Apple Case

Apple Overview

1.1 A Brief Introduction of Apple

Apple Inc. is an American corporation that designs and manufactures computer hardware, software

and other consumer electronics. Apple was established on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve

Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit.

The company is best known for their Macintosh personal computer line, Mac OS X, extremely loyal

user-base, iTunes media application and the iPod personal music player. The company headquarters

is in Cupertino, California, CEO and co-founder is Steve Jobs and the company boasts 284 retail

locations spanning 10 different countries.

1.2 Apple’s History

On April Fool's Day back in 1976, three entrepreneurial young men started Apple Computer,

Incorporated, with the intention of creating and distributing truly personal computers. Steve Jobs,

Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne began with a dream of making computers smaller and readily

available to the public. They built their computers in Jobs' parent's garage and rolled out the Apple I

personal computer kit in 1976, the same year they started Apple. Eventually, two hundred of these

computers would be built.

In 1981, IBM released its first PC. With the power of Big Blue behind it, the PC quickly began to

dominate the playing field. Jobs' team would have to work very quickly if they hoped to compete with

IBM in the personal computer market. Jobs began to realize that Apple would have to become a

"grown-up" company, and realized he was not the man for the job.

In early 1983, Jobs began to court John Sculley, then president of Pepsi-Cola. In April, he was

successful, and Sculley became president and CEO of Apple. Jobs believed Sculley would help Apple

"grow up," but had no idea how right he would turn out to be. Eventually, it cost him his job.

Although a successful businessman, it soon became clear that Sculley did not know much about the

computer industry. He and Jobs were at odds almost immediately....