Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools; the Safari internet browser; and iOS, a mobile operating system.
As of August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. As of May 2011, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, having surpassed Microsoft.
Apple's first logo, depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.
Almost immediately, though, this was replaced by Rob Janoff's "rainbow Apple", the now-familiar rainbow-colored silhouette of an apple with a bite taken out of it. Janoff presented Jobs with several different monochromatic themes for the "bitten" logo, and Jobs immediately took a liking to it. While Jobs liked the logo, he insisted it be in color to humanize the company.
The Apple logo was designed with a bite so that it wouldn't be recognized as another fruit. The colored stripes were conceived to make the logo more accessible, and to represent the fact the monitor could reproduce images in color. The logo is often erroneously referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing, with the bite mark a reference to his method of suicide. Both the designer of the logo and the company deny that there is any homage to Turing in the design of the logo.
In 1998, with the roll-out of the new iMac, Apple discontinued the rainbow theme and began to use monochromatic themes, nearly identical in shape to its previous rainbow incarnation, on various products, packaging and advertising. An Aqua-themed version of the monochrome logo was used from 2001-2003, and a Glass-themed version has been used since 2003.
In the past, Apple Inc. has had trademark issues between themselves and Apple Corps ltd., a multimedia company started by the Beatles in 1967, involving their name and logo. This resulted in a series of lawsuits and tension between the two companies. These issues finally ended with their most recent law suit in 2007.
Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011