Apple Incorporated

Apple Incorporated

Updated: Dec. 19, 2011

Apple, founded in 1976 by Steven P. Jobs and Steve Wozniak, is the world’s largest technology company, taking the lead from its longtime rival Microsoft in 2010.

Over the last decade, Apple has redefined the music business through the iPod, the cellphone business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad.

On Oct. 5, 2011, the company announced the death of Mr. Jobs, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Rarely has a major company and industry been so dominated by a single individual, and Mr. Jobs’s influence went far beyond the iconic personal computers that were Apple’s principal product for its first 20 years. Again and again, Mr. Jobs gambled that he knew what the customer wanted, and again and again he was right.

The death of Mr. Jobs stirred deep emotions inside and outside Apple and raised concerns about whether the company can, in the long run, continue its remarkable streak of hits.

In August 2011, Apple named Timothy D. Cook as the company’s chief executive.

2011 Earnings: Fourth Quarter

In October 2011, Apple reported fourth-quarter results that were a rare disappointment when the company missed Wall Street forecasts for its iPhone business.

The company reported big increases in the sale of the iPad and of Mac computers, and even said the number of iPhones it sold in the quarter jumped 21 percent from 2010. But investors fixated on a 16 percent decline in iPhone sales from the third quarter. Apple shares fell 7 percent after the release of the results.

Apple executives blamed the shortfall in iPhone sales on unusually heated rumors that the company would release a new phone in the fall, leading consumers to delay their purchases so they could get the latest version. That new phone — the iPhone 4S — did, indeed, come out in October, to what Apple said was the best initial sales of any iPhone yet. But it was too late to benefit the fourth quarter, which ended Sept....