The Growth of Apple Computer
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The growth of Apple Computer, Inc. provides one of the greatest success stories of recent times. The organization was established in 1975 by electronics wizard Steve Wozniak and entrepreneur Steve Jobs. Wozniak and Jobs started their business on a shoestring. Together, they barely had $1,000 to invest, and their first computers were built in the garage of Jobs' home. Their first model, the Apple I, sold only a couple of hundred units. However, the improved Apple II quickly sold in the tens of thousands. By 1980, Apple Computer was worth $117 million (Depke and Brandt, 1991, p. 61). In 1984, the year that Apple introduced its popular Macintosh model, the company attained more than $1 billion in sales. In 1990, Apple Computer's annual revenues were worth well over $5 billion (McCarroll, 1991, p. 46). In 1985, Apple underwent dramatic changes when John Sculley took over control of the organization. At that time, the computer industry as a whole was experiencing a decline in sales. Although both Wozniak and Jobs left Apple Computer as a result of conflicts with the new president, Sculley was able to regain the company's place in the market by the year 1987. In 1991, a surprise announcement was made in which it was revealed that Apple Computer was planning a cooperative alliance with its traditional enemy, Internal Business Machines (IBM). This alliance, if successful, will open new markets for both Apple and IBM, and will thus increase the profitability of both firm
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oth efficient and easy to use. Another important innovation which set Apple Computer apart from its competitors was the "mouse." The mouse has been described as "a pad with a rolling ball that permitted one to move the cursor on the monitor without using the keyboard" (p. 315).
Along with all these successful innovations, Apple Computer had its share of failures as well. For example, the company's Lisa computer failed to reach a viable market. In addition, the Apple III proved to be a disastrous failure for the corporation. Introduced in 1980, many of the Apple III's turned out to be defective. The massive returns of the product had a damaging impact on Apple's finances, as well as hurting the company's reputation (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984, p. 235). In 1984, Apple Computer redeemed itself with the introduction of the Macintosh. At that time, IBM was rapidly taking over the computer market, and the failures of Lisa and Apple III had done little to stop this fact. However, the Macintosh regained Apple's status in the marketplace because it was cheap and because its employment of pictures and the "mouse" made it the easiest computer ever to use (Slater, 1987, p. 316).
In addition to being an innovator in terms of
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Approximate Word count = 3082
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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