Most Admired

How well do you know the company that is most admired in the US and even in the world? Well, who cares? So long as one enjoys using the iPod or the iPhone and gets to use the Mac conveniently, what is there to know about this company? But for the curious ones, here are tidbits about the company that many has grown to love.

Apple was established in Cupertino, California in 1976 by Steve Jobs, John Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. It was incorporated in 1997 and called the Apple Computer, Inc. It was first established to market a compute that is designed by Wozniak that they call the Apple I personal computer kit. Thirty years hence, it dropped the word Computer to reflect its diversification into other electronic products save from its original focus on personal computers.

Since then, Apple has established a unique reputation in the computer industry. It has a loyal customer base that tends to create a unique Apple/Mac community that is distinct from other electronic gadget users. Such uniqueness makes the Apple products a top item in the hierarchy of most - coveted electronic gadget, be it a laptop, a digital player or a mobile phone.

The fist personal computer kit, by today's standard is a doubtful candidate for being called a proper computer. However, from such a laughable bunch of keyboards, monitor and other awkward gadgets rose the conglomerate that gives the world the best and most well - engineered electronic products and software there is.

Apple loyalists are surely familiar with the range of hardware and software products of the company. Best known hardware include the Macintosh computer, the iPhone, the iPod, and the most recent, the iPad. Software and their functions include:

a. The Mac OS X operating system that runs on every apple computer and desk top

b. The iTunes media browser

c. The iLife, a bunch of multimedia and creativity software

d. The iWork, used for professional audio and film production software

e. The Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools.

All these software are exclusively running on apple hardware. Unlike its rival Microsoft's Windows environment, Apple's Mac OS rarely run on cheap to moderately - priced hardware. It is always shipped with state of the art, beautifully designed and yet quite expensive computer, laptop or mobile phone.

But such do not deter a lot of people from patronizing Apple's products. Mac users say they would never trade their Mac Book for anything else. It does not only help in their job. It also makes them look good.

Apple has had its shares of ups and down as a company. To date, Apple has successfully built a global brand that is known to many yet used by only a few. On the top of the reasons is that their products are very expensive. Apple relies more on big margins rather than mass production, and it suits just well for the company's image. Exclusivity, coupled with great engineering and intelligent software, Apple is and will continue to be the most admired company and its products most sought after.