The Apple II was released on April 16, 1977 it was innovative at the time for having color graphics and open architecture. Which gave it the advantage against the competition, while early models used cassette tapes as storage devices, they where made obsolete by the introduction of the 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive.
The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first "killer app" of the business world it was the VisiCalc spreadsheet program it created a business market for apple it helped the slow sales of the Apple II when it was released. By the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line. The company produced the Apple III in May 1980 to compete with IBM and Microsoft in the business and corporate market but it could not hold its own against the competition. In December 1980, Apple launched the initial public offering of its stock to the investing public. And when Apple went public, it generated more capital than any initial public offering since Ford Motor Company in 1956 and instantly created more millionaires than any other company in history. In 1984 Apple introduced Macintosh and made pop culture history with it's infamous 1984 Superbowl commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 .It was an initial success, but because of the high price and failure to produce a wide range of software titles. But products like LaserWriter, PageMaker and its advanced graphics capabilities kept the Macintosh alive. In the eve of the 1990's Macintosh entered its first golden age with the introduction of the Macintosh portable (17 lbs 12hrs of battery life) it was built to be as powerful as the desktop but because of its bulk it sold about 100,000 units. In 1991 the Powerbook (7lbs 3hrs of battery life) succeeded the Macintosh portable by selling one billion dollars worth in its first year. But as the phoenix rises from ashes it got burned back down with the release of the Centris line which was sold in many confusing configurations and bundles to avoid competition with large consumer outlets such as (Wal-mart, Sears and Price Club). Apple tried to make up for the Centris line by branching out into different products such as Digital Cameras, CD players and TV appliances, all of which did not succeed as one would hope so. As failure came the company was looking for innovation in 1997 at the Macworld expo Jobs announced that Apple would work with Microsoft in creating Microsoft Office for Macintosh and that Microsoft also invested 150 million dollars in non-voting shares. That very same year Apple opened the Apple store a build to order manufacturing strategy with excellent customer service. On August 15 1998 Apple introduced the iMac an all in one computer that proved to be successful by selling close to 800,000 units in its first 5 months. The iMac introduced a lot of software that is still being used such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Shake, GarageBand and iPhoto. In 2001 Apple introduced the iPod the portable music player that we all know and love(or hate) today. A phenomenon selling 100 million units in its first six years and from the introduction of the iPod, iTunes was created a leader in digital music by selling songs for .99 cents which changed the music industry in a huge way. It was reported that iTunes reached over 5 billion downloads by 2008. In 2006 Jobs announced that Apple will begin producing Intel based computers the MacBookpro and iMac where the first apple computers to use intel core duo. From there apple put intel chips in all apple computers. And the Power Mac iBooks, and PowerBook all where succeeded by the Mac Pro, MacBook and MacBook Pro. Apple shares where improving as well going from $6 shares in the early 2000's to over $80 in 2006. In 2007 Jobs introduced the iPhone and apple TV and apple shares went over $100 dollars, six months after the release of the iPhone it was announced that apple became the third largest supplier of mobile handsets in the world. In 2009 Apple recorded its best non-holiday quarter during the recession with a revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.21 billion. In June 2010 apple released its fourth generation iPhone which introduced video calling, multitasking and uninsulated stainless steel. and in July 2010 the iPhone 4 sold over 3million units.
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