Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Its hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, the iPad tablet computer, the Mac personal computer, the iPod portable media player, and the Apple Watch smartwatch. Apple’s software includes the macOS and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media player, the Safari web browser, and the iWork and iCloud productivity suites. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976, to develop and sell personal computers. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977, and renamed Apple Inc. in 2007.
The company’s first product, the Apple I, was sold as a personal computer kit for hobbyists. Its successful launch in 1977 and the resulting publicity led to the company being listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1980. Apple went public in 1985 and became the first computer company to be valued at over US$1 billion. Jobs and Wozniak had left Apple in 1985 after losing a power struggle with then-CEO John Sculley. Jobs went on to found NeXT, a computer platform development company, and was later acquired by Apple in 1996. Wozniak founded CL 9, a computer company that he later sold to Apple.
Apple is the world’s largest information technology company by revenue and the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung.