Apple Inc. History

1976- Apple is incorporated Apple goes public IBM and Apple make an alliance The Apple Store opens! iTunes is introduces iPods hit the shelves Apple goes wireless with the iPhone iPad is released Apple Timeline Overview

1976 to 1980: The early years Apple was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne (and later incorporated January 3, 1977 without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak) to sell the Apple I personal computer kit. 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 Apple II was introduced on April 16, 1977 at the first West Coast Computer Faire. It differed from its major rivals, the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, because it came with color graphics and an open architecture. While early models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices, this was quickly superseded by the introduction of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive and interface, the Disk II.

1981 to 1989: Lisa and Macintosh Apple and Education: How it all began in California The rebel from Apple's 1984 ad, set in a dystopian future modeled after the Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, set the tone for the introduction of the Macintosh The Macintosh 128K was the first Macintosh computer.

1989 to 1991: The Golden Age The Macintosh Portable was Apple's first "portable" Macintosh computer, released in Apple introduced the PowerBook in 1991, which established the modern form and ergonomic layout of the laptop computer. In 1991, Apple introduced System 7, a major upgrade to the operating system which added color to the interface, and introduced a number of new networking capabilities. It would remain the architectural basis for Mac OS until 2001.

1994 to 1997: Attempts at reinvention The Apple Newton was Apple's first foray into the PDA markets, as well as one of the first in the industry. In 1994 Apple allied with long-time competitor IBM and CPU maker Motorola in the so-called AIM alliance. Throughout the mid to late 1990s, Apple tried to improve its operating system's multitasking and memory management. In 1997, Apple entered into a partnership with Microsoft to release new versions of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh as well as a US$150 million investment in non-voting Apple stock. On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Store, an online retail store based upon the WebObjects application server the company had acquired in its purchase of NeXT.

1998 to 2005: New beginnings On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one Mac computer reminiscent of the original Macintosh 128K: the iMac. In 1998, Apple announced the purchase of Macromedia's Final Cut software, signaling its expansion into the digital video editing market. In 2002 Apple purchased Nothing Real for their advanced digital compositing application Shake, as well as Emagic for their music productivity application Logic. which led to the development of their consumer-level GarageBand application. On May 19, 2001, Apple opened its first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California, and has since continued to open more stores in the United States and other countries. In 2003, Apple's iTunes Store was introduced, offering online music downloads for US 99¢ a song and integration with the iPod.

: The Intel partnership Apple would begin producing Intel-based Mac computers beginning in Targeted at a professional audience, the MacBook Pro (15.4" widescreen) was Apple's first laptop with an Intel microprocessor. On January 10, 2006, Apple released its first Intel chip computers, a new notebook computer known as the MacBook Pro (with a 15.4" screen) and a new (though cosmetically identical) iMac with purportedly two to three times faster performance compared with its predecessor. Both used Intel's Core Duo chip technology. On January 9, 2007 Apple Computer Inc. changed its name to Apple Inc.

2007 Continued As of September 2007, Apple sells four variants of the iPod: the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod touch. The iPod is the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin. Apple has partnered with Nike to introduce the Nike+iPod Sports Kit enabling runners to sync and monitor their runs with iTunes and the Nike+ website. iPhone is Apple's multi-touch smartphone, released on June 29, 2007 for AT&T Mobility. Apple TV, (previously known as the iTV), a set-top video device intended to bridge the sale of content from iTunes with high-definition televisions was introduced in 2007.

2007–present: Post-PC era In 2008 Apple presented trackpad, which is based on the multi-touch technology. On April 3, 2010, the iPad was launched in the US and sold more than 300,000 units on that day and reaching 500,000 by the end of the first week. Apple released the fourth generation iPhone, which introduced video calling, multitasking, and a new insulated stainless steel design, which acts as the phone's antenna. Later in 2010 Apple refreshed its iPod line of MP3 players which introduced a multi-touch iPod Nano, iPod Touch with FaceTime, and iPod Shuffle with buttons which brought back the buttons of earlier generations. On January 6, 2011, the company opened their Mac App Store, a digital software distribution platform, similar to the existing iOS App Store

Apple in 2011 Apple introduced the iPad 2, a thinner model with more battery life, that also has a USB port In June of this year, Apple will hold its WWDC It costs $1600, and is already sold out What you get for the price: Five days of conferences, 1000 of Apple’s engineers, hand’s on labs explaining how to create apps, networking with other Apple enthusiasts

Apple in the Future Apple intends to continue to be a role model in going green Rumors that this year there will be no new products, only extensions on product lines Apple doesn’t ever truly announce its future products before intended