苹果公司全方位介绍英文

Introduction of Apple Inc.

1. Company profile

Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products are the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad (Apple calls its computers Macintoshes or Macs, and it calls its laptops MacBooks. Their popular line of mobile music players are called iPods and a smart phone they have released is called the iPhone.). Its software includes the OS X and iOS operating system; the iTunes media browser; and the iLife and iWork creativity and production suites. Apple is the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia. Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was named Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years. The word "Computer" was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, as its traditional focus on personal computers shifted towards consumer electronics.

As of July 2011, Apple has 364 retail stores in thirteen countries as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store. It is the largest publicly-traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$626 billion as of September 2012. The Apple market cap is larger than that of Google and Microsoft combined. As of September 24, 2011, the company had 60,400 permanent full-time employees and 2,900 temporary full-time employees worldwide; its worldwide annual revenue in 2010 totaled $65 billion, growing to $108 billion in 2011.

Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012. However, the company has received widespread criticism for its contractors' labor practices, and for Apple's own environmental and business practices. Apple topped list of the World's Most Powerful Brands on October 2, 2012.

2. Current products

2.1 iPad

On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad running a modified version of iOS. It offers multi-touch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, ebooks, textbooks, photos, movies, TV shows videos, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video games, and most existing iPhone apps. It also includes a mobile version of Safari for web browsing, as well as access to the App Store, iTunes Library, iBookstore, contacts, and notepad. Content is downloadable via Wi-Fi and optional 3G service or synced through the user's computer. AT&T was initially the sole US provider of 3G wireless access for the iPad.

On March 2, 2011, Apple introduced an updated iPad model which had a faster processor and two cameras on the front and back respectively. The iPad 2 also added support for optional 3G service provided by Verizon in addition to the existing offering by AT&T. However, the availability of the iPad 2 has been limited as a result of the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

On March 7, 2012, Apple introduced the third generation iPad (dubbed "the new iPad" by Apple). The third-generation iPad added LTE service from AT&T or Verizon and an upgraded processor, the A5X. It also added the Retina display (2048 by 1536 resolution), originally implemented on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The dimensions and form factor remained relatively unchanged, with the new iPad being a fraction thicker and heavier than the previous version, and minor positioning changes.

Since the tablet launched in 2010, iPad users have downloaded 3 billion apps, while the total App Store downloads is up to over 25 billion downloads.

2.2 iPod

The current iPod family, featuring the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, and iPod Touch

On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player. It has evolved to include various models targeting the wants of different users. The iPod is the market leader in portable music players by a significant margin, with more than 220 million units shipped as of September 2009[update]. Apple has partnered with Nike to offer the Nike+iPod Sports Kit enabling runners to synchronize and monitor their runs with iTunes and the Nike+ website. Apple currently sells four variants of the iPod.