Apple Computer

Apple, formerly Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) is an American multinational computer company, whose headquarters is located in Cupertino, Silicon Valley. The firm became famous with his Apple II personal computer (1977), then the Macintosh line (1984) 2. In 2001, Apple has diversified its activities by venturing into the music industry with the iPod and the iTunes Store (2003) two products designed for digital music, then to the mobile with the iPhone (2007). The brand is known for its simple user interface and sleek design of its products, and also for its ability to inform the public of existing technologies by making them accessible even to a lay audience. This was the case with the graphic interface with windows, mouse and more recently the Multitouch screen.

History of Apple

Apple was established on 1 April 1976 in Cupertino, then incorporated as a company Jan. 3, 1977. Some years before its inception the company as it exists in 2010, Apple has had various facets related to the evolution of the computing world, from a world without personal computers to a company of twenty-first century by interconnected through fixed and mobile devices. His story is particularly related to that of one of its co-founders, Steve Jobs, forced to leave the firm in 1985, then rehired in December 1996 before becoming CEO of the company in 1997. Among the key products Apple has experienced since its inception, are the Apple I and II, the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

The "Apple culture"

The meetings with the public. Apple has always favored a technical trade reconciliation with its consumers and potential consumers. This is part of an overall marketing technique aimed, among other things, to give the impression to the consumer to be part of a community of users close to the computer company. There are several important annual meetings between Apple, its customers, developers and especially the press. Each opened with a video projection where Steve Jobs presents the financial results of the company and generally new products. The importance of these major meetings fluctuates, and in 2000, the three most important were the Macworld Expos New York (now defunct), San Francisco and Tokyo.

Macworld Conference & Expo San Francisco takes place in January. Apple is mostly announced new products geared toward the general public. The last took place from 14 to 18 January 2008. The MacWorld Expo 2009 was the last and took place without Steve Jobs, replaced by Phil Schiller (Vice-President of the company). According to an official statement, the website and their stores are sufficient to ensure the success of the brand.

Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC): annual event of great importance, it was then that Apple would unveil the main novelties of the year (usually software oriented and professional audience). The last was held in San Francisco from June 7 to June 11, 2010 which was unveiled the iPhone 4.

Apple Expo: Launched in 1984, it took place in Paris (Porte de Versailles) in September, is the first appointment Mac in Europe, and the first rendezvous IT & Digital France. Its importance in communicating the publisher has fallen in recent years: Apple has ceased to hold a keynote since 2006 and announced his departure from the show's 2008 edition, held from 17 to 20September 2008.

Thus, Apple has phased out all these conferences, in favor of cheaper ways of rapprochement with the users, such as Apple Store and their official website. However, the decision of this tradition gave rise to a certain sadness among fans of the brand, who see the evaporation of the friendly atmosphere that maintaining old Apple. Still, unless Apple continues to hold regular keynote to present major new products.

The first version of the logo represented Isaac Newton under an apple tree from which hung. Very quickly, it is replaced by an apple in the colors of the rainbow in the sky bitten on the right side, designed by Rob Janoff. The visual features of the logo appear as the result of a systematic walk-cons made from the logo of IBM, Apple's main competitor at the time. Indeed, the silhouette of the apple logo gives Apple a simple configuration and understood in a general block, while IBM is in the form of a triptych. Secondly, the shapes of the fruit are completely constructed from curves, straight-based IBM. Third, the chromatic sequence type ABBA Apple: warm colors in the center, emphasizing the pinch of the apple cold outside. The sequence in the case of IBM is repetitive (BABA) and two colors: the bands are disjoint cool colors like blue. The apple is bitten not to be confused with the logo of Apple Corps record label founded by the Beatles but the story says that the apple is bitten not to be confused with that of a tomato.

In his history of Apple, entitled The Third Apple, Jean-Louis Gassée Alan Turing mentions several times but did not mention an iconic tribute to him there are three apples, the fruit of the tree of knowledge ( myth of Adam and Eve), Isaac Newton's apple (besides the organizer called the Apple Newton), and finally the apple of Apple. The foundation of Apple prone to myths, the newspaper reported SVM Mac also the legend according to which the poverty in which both Steve lived in their infancy have led to high consumption of apples, Steve Jobs has a particular liking for McIntosh , which tended to get a tan.

Another legend says that Steve had two months of delay to give a name to his business and then threatened to call his company "Apple Computer" if his colleagues did not do him a good name suggestion before 17 pm. Finding nothing the company became Apple. Another reason mentioned was the desire to appear before its competitors in alphabetical order, the first time since the Atari.

Rob Janoff met Steve Jobs for the first time when he worked in Palo Alto, in the PR firm Regis McKenna. He was in charge of designing a logo for a friend of his boss, Steve Jobs. "For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket to buy a bag of apples and slice them," recalls Janoff. The fruit of his work: an apple monochromatic 2D, with a small bite on the right side. Jobs liked the concept, although he suggested would have been better a bit more colorful. Janoff's boss disagreed, insisting that a black logo would be less expensive to print.But Jobs was determined, arguing that the color was the key to humanizing the company "continues Janoff.

From 1997 to 2001 the logo changed again: the form remains the same (although sometimes it is adorned with a slight relief effect), but the reason rainbow is replaced by a monochrome tone, varying by product door. The battle with IBM was over. Apple is now a symbol catchy, as is Sony or Nike. This change is intended to give the company an image more in line with its ambitions in the professional market. The apple colorful, evoking for many the hippie movement, the sounds at the opening of windows or the "Happy Mac" (previously shown at startup of the Macintosh), like other icons of Susan Kare, had gone out of fashion, while logo embossed gloss gives the brand an image of luxury and quality. On computers, the iMac is the first to replace the apple with a monochrome color on its hull. And the operating system Mac OS X which completes the work by making monochrome apple at the corner of the menu bar of the computer.

Between marketing, innovation and choice

Apple has a reputation for providing systems easy to use, intuitive and integrates perfectly stable operating system, which in turn fits perfectly with the machine. This is due to Apple's closed policy, which chooses its own hardware and peripheral products. This is probably the main advantage of vertical product strategy led by the mark, despite the drawbacks of such a strategy for the customer and the company. Apple has upgraded its distribution network-house, opening his own store, Apple stores.Although this initiative to enter the field of retailing has received a mixed reception from the independent dealers, this strategy proved successful. Indeed, sites promoting "Apple brand" responsible for a concept design that combines technology and simplicity accents, Apple Stores contribute to the identity of the brand. Naomi Klein identifies in his book No Logo as one of the most sophisticated of modern times, tied with Nike. In 1984, Apple gets George Orwell in an advertisement against IBM. Later, Gandhi Think different testifies in favor of the mark in its publicités5.

Organization

It alleges that Apple's model of vertical development, which goes against the requirements of most economists, especially for IT. Despite this, the company released a profit. Apple is also criticized because it depends heavily on the personality that directs it, especially during two eras of Jobs. Some argue that Steve Jobs is the subject of a cult of personality, or at least between some elements of such a cult in its relationship with its customers, and it maintains about him a field distortion of reality.

Apple is still criticized for a closed architecture, and its refusal standards: we use the term syndrome of not-invented-here. This criticism is out of place, however, most electronic components of its computers are common to the entire computer industry. In addition, the operating system utilizes a number of popular technologies (1-4 MPEG, OpenGL, programming free). Finally, the time when the policy choice of technology existed, it was not objectionable in itself, because research and innovation are engines of development, each company seeks to recoup its research costs and development by setting market his inventions.In addition, several technologies Apple first used by Apple are then generalized in the personal computer (FireWire ZeroConf (Hello, ex-Apple Rendezvous)). Similarly, Apple has enabled and accelerated the adoption of innovations by generalizing from a blow to its range (3.5-inch floppy disks, SCSI, USB, Wi-Fi (AirPort)).

Some analysts criticize the competition within Apple itself, between different programmers programming environments, those in Cocoa, NeXTSTEP heirs, and those of Carbon derived from Mac OS 9. This rivalry is seen as cons-productive, as was his time in the rivalry between the teams Apple II and Macintosh. A less commonly heard criticism [ref. necessary], because on most businesses and individuals, concerning the lack of a "Roadmap" (Planning announced) on Apple marked its software technologies. IT departments of large companies expect from a publisher to clearly announce what will tender its software in the next five years, in order to make investment choices in the medium term. However, the allegation that Apple is not really announce what will be the stages of its evolution beyond a year, unlike its competitors like Microsoft. A simple example is if, for the abrupt announcement of the abandonment of PowerPC processors from IBM / Motorola in favor of those from Intel: publishers need to update their applications, while owners of ParkMicro will have to pay these updates, and will manage two lines of machines. An announcement earlier had allowed them to anticipate the phenomenon, in planning the park renewals based on the torque hardware / software in order to avoid additional costs for updating.

The cancellation of the regular development of promising technologies yet (eg OpenDoc) has also left on the roadside of developers, tired of investing time and money in "dead ends". As a result, the number of independent developers and publishers declined during the 1990s. This criticism is outdated since the introduction of Mac OS X, which has returned to the bosom of many Apple developers from the Unix / Linux and free software.

Moreover, the management system of after-sale in Europe, told a single provider for laptops and G5, proved to be one of the weaknesses of the trading system Apple. Following significant delays in the early 2000s, the service provider went bankrupt in early 2005, forcing Apple to use technicians to the retailers and causing further delays in repairs.

Price

Finally, Apple is often accused of pursuing a policy of price too high. The price of a Macintosh could often be twice that of a PC / IBM compatible in the 1980s, or even three times in the 1990s after the advent of the Pentium. This policy of high prices has probably hampered the development of the Macintosh in favor of the PC and consumer multimedia computers of the era, such as the Amiga and the Atari. Today, Apple posted rates are often more expensive and represent a barrier for many users wishing to make the "switch", that is to say, from Windows to Mac OS X, even if the output Mac mini is an initiative which again opens a field in the area.
It is true that the margins applied by Apple are much higher than those generally practice in this area (between 25% and 30% gross margin in the early 2000s, when some PC makers are content to 8% or less). However, a Gartner Group study commissioned by Apple Australia and distributed by him in the press in 2002, stated that the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) or TCO, that is to say the total cost of computer equipment when you add optional hardware, software (licenses), support (etc.) is lower with a Mac than on a PC running Windows. Balanced review later by Gartner, which said that the information contained in the report did not reflect the editorial position and were intended for internal use at Apple, corresponding to a specific scenario.

Environment

In late 2006 and early 2007, Apple was ranked twice by Greenpeace as the last in a ranking of fourteen companies manufacturing electronic products, on criteria such as environmental waste management, recycling of obsolete products, the use of polluting components or communication to the general public on these sujets6, 7. Apple denies this classification in an open letter from Steve Jobs8. The company says make for several years in shares environnemental9. Sites devoted to the Macintosh have on several occasions discussed the environmental aspects of Apple and the use of the image of Apple by Greenpeace10, 11.Greenpeace France has recently shown (May 2007) by organizing a demonstration outside an Apple dealer even though the international section of the association has rebounded in early May on Apple's ranking with an average of 5 / 10 following the letter of Steve Jobs12. In March 2008 Apple is located in mid-table, with a score of 7 / 1013.
The Cupertino company has responded fairly quickly but not for the iPhone. In announcing the new iMacs August 7, 2007, Steve Jobs's Apple event begins in these words: "Ladies and gentlemen, here is the new iMac, it is much more environmentally friendly and recyclable ...". The white polycarbonate and is replaced by anodized aluminum components and glass facades. The iPhone has also been criticized by Greenpeace, which denounced the extremely toxic materials inside it. Apple has not responded and seems in no hurry to make its iPhone more environmentally friendly. Indeed, Apple has replaced the aluminum hull aft of the iPhone by a polycarbonate shell for iPhone 3G.