Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing : Brief History

Apple was established on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple personal computer kit, a computer single handedly designed by Wozniak. The kits were hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club.The Apple I was sold as a motherboard (with CPU, RAM, and basic textual-video chips), which is less than what is today considered a complete personal computer. The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 ($2,690 in 2013 dollars, adjusted for inflation). 

Apple was incorporated January 3, 1977,without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multi-millionaire Mike Markkula provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple.

During the first five years of operations, revenues doubled every four months, an average growth rate of 700%.

By the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line. The company introduced the Apple III in May 1980 in an attempt to compete with IBM andMicrosoft in the business and corporate computing market.

On December 12, 1980, Apple went public at $22 per share, generating more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956 and instantly creating more millionaires (about 300) than any company in history.

In 1984, Apple next launched the Macintosh. Its debut was announced by the now famous $1.5 million television commercial "1984".

On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Jonathan Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone.^[ The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design, and sold almost 800,000 units in its first five months.

On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California.

 In 2007 Apple achieved widespread success with its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad products, which introduced innovations in mobile phones, portable music players and personal computers respectively.

On January 17, 2011, Jobs announced in an internal Apple memo that he would take another medical leave of absence, for an indefinite period, to allow him to focus on his health. Chief operating officer Tim Cook assumed Jobs' day-to-day operations at Apple, although Jobs would still remain "involved in major strategic decisions for the company." Apple became the most valuable consumer-facing brand in the world.

On September 12, 2012, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, featuring an enlarged screen, more powerful processors, and running iOS 6. The latter includes a new mapping application (replacing Google Maps) that has attracted some criticism. It was made available on September 21, 2012, and became Apple's biggest iPhone launch, with over 2 million pre-orders pushing back the delivery date to late October.

An anonymous Apple employee revealed to the Bloomberg media publication that the opening of a Tokyo, Japan store is planned for 2014. The construction of the store will be completed in February 2014, but as of August 29, 2013, Takashi Takebayashi, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Apple, has not made any comment to the media. A Japanese analyst has stated, "For Apple, the Japanese market is appealing in terms of quantity and price. There is room to expand tablet sales and a possibility the Japanese market expands if Apple’s mobile carrier partners increase.