1、Company Information of AppleBackground of Apple Apple Inc., (NASDAQ: AAPL), changed from its former name Apple Computer Inc in Macworld Expo on January 9th 2007, was established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated on January 3rd , 1977.It is an American multinational corporati
2、on which designs and manufactures consumer electronics and software products. The companys best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, iPod and iPhone and ipad. Apple software products include the Mac OS X operating system, the iTunes media browser, the iLife suite of multimedia creati
3、vity software , the iWork suite of productivity software and Final Cut Studio suite of professional audio and film-industry software products.The company operates 323 retail stores in nine countries, of which 87 stores are located out of America and four of them are located in China which are regard
4、ed as the most popular stores worldwide. Apple also has online stores where hardware and software products are sold. Apple has more than 50 thousand staff and 26.5 thousand of them are engaged in retailing service. According to the first quarter report of 2011 for Apple, we can see that it gains a r
5、evenue of $26.74 billion and its net profit is $6 billion. IPhone, iPad, Mac sales also reach historical highs.The big events of Apple 2001 Apple launched iPod ，tens of million iPod were sold all around the world, ITunes store became the largest online music store and led a new way for music industr
6、y2007 Apple launched iPhone 2010 more than 50, 000,000 iPhone were sold and App Store became the largest Online App market, leading people to a time with simple-smart communication and entertainment tool.2010 Apple launched iPad, with large touch screen and powerful processorIt has a trend to replac
7、e the PC and Led a Pad-Time.The position of Apple today 1. The second largest company of the World2. The largest cell phone provider3. The highest net fit income4. The most innovative companyIn 2011, it on the Forbs list about top 100 American enterprises, it is ranked six and on Fast Company, it ra
8、nked first as to the innovation ability.Competition for AppleFor the PC segment market, Apple is facing strong competition from Dell, HP, and Lenovo, Apple market share is fare behind Microsoft. For smart phone market, Apple always has its special innovative advantage and according to the quarter re
9、port, in 2011, Apple beat Nokia, which has been in the first place for 15 years, and became the largest cell phone manufacturer in the world. As for the newcomers to the consumer electronic area, the diversified offerings of Apple will still bring it a competitive advantage.Further expectationDue to
10、 the death of Jobs, the soul of Apple, Apple suffered sharp drop as for its stock price, and its new CEO Cook didnt get a good feedback after launching the new product. Apple now faces a big challenge about whether it can maintain its innovation advantage or not and there still will be a long time before we get the answer.
