the IBM PC had become more popular than all three; they finally had a comparable GUI thanks to Windows 3.0, and were out-competing Apple. 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 by what was now "arguably one of the worst-managed [29] companies in the industry". 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. Apple's retail resellers like Sears and CompUSA often failed to sell or even competently display these Macs. Compounding matters was the fact that, although the machines were cheaper than a comparable PC (when taken into account all the components built-in which had to be added to the 'bare bones PC'), the poor marketing gave [citation needed] the impression that the machines were more expensive. Inventory grew as Apple consistently [29] underestimated demand for popular models and overestimated demand for others. In 1991, Apple partnered with long-time competitor IBM to form the AIM alliance. The ultimate goal was to create a revolutionary new computing platform, known as PReP, which would use IBM and Motorola hardware and Apple software. As the first step toward the PReP platform, Apple started the Power Macintosh line in 1994, using IBM's PowerPC processor. These processors used a RISCarchitecture, which differed substantially from the Motorola 680X0 series that were used by all previous Macs. Parts of Apple's operating system software were rewritten [citation needed] so that most software written for older Macs could run in emulation on the PowerPC series. Apple also [30] refused IBM's offer to purchase the company, but later unsuccessfully sought another offer from IBM, and at one [29][31] point was "hours away" from an acquisition by Sun Microsystems. In addition to computers, Apple has also produced consumer devices. In 1993, Apple released the Newton, an early personal digital assistant (PDA). It defined and launched the PDA category and was a forerunner and inspiration [citation needed] of devices such as Palm Pilot and Pocket PC. During 1995, a decision was made to (officially) start licensing the Mac OS and Macintosh ROMs to 3rd party manufacturers who started producing Macintosh clones. This was done in order to achieve deeper market penetration and extra revenue for the company. This decision lead to Apple having over a 10% market share until 1997 when Steve Jobs was re-hired as interim CEO to replace Gil Amelio. Jobs promptly found a loophole in the licensing contracts Apple had with the clone manufacturers and terminated the Macintosh OS licensing program ending the Macintosh clone era. The result of this action was that Macintosh computer market share quickly fell from 10% to around 3% [edit]1996:

Return of Steve Jobs

In 1996, the struggling NeXT company beat out Be Inc.'s BeOS in its bid to sell its operating system to Apple. Apple purchased Steve Jobs' company, NeXT on December 10, 1996, and its NeXTstep operating system. This would not only bring Steve Jobs back to Apple's management, but NeXT technology would become the foundation of the Mac OS X operating system. On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Store, an online retail store based upon the WebObjects application server the company had acquired in its purchase of NeXT. The new direct sales outlet [32][33] was also tied to a new build-to-order manufacturing strategy. [edit]CEO On July 9, 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted as CEO of Apple by the board of directors after turning the company around [citation needed] from a multibillion loss to a $25 million dollar profit. Jobs stepped in as the interim CEO to begin a critical restructuring of the company's product line. He would eventually become CEO and served in that position until August 2011. On August 24, 2011 Steve Jobs resigned his position as Chief Executive Officer of Apple before his long battle [34] with pancreatic cancer took his life on October 5th 2011. [edit]Microsoft deal

At the 1997 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be entering into partnership with Microsoft. Included in this was a five-year commitment from Microsoft to release Microsoft Officefor Macintosh as well a US$150 million investment in Apple. It was also announced that Internet Explorer would be shipped as the default browser on the Macintosh. Microsoft chairman Bill Gatesappeared at the expo on-screen, further explaining Microsoft's plans for the software they were developing for Mac, and stating that he was very excited to be helping Apple return to success. After this, Steve Jobs said this to the audience at the expo: If we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We have to embrace a notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us that's great, because we need all the help we can get, and if we screw up and we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault, it's our fault. So I think that is a very important perspective. If we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we better treat the company that puts it out with a little bit of gratitude; we like their software. called microsoft office today. So, the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I'm concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy, this is about Apple [35] being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry and to get healthy and prosper again. [edit]1998-2001:

Apple's renaissance

The original iMac

[edit]iMac,

iBook, and Power Mac G4

While 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 each 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, 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 ofWireless LAN via the optional AirPort card that was based on the 802.11b standard. [edit]Mac

OS X

Main article: Mac OS X

Company headquarters on Infinite Loop in Cupertino

In 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, an operating system based on NeXT's NeXTstep and incorporating parts of [36] the FreeBSD kernel. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, Mac OS X married the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of a completely overhauled user interface. To aid users in transitioning their applications from Mac OS 9, the new operating system allowed the use of Mac OS 9 applications through the Classic environment. Apple'sCarbon API also allowed developers to adapt their Mac OS 9 software to use Mac OS X's features. [edit]Retail

stores

Main article: Apple Store 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. [edit]iPod Main article: iPod In October 2001, Apple introduced its first iPod portable digital audio player. The iPod started as a 5 gigabyte player capable of storing around 1000 songs. Since then it has evolved into an array of products including the Mini (now discontinued), the iPod Touch, the Shuffle, the iPod Classic, the Nano, the iPhone and the iPad. As of March 2011, [37] the largest storage capacity for an iPod was 160 gigabytes. [edit]2002-Present:

iTunes, iOS

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, Steve Jobs launched the Power Mac G5, based on IBM's G5 processor. Apple claims this was the first 64-bit computer sold to the general public, but in fact that title actually goes to theAMD Opteron line (Opteron processors were however marketed more directly to the enterprise for use in rackmount servers and in workstations). Both 64-bit CPUs were pre-dated by the 64-bit Alphaarchitecture, although the Alpha was aimed more at servers and workstations and not at the "general public." The Power Mac G5 was also used by Virginia Tech to build its prototype System Xsupercomputing cluster, which at the time garnered the prestigious recognition of the third fastest supercomputer in the world. It cost only US$5.2 million to build, far less than the previous #3 and other ranking supercomputers. Apple's Xserves were soon updated to use the G5 as well. They replaced the Power Mac G5 machines as the main building block of Virginia Tech's System X, which was ranked in November 2004 as the world's [38] seventh fastest supercomputer.

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, was [citation needed] the world's thinnest desktop computer, measuring in at around two inches (around 5 centimeters). 2004, however, was a turning point for Apple. After creating a sizable financial base to work with, the company began experimenting with new parts from new suppliers. As a result Apple was able to produce new designs so quickly over a short amount of time, with the release of the iPod Video, then the iPod Classic, and eventually the iPod touch and iPhone. Each Apple product thus far has been under equally high demand. 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 US$150 million non-voting share of the company as a result of a court settlement with Apple. 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[citation needed] winning releases. However, Apple's market share continued to decline, reaching 3% by 2004. Initially, the Apple Stores were only opened in the United States, but in late 2003, Apple opened its first Apple Store abroad, in Tokyo's Ginza district. Ginza was followed by a store in Osaka, Japan in August 2004. In 2005, Apple opened stores in Nagoya, the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Sendai. Another store was opened in Sapporo in 2006. Apple's first European store opened inLondon in November 2004, and is currently the largest store. A store in the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham opened in April 2005, and the Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford, Kent opened in July 2005. Apple opened its first store in Canada in the middle of 2005 at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in North York, Toronto. Later on in 2005 Apple opened the Meadowhall Store in Sheffield and theTrafford Centre Store in Manchester (UK). Recent additions in the London area include the Brent Cross Apple Store (January 2006) and the Apple Store in Westfield in Shepherd's Bush (September 2008). 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. The first of these stores was opened at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. 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. Apple's wildly successful PowerBook and iBook products relied on Apple's previous generation G4 architecture which were produced by Freescale Semiconductor, a spin off from Motorola. Engineers at IBM had minimal success in making their PowerPC G5 processor consume less power and run cooler but not enough to run in iBook or PowerBook formats. As of the week of October 24, 2005. Apple released the Power Mac G5 Dual that features a Dual-Core processor. This processor contains two cores in one rather than have two separate processors. Apple has also developed the Power Mac G5 Quad that uses two of the Dual-Core processors for enhanced workstation power and performance. The new Power Mac G5 Dual cores run individually at 2.0 GHz or 2.3 GHz. The Power Mac G5 Quad cores run individually at 2.5 GHz and all variations have a graphics processor that has 256-bit memory [39] bandwidth. [edit]Intel

transition

Main article: AppleIntel transition In a keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs officially announced that Apple will begin producing Intel-based [40] Macintosh computers beginning in 2006. Jobs confirmed rumors that the company had secretly been producing versions of its current operating system Mac OS X for both PowerPC and Intel processors over the past 5 years, and that the transition to Intel processor systems would last until the end of 2007. Rumors of cross-platform compatibility had been spurred by the fact that Mac 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 Mac OS X, was also available for Intel's x86 [41][42][43] architecture.

On January 10, 2006, the first Intel-based machines, the iMac and MacBook Pro, were introduced. They were based on the Intel Core Duo platform. This introduction came with the news that Apple would complete the transition to Intel processors on all hardware by the end of 2006, a year ahead of the originally quoted schedule. In January 2007, Apple Computer, Inc. shortened its name to simply Apple Inc. In his keynote address, Jobs explained that with their current product mix consisting of the iPod and Apple TV as well as their Macintosh brand, Apple really wasn't just a computer company anymore. At the same address, Jobs revealed a product that would revolutionize an industry in which Apple had never previously competed: the Apple iPhone. The iPhone combined Apple's first widescreen iPod with the world's first mobile device boasting visual voicemail, and an internet communicator able to run a fully functional version of Apple's web browser, Safari, on the then-named iPhone OS. [edit]Apple

[44][45]

and "i" Web services

In 2000, Apple introduced its iTools service, a set of free web-based tools that included an email account, internet greeting cards called iCards, a service called iReview that gave internet users a place to read and write reviews of Web sites, and a tool called KidSafe which promised to prevent children from browsing inappropriate portions of the web. The latter two services were eventually canceled because of lack of success, while iCards and email became integrated into Apple's .Mac subscription based service introduced in 2002 and discontinued in mid-2008 to make way for the release of the new MobileMe service, coinciding with the iPhone 3G release. MobileMe, which carried the same US$99.00 annual subscription price as its .Mac predecessor, featured the addition of "push" services to instantly and automatically send emails, contacts and calendar updates directly to user's iPhone devices. Some controversy surrounded the release of MobileMe services to users resulting in expected downtime and a significantly longer release window. As a result of this, Apple extended the subscriptions existing MobileMe subscribers by an additional [46] 30 days free-of-charge. At the WWDC event in June of 2011, Apple announced its most up to date cloud service, iCloud, replacing MobileMe. This service kept most of the core services that MobileMe offered, however dropping iDisk, Gallery, and iWeb. Additionally, it added a number of other features to the group, including Find my Mac, iTunes Match, Photo Stream, Documents & Data Backup, and iCloud backup for iOS devices. The service requires users to be running iOS 5 and OS X 10.7 Lion. [edit]iPod

and iTunes store

Main articles: iPod and iTunes Store

A 2nd generation iPod

iPod mini with the user interface set to German

On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a portable digital music player. Its signature features included an LED, 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 160 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 a smaller iPod : the iPod Shuffle, which is about the size of a pack of gum. Speaking to software developers on June 6, 2005, [citation needed] 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, now known as iTunes Store. Unlike other fee-based music services, the iTunes Store charges a flat US$0.99 per song (or US$9.99 per album). Users have more flexibility 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 five 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). 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 on the iTunes Music Store to Ryan Alekman [47] from Belchertown, Massachusetts. The download wasThe Complete U2, by U2. Just under three months later [48] Apple sold its 300 millionth song on March 2, 2005. On July 17, 2005, the iTunes Music Store sold its 500 millionth [citation needed] song. At that point, songs were selling at an accelerating 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 [citation needed] 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. In the quarter ending March 26, 2005, Apple earned US$290 million, or 34 a share, on sales of US$3.24 billion. The year before in the same quarter, Apple earned just US$46 million, or 6 a share, on revenue of US$1.91 billion. In July 2005, the iPod was given a color screen, merging the iPod and iPod Photo. On September 7, 2005, Apple replaced the iPod Mini line with the new iPod Nano. While some consumers were put off by the high price tag (US$199 for 2 GB), and easily scratchable surface, the Nano had sold 1 million units in the first 17 days. A month later, on October 12, 2005 Apple introduced the new 5th generation iPod with video playback abilities. The device is also 40% thinner than a 4th generation iPod and has a larger screen. On October 25, 2005, the iTunes Store went live in Australia, with songs selling for A$1.69 each, albums at (generally) A$16.99 and music videos and Pixar short films at A$3.39. Briefly, people in New Zealand were able to buy music off the Australian store. However, that loophole was quickly closed. On February 23, 2006, the iTunes Music Store sold its 1 billionth song.
[50] [49]

The iTunes Music Store changed its name to iTunes Store on September 12, 2006 when it began offering video content (TV shows and movies) for sale. Since iTunes inception it has sold over 2 billion songs, 1.2 billion of which were sold in 2006. Since downloadable TV and movie content was added 50 million TV episodes and 1.3 million movies have been downloaded. In early 2010, Apple celebrated the 10 billionth song downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. [edit]iOS
[51]

evolution: iPhone and iPad

Main articles: iOS, iPhone, and iPad First announced on January 9, 2007, Apple introduced the first version of the iPhone being publicly available on June 29 that same year in selected countries/markets. It was another 12 months before the iPhone 3G became available on July 11, 2008. Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on June 8, 2009, along with plans to release it later in June, July, and August, starting with the U.S., Canada and major European countries on June 19. This 12-month iteration cycle has continued with the iPhone 4 model arriving in similar fashion in 2010, A Verizon model was released in February 2011, and a Sprint model in October 2011, shortly after Job's death. The Macs that are available as of February 2011 are the iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini. The latest version of Mac OS X is Lion (10.7). On February 10, 2011, the iPhone 4 was made available on both Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Now two iPod types are multi-touch: the iPod nano and the iPod touch, a big advance in technology. Apple TV currently has a 2nd generation model, which is 4 times smaller than the original Apple TV. Apple has also gone wireless, selling a wireless trackpad, keyboard, mouse, and external hard drive. Wired accessories are, however, still available. The Apple iPad was announced on January 27, 2010 with retail availability commencing in April and systematically growing in markets throughout 2010. The iPad fits into Apple iOS product line, being twice the screen size of an iPhone without the phone abilities. While there were initial fears of product cannibalisation the FY2010 financial results

released in Jan 2011 included commentary of a reverse 'halo' effect, where iPad sales were leading to increased [52] sales of iMacs and MacBooks. On March 2, 2011, Apple unveiled the iPad's second generation model, the iPad 2. Like the 4th generation iPod Touch and iPhone, the iPad 2 comes with a front-facing camera as well as a rear-facing camera, along with three new apps that utilize these new features: Camera, FaceTime, and Photobooth (only on iPad2). [edit]Resurgence

compared to Microsoft

Since 2005, Apple's revenues, profits, and stock price have grown significantly. On May 26, 2010 Apple's stock [53] market value overtook Microsoft's, and Apple's revenues surpassed those of Microsoft in the third quarter of [54] 2010. After giving their results for the first quarter of 2011 Microsoft's net profits of $5.2 billion were lower for the [55][56][57] quarter than those of Apple Inc., which earned $6 billion in net profit for the quarter. The late April announcement of profits by the two companies marks the first time in twenty years that Microsoft's profits have been [56] [55] lower than Apple's., and according to Arstechnica "this would have been 'unimaginable' 10 years before." The Guardian reported that one of the reasons for the change is because PC software, where Microsoft dominates, has become less important compared to the tablet PC and smartphone markets, where Apple has a strong [56] [56] presence. One reason for this was a surprise drop in PC sales in the quarter. Another issue for Microsoft is that [56] their online search business has lost a lot of money, with a loss of $700 million in the first quarter of 2010. Although Microsoft's online division losses were high, even if they had made no loss Apple's profits would have been slightly [55][58] higher. [edit]Financial

history

As cash reserves increased significantly in 2006, Apple created Braeburn Capital on April 6, 2006 to manage its [59] assets.

Financial period Net sales (Mil USD) Net profits (Mil USD) Revenue growth Return on net sales

FY 1981

335

unknown

---

---

FY 1982

583

61

74%

10%

FY 1983

983

77

69%

8%

FY 1984

1,516

64

54%

4%

FY 1985

1,918

61

27%

3%

FY 1986

1,902

154

-1%

8%

FY 1987

2,661

218

40%

8%

FY 1988

4,071

400

53%

10%

FY 1989

5,284

454

30%

9%

FY 1990

5,558

475

5%

9%

FY 1991

6,309

310

12%

5%

FY 1992

7,087

530

12%

7%

FY 1993

7,977

87

13%

1%

FY 1994

9,189

310

46%

3%

FY 1995

11,062

424

20%

4%

FY 1996

9,833

-816

-11%

-8%

FY 1997

7,081

-1,045

-28%

-15%

FY 1998

5,941

309

-16%

5%

FY 1999

6,134

601

3%

10%

FY 2000

7,983

786

30%

10%

FY 2001

5,363

-25

-33%

0%

FY 2002

5,247

65

-2%

1%

FY 2003

6,207

57

18%

1%

FY 2004

8,279

266

33%

3%

FY 2005

13,931

1,328

68%

10%

FY 2006

19,315

1,989

39%

10%

FY 2007

24,578

3,495

27%

14%

FY 2008

37,491

6,119

53%

16%

FY 2009

[60]

42,905

8,235

14%

19%

FY 2010 [edit]Stock

65,225

14,013

52%

21%

'AAPL' is the stock symbol under which Apple Inc. trades on the NASDAQ stock market. Apple originally went public [61] on December 12, 1980, with an initial public offering at US$22.00 per share. The stock has split 2 for 1 three different times on June 15, 1987, June 21, 2000 and February 28, 2005. Apple initially paid dividends from June 15, 1987 to December 15, 1995. On March 19, 2012, Apple announced that it would again start paying a dividend of $2.65 per quarter (beginning in the quarter that starts in July 2012) along a $10 billion share buyback which would commence September 30, 2012, the start of its fiscal 2013 year. Gene Munster and Michael Olson of Piper Jaffray are the main analysts who track Apple stock. Piper Jaffray estimate [62] future stock and revenue of Apple annually, and have been doing so for several years.

Timeline of Apple products

See also: Timeline of Apple Inc. products, Timeline of Apple II family, and Timeline of Macintosh models