The Rise of Apple.
Technology has come a long way. From very basic simpler devices to latest personalized computers and smartphones, we`ve seen it all. There are many companies now racing on the path of mechanization and Apple is definitely one of them. With a futuristic vision and hard work of many veterans, things have been made possible for the betterment of human life. There have been many rises and falls of such technologies till now and among one of them, Apple covers an interesting history.
“Thinking Differently”, the main reason behind the rise of apple. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne in 1976. Starting from building the Apple I followed by Apple II and Apple III became the popular computers at the time. The quality and features of the computers were unmatchable by other companies and therefore, their sales were huge. In 1980, Apple became a public company and suddenly their share prices increased by a huge margin. They became the fastest growing company in the world.
1980s was a tough period for Apple. They were facing competitions with the rising IBM PCs and at the same time due to various internal conflicts and politics Steve Jobs resigned. Microsoft started releasing Windows and various PCs were manufactured and sold.
In 1997, Steve Jobs was reinstated as CEO of Apple and only after that things started running smoothly for Apple. The development of Apple skyrocketed once the agreement of Mac OS was done with the Microsoft. Steve Jobs’ “out of the box” thinking made many things possible for the company. Apple iPod released in 2001 followed by the iTunes Music Store in 2003 flourished the path of Apple in the direction they were aiming.
Later, in 2007, iPhone with iOS brought the mobile phone with the internet capable including the music and video features. Apple sold 6.1 million first generation iPhone units over four quarters of the year. Additions of elated features and the attracting modelling and design of the products broke the resistance of people to not to buy it. Sales in 2008 started surpassing many companies which made Apple the third largest mobile phone manufacturer by revenue, after Nokia and Samsung. With the launch of iPads and new generation of iPhone compacting with the new iOS versions, the sales reached up to 74.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. Sales of Mac computers also started increasing rapidly. The death of the visionary leader Steve Jobs in 2011, however didn't impact on the upgrowing sales of the company products which was well carried by Tim Cook. After each year Apple started hitting new benchmarks in every country and became the World`s first Trillion-dollar company in 2018. The company hit a $1tn market capitalisation 42 years after Apple was founded. It means Apple’s stock market value is more than a third the size of the UK economy and larger than the economies of Turkey and Switzerland.
With the unimaginable growth, there has been a downfall in sales of Apple products in the recent periods. The quarterly revenue was down by 5% in the current year than in 2018 and is expected to decline much more latter this year. The negative word of mouth has been a crucial factor for its declination. It’s failure to live up to people`s expectations have hampered the sales of Apple products. With the lack of appealing features in aristocratic design the fall is more to come. These days, the only consideration is making the product thinner and removing the ports which is being very baffling to the users. Basically, they are pissing off the users with the lack of vision and failure to be innovative. Every new product is somehow predictable, but people want something new, something never done before. If only the price rises with the same features and only changes are the sizes then of course, the graph will incline downwards. So, Apple must begin thinking extraordinary and do what Steve might have done.
Some interesting facts about Apple
Macintosh was named after a variety of apples.
Smoking near a Mac may void its warranty.
Apple’s first company logo featured a drawing of the father of physics, Sir Isaac Newton.
Apple is so successful; it has more amount of money than the U.S. Treasury.
During his first 15 years, CEO Steve Jobs was paid an annual salary of $1. This allowed him to qualify for company health benefits. Despite this, Jobs had a net worth of $7 billion.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a third partner in the earliest days of Apple. Ronald Wayne sold his 10 percent stake in the company for $800 in 1976.
