Apple

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California  that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, the iPod music player, the iPhone smartphone, and the iPad tablet computer. Its consumer software includes the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites.

The company was founded on April 1, 1976, and incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. The word "Computer" was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, the same day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, reflecting its shifted focus towardsconsumer electronics.

Apple is the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue after Samsung Electronics, and the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia.Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012. On September 30, 2013, Apple surpassed Coca-Cola to become the world's most valuable brand in the Omnicom Group's "Best Global Brands" report. However, the company has receivedcriticism for its contractors' labor practices, and for Apple's own environmental and business practices.

As of May 2013, Apple maintains 408 retail stores in fourteen countries as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store,the latter of which is the world's largest music retailer. Apple is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$415 billion as of March 2013. As of Sept 29 2012, the company had 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time employees worldwide. Its worldwide annual revenue in 2012 totalled $156 billion. In May 2013, Apple entered the top ten of the Fortune 500 list of companies for the first time, rising 11 places above its 2012 ranking to take the sixth position.
^]