apple inc. essays

apple inc. essays President Apple was founded in April 1976 by Steve Wozniak, 26 years old, and Steve Jobs, 21, both college dropouts. In 1976 Wozniak was working on the Apple I computer, without keyboard or power supply, for a computer hobbyist club. Later that summer, Wozniak began work on the Apple II, designed to appeal to a greater market than computer hobbyists. Apple's professional marketing team placed the Apple II in retail stores, and by June 1977, annual sales reached $1 million. In 1979 Apple introduced the Apple II+, with far more memory than the Apple II and an easier startup system. By the end of the year sales were up 400% from 1978, at over 35,000 computers. In December 1980, Apple went public. Its offering of 4.6 million shares at $22 each sold out within minutes. A second offering of 2.6 million shares quickly sold out in May 1981. The Apple III was well received when it was released in September 1980 at $3,495 but the Apple III never sold as well as the Apple II. It was discontin ued in April 1984. Unfortunately, the Lisa did not sell as well as Apple had hoped. With the failure of the Lisa, the Macintosh was seen as the future of the company. It was launched with a television commercial in January 1984. The Macintosh computer finally moved Apple into the business office. Corporations saw its ease of use as a distinct advantage. By 1988, over one million Macintoshs had been sold. Now, Apple designs, develops, produces, markets and services microprocessor-based personal computers, related software and peripheral products, including laser printers, scanners, compact disk read-only memory drives and other related products; and manufactures communications products that connect Apple systems to local area networks, connect the Macintosh to other computers and integrate the Macintosh into various computing environments. The stock prices, sales and market share were shown in Exhibit 1, 2 an...