Apple
From English 194 Wiki Site
Apple's History
Apple Computer Company is an American computer technology company, founded in Los Altos, CA on April 1, 1976. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, along with Ronald G. Wayne were the original founders. Apple was a major player in the personal computer revolution in the 1970s. In 1976, Wozniak and Jobs finished their work on a preassembled computer circuit board. This was the first prototype, and it took approximately six months to design and forty hours to build. It has no keyboard, case, sound, or graphics. It is called the Apple I, and it made its debut at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. Six months after Apple is begun, Jobs and Woz work hard to keep the company alive. They split a monthly salary of a mere $250! However, their first formal business plan sets a goal for sales to grow to $500 million in ten years (in 1986). Little did they know at the time, but the company passed this mark in only half of the time.
The Apple II microcomputer was introduced in 1977 and very popular. It was one of three personal computers that were launched that year. The other two were the TRS-80 and Commodore PET. Despite the fact that the Apple II was more expensive, it quickly became more popular than the other two. It lead the pack in the late 70s and to become the symbol of the personal computing phenomenon. In 1983, Apple introduced the first commercial personal computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI), commonly known as, the Lisa. It was influenced in part by the Xerox Alto. Apple introduced the revolutionary Macintosh in 1984. The Macintosh was the first successful commercial implementation of a GUI. Today, it is commonly known as the "Mac". Similar GUI's are now used in all major computer operating systems.
Apple has been hugely influential in the computer industry and the continue to invent (see Invention) new popular products.
Taylor Whitmer 23:50, 17 May 2006 (PDT)
From "A Knowledge Economy to a Creativity Economy"
"Apple provides a great example of how innovation works within business. In the article The Seed of Apple's Innovation an interview with CEO, Steve Jobs, explains why innovation has been crucial to their business. He states that Apple's goal is "to make the world's best PCs -- not to be the biggest or the richest." However, Jobs recognizes the fact that there are "tons of great engineers and smart people," or a large presence of what we might call “knowledge”. In order to achieve this goal, Jobs claims that they "hire people who want to make the best things in the world". Jobs states that Apple manages for innovation through the employees who are extremely dedicated to making the best. This example only describes innovation within the company; however, the creativity of Apple’s products can be seen through the explosion of the "iPod Generation". This generation has been filled with the obsession of colorful iMac computers and bright, slim iPod’s of the size of your choice, which will play any type of music imaginable. Although these products are not the biggest and the richest, they were the most innovately created and advertised products of their kind; this is what has made Apple stand out amongst their competitors."
Taylor Whitmer 21:42, 17 May 2006 (PDT)
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