Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in consumer electronics, software and online services headquartered in Cupertino,California, United States.
Apple was founded as Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs,Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to develop and sell Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. It was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. in 1977 and the company’s next computer, the Apple II, became a best seller and one of the first mass-produced microcomputers.Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial success. Wozniak stepped back from Apple amicably and pursued other ventures, while Jobs resigned bitterly and founded NeXT,taking some Apple employees with him.
As the market for personal computers expanded and evolved throughout the 1990s, Apple lost considerable market share to the lower-priced duopoly of the Microsoft Windows operating system on Intel-powered PC clones . In 1997, weeks away from bankruptcy, the company bought NeXT to resolve Apple’s unsuccessful operating system strategy and entice Jobs back to the company.
