The World's Most Admired Companies

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod and the iPhone.

Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was called Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but dropped the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.Apple has about 35,000 employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of US$32.48 billion in its fiscal year ending September 29, 2008.

Apple was established by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. They were hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple they went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 ($2.5 thousand in 2009 dollars, adjusted for inflation).

The Apple I, Apple's first product. Sold as an assembled circuit board, it lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case. The monochrome-themed logo maintained the same shaped as the rainbow theme it replaced. It is still used and often appears in various colors on various products, such as packaging and advertisements in 2003.

Slogans

Apple's first slogan, "Byte into an Apple", was coined in the late 1970s.From 1997–2002, Apple used the slogan Think Different in advertising campaigns. The slogan had a lasting impact on their image and revived their popularity with the media and customers. Although the slogan has been retired, it is still closely associated with Apple. Apple also has slogans for specific product lines — for example, "iThink, therefore iMac", was used in 1998 to promote the iMac,and "Say hello to iPhone" has been used in iPhone advertisements.