Apple

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apple Inc.

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN US0378331005
founding April 1, 1976
Seat Cupertino , California , United States
United StatesUnited States 
management
Number of employees 154,000 ( FTE Sep 2021)
sales volume $ 386 billion (2021)
Branch Hardware and software development , online trading
Website www.apple.com
As of September 29, 2021

Apple Inc. [ ˈæpəlˌɪŋk ] is an American hardware and software developer and technology company that develops and markets computers , smartphones, and consumer electronics, as well as operating systems and application software . Apple also operates an Internet sales portal for music, films and software. The headquarters of Apple, the Apple Park , located in California's Cupertino .

Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak , Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne as a garage company and was one of the first manufacturers of personal computers . The company contributed significantly to their development as a mass product. With the introduction of the graphical user interface and the mouse in the 1980s, Apple took the computers Lisa and Macintosh , a pioneering one. With the appearance of the iPod (2001), the iPhone (2007) and the iPad (2010), Apple gradually expanded its business to other product areas. It thus laid the basis for the boom in the markets for smartphones and tablet computers that has continued to this day . In recent years, the iPhone, with a sales share of more than 50% of the group’s total sales, has become Apple’s most important product.

The iTunes Store for music and film downloads , which opened in 2003, became the first commercially successful download portal and played a decisive role in shaping this market. Today the iTunes Store and the App Store, which opened in 2008, are two of the world's largest distribution channels for digital goods .

story

1976–1980: foundation

The Apple I (1976)

The company Apple was on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs , Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne with a starting capital of 1,300  US dollars founded. The shares between Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne were divided according to the key 45%: 45%: 10%. All three knew each other from the Homebrew Computer Club , a club of enthusiasts and hackers that made many computer pioneers and entrepreneurs. This club is referred to as the "melting pot for an entire industry" when it comes to personal computers . In the trio, Wozniak was the creative tinkerer, a - as the journalist Steven Levy writes - a brilliant computer hacker who, however, lacked any sense of business; Steve Jobs was the visionary who drove the idea of ​​the company and Ron Wayne was the one who brought the two together and mediated between them so that they could agree on a common concept. Wayne took care of the legal formalities of the company's formation and also drew the first logo of the new company, which Isaac Newton showed sitting under an apple tree with a single apple hanging from it. Co-founder Wayne left Apple just eleven days later due to concerns about the payment behavior of Byte Shop , which was the new company's first customer. He sold his shares in the company for a total of US $ 2,300.

The concept and designs for the Apple I , the world's first personal computer , were created under the leadership of Wozniak shortly before the company was founded in Los Altos in Silicon Valley . His PC provided the basis for the idea to found the company and was also Apple's first product. The sub-assemblies of the device, which were then assembled with the help of Steve Jobs, were sold to Apple by the computer chain Byte Shop from July 1976 under the slogan Byte into for a retail price of 666.66 US dollars in small numbers of around 200 copies. The successor model, the Apple II , released in 1977 , was the last industrially manufactured PC that - like the Apple I - was designed entirely by a single person, Steve Wozniak. For the development and marketing of this computer, further investments beyond the sales proceeds of the Apple I were necessary. This made the conversion of Apple into a corporation necessary in 1977 , with the first major investment being made by Mike Markkula . With the US $ 250,000 he brought in, he now held 26 percent of the company's shares. The command line-oriented Apple II, presented to the public in June 1977 , quickly became a best seller and is considered one of the most successful personal computers of its time.

1981-1984: Xerox PARC, Lisa and Macintosh

The LISA Operating System, one of the first window systems

Spurred on by the great success of the Apple II, the company began work on a new, forward-looking project as early as the fall of 1979. Under the code name "Macintosh" the development of an intuitively operated computer for broad sections of the population was envisaged. Responsible Jef Raskin urged in particular to the inclusion of a short time before by Xerox introduced the graphical user interface (English graphical user interface ). This already had the basic concept of today's GUIs with windows, clickable icons and menu navigation for operation via computer mouse and mouse pointer, the so-called WIMP paradigm . This was intended to replace the command line-oriented interface that was previously predominant in computers and required specialist knowledge. Raskin thereupon arranged Steve Jobs in November 1979 to visit the research center Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in order to be able to get an idea for himself. Jobs was impressed with the Xerox Alto's GUI and a few weeks later sent other Apple developers to review the technology. In return, Xerox was given the opportunity to purchase 100,000 shares prior to Apple's initial public offering, valued at $ 1 million at the time.

Just like the Xerox Star with its GUI introduced in 1981, Apple did not achieve commercial success with the US $ 10,000 Apple Lisa two years later, although the Apple GUI already made some improvements such as overlapping windows, dropout menus , drag and drop and the recycle bin had been added. It was not until 1984 that the significantly cheaper Macintosh , which was sold in large numbers , succeeded in establishing the graphical user interface on the emerging PC mass market.

1985-1996: Sculley era

As early as the fall of 1982, Apple was looking for a CEO because Mike Markkula wanted to leave the office. The choice fell in the spring of 1983 on John Sculley , who had previously been responsible for two successful advertising campaigns for PepsiCo and was considered a marketing genius. Sculley and Jobs were initially enthusiastic about each other: In May 1984, Jobs declared that Sculley's start at Apple had been one of the best days of his career. Sculley then stated that Apple had "only one leader - Steve and me." A short time later, however, there were increasingly frequent conflicts between the two, which resulted in a coup attempt by Jobs in May 1985. After this failed, Jobs was relieved of his duties as head of the Macintosh department and left Apple in September 1985 to found the computer manufacturer NeXT .

After the initial euphoria subsided, the Macintosh only sold slowly because the hardware was too weak. This changed from around 1986 with the introduction of new models such as the Macintosh Plus . The Macintosh product line found widespread use in the desktop publishing market, which arose as a result of the WYSIWYG capabilities of the Macintosh and thanks to software from various third-party providers such as PageMaker and QuarkXPress .

In 1987, a group led by Steve Sakoman began working on wireless networking and handwriting recognition. The project with the code name "Newton" found the support of Sculley, who coined the term Personal Digital Assistant for it and presented it in the spring of 1992 at the Consumer Electronics Show . However, the project was delayed several times. When the first device, the Newton MessagePad , finally appeared in the late summer of 1993, handwriting recognition was immature and led to ridicule and even a parody in the television series The Simpsons .

Since the Macintosh operating system was clearly ahead of the competition in the 1980s, the devices achieved profit margins of over 50% in some cases. With the appearance of Windows 3.0 in May 1990, Apple came under pressure and in October 1990 presented two significantly cheaper Macintosh models, the Macintosh LC and the Macintosh Classic . This temporarily led to higher market shares, but at the same time Apple's profits fell significantly. Since the costs for various research projects rose significantly in the meantime - the Newton project alone generated development costs of 100 million US dollars - Apple made a quarterly loss in 1993 for the first time in several years. In June 1993, Sculley finally had to vacate his position as CEO and was replaced by Michael Spindler .

Under Spindler, Apple began in 1994 to license its own Mac OS operating system - at that time System 7 - to other hardware manufacturers in order to compete more intensely with Microsoft. Initially, only smaller companies such as Power Computing joined the licensing program , and it wasn't until 1996 that Motorola became a larger manufacturer. The hoped-for gains in market share did not materialize, however; instead, the competing Windows operating system had largely prevailed. Apple only became more prominent in education, web and desktop publishing .

During Spindler's tenure there was a successful switch from Motorola's 68k to PowerPC processors, but also a series of technical problems and management errors that led to his replacement by Gil Amelio in early 1996 and a depreciation of 740 million US dollars. At this point in time, Apple was on the verge of insolvency or a takeover by Oracle , Sun , IBM or Hewlett-Packard .

1997–2000: The way out of the crisis

Apple headquarters in Cupertino

An urgent problem was that Apple's operating system was considered out of date and essential capabilities such as preemptive multitasking or protected memory were missing, so that problems in a single program could crash the entire operating system. After its own projects such as Taligent or Copland failed, Apple was forced to look outside the company for a new operating system. Apple therefore negotiated the purchase of the company Be Incorporated in order to use their BeOS operating system. The takeover failed in November 1996 because of the excessive demands made by Be-Chef Jean-Louis Gassée . Instead, Apple surprisingly took over NeXT from Apple founder Steve Jobs in December 1996 for about 400 million US dollars.

With the acquisition of NeXT, a new corporate culture entered Apple . In the summer of 1997 Gil Amelio was fired and the board of directors was almost completely replaced. A new CEO was not initially appointed. Steve Jobs, who until then had held a purely informal advisory role, became a member of the board, but did not want to take on a leadership position at Apple. While the company was looking for a successor for Amelio, he initially became interim CEO and finally took over the position permanently two and a half years later. Numerous other key positions in the company were also filled with NeXT employees.

Jobs stopped licensing the operating system to other manufacturers, cut many ongoing research and development projects, and discontinued several product lines, including the Newton and many Macintosh models. The new strategy envisaged only four products: For home users, these were the iBook for mobile and the iMac for stationary use; The more powerful models PowerBook and Power Mac are aimed at professional users .

Another important element of the company's rescue was an agreement with arch-rival Microsoft that was presented at the Macworld Expo in August 1997 . Microsoft invested 150 million US dollars in Apple shares without voting rights. Both companies agreed to cross-license their patents and work closely together on Java development. In addition, Apple made Internet Explorer the new standard web browser for the Macintosh operating system, and Microsoft committed to publishing as many new versions of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh as for Windows for five years . A missing Microsoft Office on the Macintosh was seen as a great danger for Apple at the time.

Mac OS 8 appeared in the summer of 1997 . While part of the company was further developing the classic Mac operating system, another group was working on its successor, Mac OS X , which combined elements of NeXT's NeXTStep operating system (such as the Mach kernel) with elements of the classic Mac OS (such as the Finder ). Mac OS X also had two programming interfaces (APIs): the Cocoa API, derived from NeXTStep, and the Carbon API , available from Mac OS 8 onwards , which should make it easier for developers of software for Mac OS 8 and 9 to later port it to Mac OS X. Another new feature was the “ Aqua ” graphical user interface , which combined elements from NeXTStep (such as the dock ) and the classic Mac OS (such as the upper menu bar). Mac OS X appeared as a beta version in 2000, from 2001 it was preinstalled on new Macs alongside Mac OS 9, and from 2002 it was Apple's sole standard operating system.

2001–2006: iPod and Intel Macs

Apple was back in the black since 1998, and the turnaround had been achieved. Soon after, Apple presented a new strategy: The Mac should become the center of digital life (English digital hub ). In October 1999, the iMovie program was released , which was supposed to enable users to connect digital camcorders - which had just become a mass market - to the Mac and produce films from the recordings. In the following years, Apple introduced iTunes and iPhoto programs for music and photo management and combined them in the iLife program package . In October 2001, Apple introduced the iPod MP3 player , which was initially only available for Macs. Over the next several years, Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store for buying music. After this - like the iPod - was also made available for Windows computers, both established themselves as market leaders.

Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York designed by Peter Bohlin

Also in 2001, the company began to set up its own retail presence. In line with the digital hub strategy , the stores developed by Ron Johnson also sold peripheral devices from other manufacturers, such as digital cameras or PDAs, and allowed visitors to try out the devices on offer.

On June 6, 2005, the company announced that it would use Intel processors in the Macintosh product line instead of the PowerPC processors manufactured by IBM and Freescale . In January 2006, Apple introduced the MacBook Pro as the successor to the PowerBook and a new iMac . In the next few months, a new Mac mini and the iBook successor MacBook came onto the market. With the introduction of the Mac Pro as the successor to the Power Mac on August 7, 2006, the switch to Intel processors was completed.

Since 2007: iPhone and iPad

In January 2007 Apple presented the Apple TV and the iPhone at Macworld San Francisco . Steve Jobs explained that in addition to the iPod, Apple now has two other product categories apart from the traditional computer business. To reflect this, the company was renamed from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple Inc. With the introduction of the iPad tablet computer in January 2010, Apple expanded its iOS product line again. Together with devices that use the competing operating system Android , Apple's iOS devices have since dominated the rapidly growing markets for smartphones and tablets.

In August 2011, Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO for health reasons , and was succeeded by Tim Cook . The last few years under Jobs and the first years under Cook were mainly characterized by the great success of iOS devices, which accounted for more than three quarters of sales in fiscal year 2015 and made Apple one of the largest and most financially successful companies in the world. The Mac division, whose operating system was renamed OS X in 2012 (and later, in 2016, macOS) grew steadily, but comparatively slowly, while the iPods quickly lost their importance. In September 2014, a new product category was introduced with the Apple Watch .

For the first time since 2001, Apple closed the 2016 fiscal year with a decline in sales. Sales were $ 215.6 billion (minus eight percent) and profits were $ 45.7 billion. In the People's Republic of China , too, the numbers are now declining, where sales slumped by more than 12% in the first quarter of 2017. Apple closed fiscal year 2018 with sales of 229.23 billion US dollars and grew again. Apple closed fiscal year 2019 with a profit of 55.26 billion US dollars.

Litigation with Qualcomm

Since the beginning of 2017, Apple has been in a global legal dispute with the semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm , which holds a monopoly-like position in baseband processors for smartphones . The lawsuit began in 2017 when Apple sued Qualcomm for payment of a billion euros. Apple accuses Qualcomm of excessive license fees and retained discounts. Qualcomm, in turn, accused Apple of infringing its patents and suing it worldwide. The background to the legal dispute is the following: Apple does not purchase microchips directly from Qualcomm, but through production partners in China. They pay license fees to Qualcomm, which they then invoice Apple. But Apple itself pays license fees to Qualcomm in addition to its production partners. These relate to the end products. With regard to these license fees that Apple pays to Qualcomm, Qualcomm in turn grants Apple discounts. Qualcomm justifies this with the fact that it sells to Apple's production partner. After the contractual relationship, the discounts may not apply in the event of legal disputes between Apple and Qualcomm.

Because Apple was cooperating with the South Korean antitrust authority that was investigating Qualcomm, Qualcomm withheld the discounts. Apple sued Qualcomm in January 2017. Apple demanded payment of discounts and repayment of excessive license fees. Apple also accuses Qualcomm of earning double revenue and license fees. In March 2019, a California court ruled that Apple's claim against Qualcomm in the amount of one billion euros was still open.

Qualcomm then sued Apple worldwide. It claims that Apple has infringed various patent rights. Germany was among the first countries in which Qualcomm sued. On December 20, 2018, Qualcomm obtained a ban on the sale of the iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and iPhone X in Germany against Apple in the Munich Regional Court due to infringement of a European patent on power supply for electrical amplifiers. Qualcomm triggered this sales ban on January 3, 2019 by depositing a security deposit of 1.34 billion euros. Qualcomm's regional court in Munich dismissed five other lawsuits against Apple for patent infringement, including four lawsuits relating to Spotlight & Search and Siri . The Mannheim Regional Court dismissed another lawsuit for patent infringement . On March 27, 2019, it was announced that Apple could face a ban on the sale of some iPhone models in the United States as part of another patent litigation.

company

Surname

The name Apple Computer was Steve Jobs' idea, Wozniak initially disagreed with it. Since neither of them could think of another name within a period they set themselves, Jobs registered the company as “Apple Computer”. Jobs himself explained:

“At the time, we were three months behind schedule with the registration of our company name, and I threatened to call the company 'Apple Computer' if no one could think of a more interesting name by five o'clock. I hoped this would fuel the creativity. But the name stayed. And that's why we are called 'Apple' today. "

- Steve Jobs

“I practiced one of my fruit diets again. I had just returned from the apple orchard. The name sounded friendly, peppy, and not intimidating. Apple took the edge off the term computer. In addition, we would be in front of Atari in the phone book in the future . "

- Steve Jobs

This second statement is confirmed by Steve Wozniak in his autobiography iWoz .

Litigation

In 1981 the company name first led to conflicts with the Beatles label " Apple Records ". Apple avoided a lawsuit for the name by promising not to be active in the music industry. Since the Apple computers had ever more extensive multimedia capabilities in the following years, a legal dispute finally broke out in 1989, which ended with an out-of-court settlement. Apple's sale of the iPod and the operation of the iTunes Store led to another lawsuit, which was settled in February 2007. Since then, Apple has owned all trademark rights to the name "Apple" and licenses certain rights to the music label. Financial details were not given.

In September 2011, Apple contradicted the establishment of a trademark registration by the Bonn café apfelkind . They wanted to secure a logo with the pattern of a head inside an apple. Apple filed an objection against the registration of the logo at the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich because of a “high risk of confusion” . The owner rejected a compromise proposal from Apple to limit the use of the logo to the café - and in particular not to use the logo for covers for digital devices, computer or video games - and responded with a counterclaim that Apple did not respond to. On September 17, 2013, Apple withdrew the opposition to the patent office without giving a reason after a settlement with the café had failed.

The first logo was a drawing in the style of a baroque engraving that Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree - an allusion to the discovery of gravity using an apple. This design was from Ron Wayne. However, it quickly became apparent that this logo was difficult to reproduce because it was far too small, and so it was discarded again.

Apple Double-Sided Floppy Disks with rainbow logo

The bitten apple silhouette, striped in rainbow colors, was designed by Rob Janoff in 1977. Often allusions to Isaac Newton or Alan Turing , who is considered one of the fathers of the computer and who appear to have died of a poisoned apple, as well as a play on the English word bite , which sounds exactly like byte , are seen which Janoff himself denies. While the Apple II was able to display the colors, a monochrome version of the logo was initially often used for other purposes.

The font Motter Tektura by Othmar Motter , published by Letraset Ltd. , was used for the text part of the logo . in the UK . In the first Macintosh models, only the colored apple was used as the logo. As of operating system version 7, the logo was displayed in the form of a word mark in Bitstream Garamond , with which the new TrueType capability came into its own.

Since 1998 the logo has mostly only been displayed in one color, but in changing colors and sometimes with surface structures, depending on the surrounding design. The appearance of the logos on today's products is mostly colorless. They only stand out from the ground through their surface structure. As part of an environmental protection campaign is temporarily, z. B. on Earth Day , the leaf of the logo is partly colored green, the display of the Apple Stores is also adjusted in these cases. There was an urban legend that the design of the logo was inspired by British mathematician Alan Turing , who took his own life by biting into a poisonous apple. Steve Jobs rejected this after being questioned by Stephen Fry .

employees

Jobs was Apple's CEO between 1997 and 2011 . After his resignation on August 24, 2011, Tim Cook, who was previously responsible for the operational business as COO , took over this position. Other senior managers include Eddy Cue (online services), Craig Federighi (software), John Giannandrea ( machine learning ), Phil Schiller (marketing) and Johny Srouji ( chip design ).

Chairman (Chairman) of the Board of Directors has since November 2011 Arthur D. Levinson (former chairman and CEO of Genentech ). Other members include James Bell (former President and CFO of Boeing ), Apple CEO Tim Cook, Al Gore (former US Vice President), Robert Iger (CEO of Disney ) and Andrea Jung (formerly Chairwoman and CEO of Avon Products ). Eric Schmidt (formerly CEO of Google ) left the board of directors on August 3, 2009 because of concerns about conflicts of interest given the increasing competition between Google and Apple.

Important Apple employees in connection with the development of Lisa and Macintosh were Jef Raskin (usability specialist), Andy Hertzfeld , Bill Atkinson and Susan Kare , who among others. designed numerous icons for the Macintosh system.

In September 2021, the company employed around 154,000 people (counted in full-time equivalents). Around half of the employees work in the retail sector. The internal training program for employees is called Apple University .

Apple stores

Visitors to an Apple store in Paris try out products.

The Apple Stores embody an unusual concept in which great value is placed on the interaction of visitors with the products. In order to do this, customers can try out almost all of the products on display; There are no shelves and similar elements typical of other shops. This concept is seen as a key reason for the success of Apple retail stores. Each store contains a Genius Bar, where customers can be helped with Apple products.

The company operates over 500 Apple retail stores worldwide . More than half of these are in the USA, with additional stores in around 20 other countries. There are a total of 15 stores in Germany: two each in Munich (city center and OEZ ), Hamburg ( Jungfernstieg and Alstertal shopping center ) and Cologne ( Rhein-Center and Schildergasse ), as well as one more each in Frankfurt am Main ( Freßgass ), in Oberhausen ( CentrO ), in Dresden ( Altmarkt-Galerie ), in Augsburg ( City-Galerie ), in Sulzbach ( Main-Taunus-Zentrum ), in Sindelfingen, in Berlin ( Kurfürstendamm ), in Düsseldorf ( Kö-Bogen ) and in Hanover ( Bahnhofstrasse ). There are four Apple retail stores in Switzerland; two in Zurich ( Rennweg and Glattzentrum ), one in Geneva and one in Basel. Austria's first Apple retail store opened on February 24, 2018 in Vienna ( Kärntner Strasse ).

The 2004 featured "mini" retail stores were from the Design Studio Eight Inc. designed. By 2013, all mini retail stores had been replaced with full-size stores.

Financial data

Measured by various business indicators , the company is one of the largest companies in the world. In terms of market capitalization , Apple has been the most valuable company in the world since September 2011, with brief interruptions, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers list . According to the Fortune Global 500 list , Apple was the 12th highest-grossing company in the world in 2020. In terms of profit, Apple was also number 3 among the companies listed in Forbes Global 2000 . On the lists of the most valuable brands compiled by the market research institutes Millward Brown and Interbrand , the Apple brand has been number 1 or 2 for several years.

As the first company ever, Apple hit a market capitalization of over $ 3 trillion on January 3, 2022 - the first day of trading in the new year .

Apple's initial public offering took place on December 12, 1980. The stock is traded under the symbol "AAPL" on the New York Stock Exchange NASDAQ and is part of the stock indices NASDAQ-100 , S&P 500 and Dow Jones .

The company has not paid dividends since 1995, which was increasingly criticized by some shareholders around 2010 in view of the high cash reserves. After the company's financial reserves had risen to around 100 billion US dollars, Apple announced in March 2012 that it would pay a dividend of initially 0.38 US dollars in the quarter starting in July of that year. At the same time, Apple announced that it would buy back its own shares worth $ 10 billion. By April 2016, Apple increased the share buyback program in several steps to a total of finally 175 billion US dollars by March 2018. At the same time, the dividend was increased to finally 0.57 US dollars per quarter.

Period (GJ) Revenue (USD million) Profit (MILLION USD) Sales growth Return on sales
FY 1981 (Oct. 80 - Sep. 81) 335 unknown - -
FY 1982 (Oct. 81 - Sep. 82) 583 61 74% 10%
FY 1983 (Oct. 82 - Sep. 83) 983 77 69% 8th %
FY 1984 (Oct. 83 - Sep. 84) 1,516 64 54% 4%
FY 1985 (Oct. 84 - Sep. 85) 1.918 61 27% 3%
FY 1986 (Oct. 85 - Sep. 86) 1,902 154 −1% 8th %
FY 1987 (Oct. 86 - Sep. 87) 2,661 218 40% 8th %
FY 1988 (Oct. 87 - Sep. 88) 4,071 400 53% 10%
FY 1989 (Oct. 88 - Sep. 89) 5,284 454 30% 9%
FY 1990 (Oct. 89 - Sep. 90) 5,558 475 5% 9%
FY 1991 (Oct. 90 - Sep. 91) 7,977 310 44% 4%
FY 1992 (Oct. 91 - Sep. 92) 7,087 530 −11% 7%
FY 1993 (Oct. 92 - Sep. 93) 6,309 87 −11% 1 %
FY 1994 (Oct. 93 - Sep. 94) 9,189 310 46% 3%
FY 1995 (Oct. 94 - Sep. 95) 11.602 424 20% 4%
FY 1996 (Oct. 95 - Sep. 96) 9,833 −816 −11% −8%
FY 1997 (Oct. 96 - Sep. 97) 7,081 −1.045 −28% −15%
FY 1998 (Oct. 97 - Sep. 98) 5,941 309 −16% 5%
FY 1999 (Oct. 98 - Sep. 99) 6.134 601 3% 10%
FY 2000 (Oct. 99 - Sep. 00) 7,983 786 30% 10%
FY 2001 (Oct. 00 - Sep. 01) 5,363 −25 −33% −0%
FY 2002 (Oct. 01 - Sep. 02) 5,247 65 −2% 1 %
FY 2003 (Oct. 02 - Sep. 03) 6,207 57 18% 1 %
FY 2004 (Oct. 03 - Sep. 04) 8,279 266 33% 3%
FY 2005 (Oct. 04 - Sep. 05) 13,931 1,328 68% 10%
FY 2006 (Oct. 05 - Sep. 06) 19,315 1,989 39% 10%
FY 2007 (Oct. 06 - Sep. 07) 24,578 3,495 27% 14%
FY 2008 (Oct. 07 - Sep. 08) 37,491 6.119 53% 16%
FY 2009 (Oct. 08 - Sep. 09) 42,905 8,235 14% 19%
FY 2010 (Oct. 09 - Sep. 10) 65,225 14,013 52% 21%
FY 2011 (Oct. 10 - Sep. 11) 108,249 25,922 66% 24%
FY 2012 (Oct. 11 - Sep. 12) 156.508 41,733 45% 27%
FY 2013 (Oct. 12 - Sep. 13) 170.910 37,037 9% 22%
FY 2014 (Oct. 13 - Sep. 14) 182,795 39,510 7% 22%
FY 2015 (Oct. 14 - Sep. 15) 233.715 53,394 28% 23%
FY 2016 (Oct. 15 - Sep. 16) 215,639 45,687 −8% 21%
FY 2017 (Oct. 16 - Sep. 17) 229.234 48,351 6% 21%
FY 2018 (Oct. 17 - Sep. 18) 265,595 59,531 16% 22%
FY 2019 (Oct. 18 - Sep. 19) 260.174 55,256 −2% 21%
FY 2020 (Oct. 19 - Sep. 20) 274,515 57,411 6% 21%
FY 2021 (Oct. 20 - Sep. 21) 365.817 94,680 33% 26%
(GJ)Apple's fiscal years begin on October 1st of the previous year. Example: Q1 / 2016 Apple corresponds to Q4 / 2015 calendar .

Products

Apple designs both software and hardware , most of which is made by contract manufacturers in and from Taiwan , including: from Foxconn , Quanta and Pegatron .

The products are often seen as innovative and mostly have a functional design. The clear and straightforward lines are inspired by products from the German electrical appliance manufacturer Braun , which were designed by chief designer Dieter Rams and his team.

software

Operating systems

Apple's first operating systems were the Apple DOS , SOS and ProDOS systems used in the Apple II and Apple III series . These were command line oriented , as was common back then (late 1970s and early 1980s). In 1983 Apple introduced the Lisa OS, one of the first commercially available operating systems that was operated entirely via a graphical user interface. In 1984, the Macintosh was the first graphics operating system to be launched and sold on a large scale. Two years later, the Apple IIgs was introduced, whose GS / OS operating system took over many of the functions of the Macintosh operating system.

With the discontinuation of the Apple II product line in the early 1990s, Apple concentrated on the Macintosh series, whose operating system up to version 7 was simply called "System" and later " Mac OS ". Mac OS 9 appeared in 1999. Its successor, Mac OS X, took over parts of the interface, but is based on a completely different operating system kernel. With version 10.8, Mac OS X was renamed OS X, and in 2016 with version 10.12 it was renamed macOS . A server variant, macOS Server (formerly: OS X Server or Mac OS X Server), is available, but from version 10.7 onwards it is no longer sold as an independent operating system distribution , but can be installed via the App Store .

The iOS operating system is used on the iPhone and the iPadOS system on the iPad, which shares the operating system core with macOS, but has a user interface adapted for touchscreens. The operating systems for Apple TV ( tvOS ) and Apple Watch ( watchOS ) are technically closely related to iOS and macOS, but each have their own user interface.

Applications

With the macOS and iOS operating systems, Apple supplies programs for many common fields of application, such as the Safari web browser , the photo management and editing program photos , instant messenger messages (referred to as messages in the German-speaking operating system ) or mail , contacts and calendars . In addition, the iMovie video editing program , the GarageBand music program , the Pages word processing program , the Keynote presentation program, and the Numbers spreadsheet program can all be downloaded free of charge on any newly purchased Mac or iOS device .

The company also develops software for professional audio and video editing with Logic Pro (audio and sequencing) and Final Cut Pro (video editing). The development of Aperture (photo editing and management) was stopped in April 2015.

Open source

The company publishes the source code of Darwin , the common foundation of macOS and iOS, under the APSL . In addition, macOS and iOS as well as the developer tools use various open source projects that Apple is involved in developing. These include the browser engine WebKit , which is a leader in the mobile sector, the programming language Swift , the compiler backend infrastructure LLVM and in particular Clang (C / C ++ / Objective-C frontend) as well as parts of Grand Central Dispatch , a library, which should make it easier for software developers to better distribute processor load among the processor cores.

computer

Desktops

The company currently makes three different desktop computers. The iMac , in which the computer and screen are combined in one housing, and the cheaper Mac mini are aimed at normal users, while the Mac Pro (like the iMac Pro once ) is geared towards computationally intensive tasks such as professional video editing. In contrast to the iMac, the Mac Pro only describes the computer without a monitor.

Notebooks

Apple's first portable computer in 1989 was the Macintosh Portable, which weighed more than 7 kg . Two years later, with the PowerBook, the company introduced the notebook design with recessed keyboard and palm rest that is still common today. Apple currently makes two different notebooks: the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro .

mobile devices

iPod

The company introduced the iPod on October 23, 2001, and several models have been added over the years. He established himself as the market leader among MP3 players. More than 350 million units had been sold by September 2012. Today Apple only offers one iPod model, the iPod touch (iOS-based). The iPod classic was discontinued in September 2014, the iPod shuffle and iPod nano variants were withdrawn from the market in 2017.

iOS devices

The company presented the iPhone on January 9, 2007, followed by the first iPod with a touchscreen, the iPod touch, in the fall of that year. Both use the same operating system, which was initially referred to as the iPhone OS and was renamed to iOS in the summer of 2010 with version 4.0 .

In early 2010, the company introduced the iPad, a tablet that also ran iOS. In October 2012, the iPad mini was also presented, which has a smaller screen than the normal iPad. On September 9, 2015, the iPad Pro was introduced, which has a screen that is 70% larger.

The Apple TV presented in September 2006 first ran with a modified version of Mac OS X; Since the hardware was completely overhauled in September 2010, an iOS version with an adapted user interface has been running on the Apple TV. From the 4th generation of the Apple TV, introduced in 2015, the operating system is known as tvOS and has an app store.

In November 2017, Apple released the iPhone X , which was the first model without a home button. IPhone XS , iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR followed a year later . The iPhone 11 , iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max were presented on September 10, 2019 . Apple started selling the iPhone SE (2nd Gen.) on April 24, 2020 . The iPhone 12 , iPhone 12 mini , iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max were presented on October 13, 2020 . The iPhone 13 followed in 2021 , again with mini, Pro and Pro Max.

Measured by the number of devices sold, Apple was the third largest brand of mobile phones in mid-2018 and, as a manufacturer, the fourth largest manufacturer of mobile phones (after Samsung , Huawei with the brands Huawei and Honor and BBK Electronics with the brands Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus).

Apple watch

The Apple Watch is a smartwatch that was announced on September 9, 2014 and has been available since April 24, 2015. The latest Series 6 was unveiled on September 15, 2020.

Online services

  • App Store  - platform for offering and downloading programs for the iOS, iPadOS and macOS operating systems
  • iTunes Store  - online platform integrated in iTunes for purchasing music, films and other multimedia content
  • iCloud  - partly free of charge cloud computing service with which, for example, mails, appointments, contacts and photos can be synchronized between all of your own end devices (iPod, iPhone, Mac and Windows computers)
  • Apple Music  - music streaming service launched in 100 countries with iOS 8.4 on June 30, 2015.
  • Apple Arcade  - Video Games Subscription Service.
  • Apple TV +  - video-on-demand service.
  • Apple Fitness +  - fitness service that offers workout videos and records them using Apple devices

Peripherals and consumer electronics

The company manufactures various peripheral devices, including screens ( Apple Pro Display XDR , formerly Apple Thunderbolt Display and Apple Cinema Displays ), headphones ( AirPods ) and smart speakers ( HomePod ), input devices such as mice, keyboards (including wireless keyboards ) and the so-called Magic Trackpad . Apple also developed the FireWire interface for connecting devices such as video cameras or hard drives, which later became an industry standard under the name "IEEE 1394". Today this interface is increasingly being replaced by Thunderbolt, so that the FireWire interface is no longer available in the products of the new generations.

Silentype thermal printer

The company used to offer other peripheral devices such as WLAN devices ( AirPort and Time Capsule ), printers (including StyleWriter and LaserWriter ) and scanners, digital cameras (including QuickTake and iSight ), the iPod Hi-Fi or a docking station and several adapters. Independent devices such as the PDA Newton , the Apple Pippin game console and the PowerCD CD player were also sold. Many of these devices were not developed in-house, but were produced by other manufacturers on behalf of Apple.

Accessibility

The company equips its products with the VoiceOver screen reader , which enables blind and visually impaired users to operate and use the devices independently after purchase without outside help. Furthermore, a so-called Braille display can be connected under both macOS and iOS , which displays the screen content in braille .

In addition to the output of the screen in spoken language and braille, the operating aids include optical adjustment options and a zoom function for people with sufficient visibility, as well as other operating aids for the hearing impaired and those affected by other disabilities.

The company was the first computer manufacturer to make all devices on offer accessible on the software side. The US National Federation of the Blind (NFB) praised Apple's commitment to accessibility in mid-2014 and emphasized that Apple had done more than any other manufacturer to achieve this.

Product design

Basic principles of product design

The principle of simplicity

Apple's product design is characterized by its simplicity and simplicity. For example, all iPhone models before the iPhone X have only one control element and the display on the front, all models after the iPhone X no longer have any control elements on the front. The iPod also shows a strong reduction, which can be recognized by the clear separation between input and output. The principle is also reflected in the limited number of cables, since Apple's keyboards and mice can be connected via Bluetooth .

Similar to the German company Braun , Apple also follows the motto “less is more” and when designing products is not just limited to the appearance, but also to the technical properties. This is expressed, for example, in the graphical user interface, which has a comparatively small number of operating elements. The reduction was of functional importance, especially in Apple's early days, so that newcomers to computers had an understanding of how to use the products. As a result, the design department is currently at the center of all business decisions.

The principle of integration

The principle of integration describes a collaboration between technical research, classic product design and development. "Some people think that design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works ”- Steve Jobs. According to Steve Jobs, the designers are not just the creators of a shell or surface, but also work on innovative solutions for the entire operating concept. The design-driven product development is therefore the driving force in a company and is of great importance for the product strategy.

The principle of obsolescence

The principle of obsolescence describes the planned replacement of products. Limiting the lifespan of a product shortens the replacement time and increases the resulting turnover. "Apple's strategy of product replacement is not a functional one, but one that relies on design: aesthetic obsolescence." Apple does not produce any end devices that stop working after a certain period of use. The company tries to convince customers to voluntarily replace them without technical reasons by encouraging the consumer to buy via the design. The strategy of aging is used, in which the customers feel that their previous product is out of date and the desire to purchase is generated due to the significantly changed design of the new product.

The new product has new technical properties and a new design, for example the first generation of the iPhone had very few technical features: no GPS, little storage space and no possibility of installing third-party software. The revenue generated financed the development and research of further technologies, which were added annually, and is currently generating the customer's desire for the next model. "This becomes clear with the iPod, which came with unusually white headphones in 2001."

The advertising psychology of reactance increases obsolescence: On the first day of sale, a limited number of new products is delivered and at the same time reported as sold out. This strategy creates a restriction in the freedom of choice for the potential customer and also enhances the new product.

The material of Apple design

In addition to economic, ecological and functional aspects, the choice of material is also decisive from the perspective of product design. "The handling of materials is one of the most important innovations of the design team at Apple." In the last century, numerous new materials have been developed, which have increased the choice for designers.

Jonathan Ive , Apple's longtime chief design officer, often experimented with traditional materials and used them in unusual ways in design. Due to the reduction in a new product design, Jonathan Ives' team came up with a manufacturing process in 2008 that led to a new shape, the so-called " unibody design ". Jonathan Ive explained that instead of layering several sheets of metal, the new process is based on a thick block of metal. The term "unibody" is created, which means that three-dimensional housings are milled from aluminum blocks. “One of the fantastic things about aluminum is that it is reusable. And in every single phase we are constantly collecting, cleaning and recycling the material. ”- Jonathan Ive. The advantage is that the technical inner workings are taken into account and thus fewer production steps are required. The housing is also more stable and has no seams as there are no additional parts.

As early as 1998, Apple celebrated great success with its choice of materials. That year the company introduced the first iMac computers. The special feature of these products was that the housings were made of colored, translucent plastic. At that time, plastics in the computer sector were mostly beige in color on the computer market. Jonathan Ive developed a design of the housing that was adapted to the interior, so that the consumer could choose from different colors at their own discretion. This possibility caused the customer to become more emotional, which reduced the inhibition threshold of computer novices to buy the new product.

In the course of time, the Apple group applied for numerous patents relating to the use of materials. As a result, it can be said that Apple is currently still trying to use innovative materials. The iPhone 4 introduced in 2010 is an example. The front and back of this iPhone are made of a glass, which is also used for the windshields of high-speed trains. At the time, Apple advertised an ultra-robust and scratch-resistant display. The materials thus contribute to Apple's unique selling point in the electronics industry.

criticism

Working conditions at supplier companies

Apple has many products made by contract manufacturers in Asia whose working conditions do not meet Western standards. Labor law and health issues are often insufficiently taken into account.

In 2006 the British newspaper Mail on Sunday reported on forced overtime and falling below the legal minimum wage in two Foxconn plants. An investigation by Apple contradicted this, but found violations of Apple's own code of conduct for suppliers. So Apple joined the industry association EICC, which defines uniform rules of conduct and testing tools, and began working with the non-governmental organization Verité. Since 2007, Apple has published annual reports on supplier reviews carried out in the previous year.

In the following years, too, there were repeated reports of poor working conditions at supplier companies. The Greenpeace- supported Public Eye Awards nominated Foxconn in 2011 for a negative award, as “dumping wages” and “unethical to illegal” working conditions led to at least 18 suicides of young Chinese migrant workers. In early 2012, Apple joined the Fair Labor Association , which published the results of an independent study of working conditions at Foxconn in March. In two other investigations since then, the FLA has found that all of the actions recommended in the first report have been implemented. In addition to reduced working hours and ergonomic measures, the degree of organization in trade unions has been increased significantly.

Since 2012, Apple has monitored the weekly working hours of more than one million workers in supplier factories and published this data on the Internet. According to the company, the frequency of violations of the maximum weekly working time of 60 hours fell from 35% in 2006 to around 8% in 2014.

This contradicts a report by the BBC ( Apple's Broken Promises ) from the end of 2014, in which BBC reporters disguised as workers at Foxconn with a hidden camera demonstrated, among other things, 12 hour shifts for the iPhone 6 and the overcrowding of the workers' homes and the unprotected work with dangerous chemicals .

In February 2020, a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute listed Apple as a company "potentially benefiting, directly or indirectly, from Uighur forced labor". In the same year, Apple lobbyists sought to weaken the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a US law designed to respond to forced labor in Xinjiang, China . This law would make manufacturers transitively liable for forced labor at suppliers - including subcontractors of the suppliers. In May 2021, The Information revealed that the Xinjiang region was playing a bigger role for Apple than previously thought. According to this, at least five facilities would be entrusted with the production for Apple, in which "thousands of Uyghurs" are employed and "resemble prisons". Apple, on the other hand, stressed that there was no evidence of forced labor in its own supply chain.

environmental Protection

The company faced allegations from several environmental protection organizations, including Greenpeace . The Guide to Greener Electronics , published for the first time in August 2006 , initially criticized the use of toxic chemicals such as PVC or bromine-containing flame retardants, which were common in the industry at the time, and the fact that Apple had not published any plans to abandon these chemicals. It was also criticized that Apple does not accept old products for recycling in some countries. Critics, including the online magazine treehugger.com , pointed to methodological flaws. Among other things, Greenpeace placed too much value on public declarations of intent by companies. In the latest Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, however, Apple ranks second behind Fairphone .

Jobs replied to Greenpeace's allegations in May 2007 that he wanted to make Apple a leader in environmental protection. In his text A Greener Apple Jobs listed successes already achieved and announced further measures for environmental protection. Apple's decision to leave the US Chamber of Commerce because of its fundamental opposition to a climate protection law met with approval from environmental groups.

In November 2012, the company was in an updated version of the Guide to Greener Electronics in 6th place out of 16 companies examined. While Greenpeace positively assessed the extensive elimination of harmful chemicals and a high recycling rate, the organization complained above all that Apple did not publish sufficient declarations of intent to switch to renewable energies and to avoid greenhouse gases and to use recycled plastic and paper.

In July 2012, the company withdrew from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool ( EPEAT ) program. That means the company's products will no longer be certified to EPEAT guidelines, as has been done since 2007. The decision was heavily criticized publicly because the EPEAT certificate is necessary for the procurement of end devices by federal and state authorities in the USA . In an official statement, the company pointed out that its own products do particularly well on points that EPEAT does not take into account. A few days after the statement, Apple said the exit from EPEAT had been a mistake. Certification for all affected devices will continue. In the spring of 2013, the company hired Lisa Jackson, the longtime head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , as coordinator for environmental protection activities. In a report released in April 2014, Greenpeace stated that Apple was the only company it investigated that had completely switched all data centers to renewable energy. In March 2016, Apple announced that 93% of its own energy needs are met from renewable energy sources. In April 2018, Apple CEO Lisa Jackson announced that offices, data centers and other proprietary facilities around the world will run entirely on renewable energy. In addition, products from 2018 onwards, provided they contain aluminum, are 100% recycled.

An ambitious goal is announced in the 2020 sustainability report. Every Apple product should be climate neutral by 2030. Apple would like to make production, contract manufacturing, device use and disposal climate-neutral. Around 75% of the emissions arise in production. In this part of the value chain, suppliers play a major role, where production has to be rebuilt. Jackson makes a clear demand here: "If you do not produce climate-neutrally in 2030, you will no longer produce for Apple."

Backdated stock options

The company backdated stock options of $ 84 million to employees, including then CEO Steve Jobs, between 1997 and 2006 . As a result of this affair, the chief legal counsel and the chief financial officer of Apple resigned. According to an internal investigation, Jobs himself knew about the backdate of stock options, but believed that he would not benefit from this practice himself. The consequences for the balance sheets were therefore not clear to him.

Action against unauthorized reporting

In 2005, the company took legal action against Apple Insider , PowerPage and Think Secret blogs for reporting on unreleased products. Apple suspected that some of the reporters had their own employees who divulged internal company information. In previous legal proceedings against the authors of the reports, however, Apple has not been successful: A California court ruled for the first time that bloggers and online journalists enjoy the same constitutional protection of press freedom as representatives of the traditional press. In addition, Apple had to pay litigation costs of the Electronic Frontier Foundation , which had supported the blog in court, in the amount of 700,000 US dollars.

Spiegel Online criticizes the "extreme secrecy" and writes that the company is a "paranoid company, for whom secrets are not only protection from the competition, but also a marketing tool". This guarantees free advertising through the hype and the rumor mill before a new product is launched. How effective this strategy is, shows an estimate by Harvard professor David Yoffie, according to which reporting on the iPhone in early 2007 had about the same effect as a 400 million US dollar advertising campaign. According to an eyewitness, betrayal of secrets is pursued using methods similar to the secret service, regardless of the privacy of the employees. There is “a culture of fear”.

Software distribution through the App Store

The company checks all programs submitted for the iOS app store for a number of technical - such as security and stability - but also content-related criteria before they are published. Since it is difficult for users to obtain native programs from sources other than the App Store, critics see the non-approval of programs as a censorship .

Other authors, on the other hand, see the control of the app store as a possible advantage for users:

"As more consumers have fears about security on the Internet, viruses and malware, they may be happy to opt for Apple's gated community."

"As more and more consumers worry about online security, viruses and malware, they may be happy to choose Apple's isolated system."

- Laura Sydell, NPR

Data protection for customer-related user data and employees

The way the group handles data protection is also criticized. The former German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger calls for more transparency and is quoted in the Spiegel with the words: "Users of iPhones and other GPS-enabled devices must be clear about what information is being collected about them." who can object to the data is missing in the company's data protection declaration. Therefore, Apple was given the negative Big Brother Award in 2011 .

Apple Retail Germany GmbH, which operates the Apple Stores in Germany, received another Big Brother Award for dealing with the privacy of the workforce. She is said to have monitored not only the sales rooms, but also storage and break rooms of the employees by video. Such comprehensive video surveillance of employees is not permitted under German data protection.

In order to be able to continue selling on the Chinese market, Apple stores the data of Chinese customers in China and gives the authorities there full access to the user data if necessary.

EU allegations of targeted customer deception

In a letter to the consumer protection ministers of the member states, the former EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding accused Apple of deceiving customers when buying mobile phones and computers about the 24-month statutory warranty they are entitled to within the EU and of selling an additional guarantee for an extra charge. "It appears that Apple sellers have failed to provide consumers with clear, truthful and complete information about the legal guarantees they are entitled to under EU law," it explains. In addition to the statutory warranty, Apple offers a free 1-year warranty, but does not state that the warranty (by law) exists in parallel and has twice the duration. Laypeople in particular cannot grasp the difference. In December 2011, the Italian authorities fined Apple € 900,000 for this practice.

Tax avoidance

Apple practices tax avoidance or tax optimization in the billions, among other things with the legal double-Irish-with-a-Dutch-sandwich principle:

  • Apple posts EU revenue to an Irish Apple holding company ,
  • Ireland hardly taxes profits because this company is overseas (USA) run,
  • the US does not tax foreign profits that do not go to the US. This practice is increasingly criticized.

United States Senate investigators released a report on Apple's actions on May 20, 2013. From 2009 to 2012, non-US taxed foreign profits of at least 74 billion US dollars flowed to Irish subsidiaries. Apple's Irish subsidiary's earnings were not taxed in any country, with another subsidiary taxing earnings at just 0.05%. Some subsidiaries had no employees. The next day there was a public hearing in the Senate, attended by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cupertino's Mayor, Barry Chang, criticized Apple's tax avoidance as an "abuse". The small town in California cannot finance the increased costs of expanding and maintaining the infrastructure with tax revenue.

The European Commission, which imposed a record tax fine on Apple in 2016, which was annulled by the European Court of Justice on July 15, 2020

The European Commission assesses Apple's tax-saving model as state aid that violates EU competition rules. On August 30, 2016, the European Commission announced that it considered the tax benefits granted to Apple by Ireland to be illegal: The EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said that Apple had paid 0.005 percent tax in Ireland. Apple Sales International (ASI) in Cork, Ireland, formally buys goods from Asian suppliers and sells them at a surcharge to Apple companies who sell them to end customers around the world. The only virtual detour via Ireland saves the taxation of three-digit billion profits: ASI was founded in Ireland and is managed from the USA. Under US law, companies are taxable in the country of incorporation. Under Irish law, companies are taxable in the country in which they are run. Ireland should demand 13 billion euros in unpaid taxes from Apple from 2003 to 2014 plus interest. Tim Cook stated on August 31, 2016 that Apple and Ireland will challenge the retrospective change in tax rules. The ECJ canceled the decision of the EU Commission on July 15, 2020. This leaves a final dispute at the ECJ. On the same day, the EU Commission presented an action plan for fair and simple taxation - using Article 116 of the EU Treaty. This means that member states can be forced to change national tax laws - if necessary by court ruling.

In November 2014, through the Luxembourg leaks, it became known that Apple was optimizing taxation in Luxembourg with the consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers .

In November 2017, Apple is listed in the publications of the Paradise Papers : Apple had law firms in the tax havens of the British Virgin Islands , Channel Islands and Isle of Man inquire about how to avoid the taxes there.

So far, Apple has accumulated almost $ 250 billion in tax-free cash abroad. After CEO Tim Cook, who calls Apple “the world's largest taxpayer,” recommended that the US government reform the taxation of foreign profits, it lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. If companies like Apple bring home money hoarded abroad, old profits are only taxed at 15 percent.

Build quality

More recent reports from 2018 criticize a decline in the quality of Apple products. This applies to both hardware and software:

"If you're an iPhone or iPad user, then you've no doubt noticed that - over the past few years - there's been a real and serious decline in the quality of iOS releases."

"If you are an iPhone or iPad user then you have no doubt noticed that there has been a real and serious decline in the quality of iOS publications over the past few years."

- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

On May 11, 2018, a lawsuit was filed against Apple in the Northern District Court of California. Apple is accused of having known that the keyboard on some MacBook laptop computers was prone to premature failure due to a design flaw, and of promoting and selling these devices despite this known flaw. In order to further reduce the thickness of the devices, the classic scissor key mechanism on the MacBook was replaced by a butterfly mechanism from 2015. This new keyboard mechanism tends to have defects, which manifest themselves in the fact that key entries are no longer correctly recognized or the keyboard forwards key presses to the operating system without user input. According to a report by Apple Insider, the incidence of keyboard defects on the 2016 MacBook Pro is twice as high as on older devices.

At the end of May 2018, it became known from legal proceedings that Apple knew even before the iPhone 6 was launched that the device's housing material was insufficiently strong and could be bent too easily. The iPhone 6 is 3.3 times more likely to bend than the iPhone 5s. For the successor, the iPhone 6s, Apple has chosen a different material that is no longer so easy to bend.

A video by the web video producer Quinn Nelson put the focus on the inadequate build quality of the iMac Pro's VESA mount . The quality of the screws supplied is so poor that they partially break off when you remove them for the first time. Nelson contacted this issue about Apple Support, who refused it because the VESA holder is not an Apple product, even though it is sold by Apple and has an Apple logo on it. When the iMac Pro was subsequently repaired at an Apple store, it turned out that the staff was not sufficiently trained to repair the device.

Prevention of repairs by unauthorized third parties

The security processor T2 built into newer devices can in future be used to prevent certain components from being replaced by unauthorized repairmen. As Apple announced in the IT blog The Verge , after replacing certain components, a proprietary diagnostic tool must be run in order to restart the device. iFixit considers this repair nailing by T2 to be “a guillotine that hovers over the repair industry”.

Special way in the declaration of intent for universal chargers

In 2009, 10 cell phone manufacturers (including Nokia , Samsung and Apple) signed a letter of intent for a common standard for chargers. The standard should make it more convenient for cell phone users and ensure that fewer old charging devices become electronic waste. "[Apple] is introducing USB power supplies, but refuses to create a plug connector for micro-USB in its cell phones." MPs' that Apple is ignoring its promises. "

Wiretapping by Siri

The whistleblower Thomas le Binniec reported in a letter to the European data protection authorities that he was part of the so-called grading project and that his task was to improve the Siri language assistant by transcribing recorded conversations . He sharply criticized the fact that conversations were recorded without the user being aware of this or that the user had actively consented to this recording, and that other people such as family or friends were also recorded. This also enabled him to tap into intimate and private conversations. This evaluation program has since been suspended.

Alleged censorship of Telegram channels by the Belarusian protest movement

During the protests in Belarus from 2020 , which are directed against the long-time ruler Aljaksandr Lukashenka , Apple demanded the blocking of three chat groups and channels, according to Telegram founder Pavel Durov . In these groups, personal information was released from police forces who helped to crack down on the protests. The law enforcement officers are mostly masked, which is why opposition groups began to expose the identities of the officers. Apple responded to Durow's allegations by not requesting that the channels be blocked, but instead asking him to delete personal information from these channels.

Misleading advertisements related to water conservation

In November 2020, the Italian competition authority fined Apple € 10 million. The authority came to the conclusion that the statements of the Apple commercials and the actually tested product properties of the iPhone models 8 to 11 were too far apart. It was also criticized that water damage was not covered by the guarantee. In April 2021, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple in the United States, making similar allegations.

EU antitrust proceedings

In the summer of 2020, the EU Commission initiated two antitrust proceedings against Apple. It is investigated whether the group is charging too high a commission from developers and whether Apple's payment system violates the rules of competition. In April 2021, the European competition regulator came to the preliminary conclusion that Apple is exploiting its dominant market position in the sale of mobile apps to the detriment of competitors and customers. Specifically, it is about the advantage of their own music streaming service Apple Music and the disadvantage of competing offers such as Spotify or Deezer . The EU Commission criticizes the binding requirement that the streaming providers must use Apple's own system for in-app purchases, which is associated with a commission. In addition, it is criticized that alternative purchase options may not be advertised in the app. Ultimately, this means that competing products have to charge higher fees or that subscriptions are not even available via the app.

literature

  • Charlotte Erdmann: One more thing: Apple's success story from the Apple I to the iPad. Addison-Wesley, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8273-3057-4 .
  • Scott Galloway: The Four. The secret DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Plassen, Kulmbach 2018, ISBN 978-3-86470-487-1 . (American original edition: The Four. The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Portfolio / Penguin, New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-7352-1365-4 )
  • Joachim Gartz: The Apple Story. The rise, fall and "resurrection" of the company around Steve Jobs. SmartBooks, Kilchberg 2005, ISBN 3-908497-14-0 .
  • Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze: Apple Design . Ed .: Museum for Arts and Crafts Hamburg. 1st edition. Hantje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3011-2 .
  • Leander Kahney: Tim Cook . The genius that continues Apple's success story. Plassen, Kulmbach 2019, ISBN 978-3-86470-651-6 (with references).
  • Yukari Iwatani Kane: The wavering empire. Apple after Steve Jobs. Carl Hanser, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-446-44305-1 . (With notes and register)
  • Daniela Kickl: Apple internally - three years in the European headquarters of the technology multinational . Edition A, 2017, ISBN 978-3-99001-218-5 .
  • Adam Lashinsky: Inside Apple. The secret of the success of the most valuable, most innovative and most secretive company in the world. Wiley-VCH Verlag, Weinheim 2012, ISBN 978-3-527-50714-6 .
  • Owen W. Linzmayer: Apple is strictly confidential. The tops and flops of Macintosh history. Midas, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-907100-12-3 .
  • Owen W. Linzmayer: Apple Confidential 2.0. The definitive history of the world's most colorful company. No Starch Press, San Francisco 2004, ISBN 1-59327-010-0 (English).
  • Andrew Zuckerman: Designed by Apple in California. Apple, Cupertino 2016, ISBN 978-0-9975138-1-3 (English).

Web links

Commons : Apple Inc.  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Apple  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. a b Apple Inc. 2021 Form 10-K Report , accessed January 20, 2021.
  2. Revenue from Apple iPhones worldwide from 2008 to 2017 (in billion US dollars). In: de.statista.com. Retrieved May 29, 2018 .
  3. Andrej Sokolow: 10 Years iTunes Store: More headwinds for music market leaders. NWZ online, April 26, 2013.
  4. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , pp. 62-63.
  5. Rhiannon Williams: Apple celebrates 39th year on April 1 . April 1, 2015, ISSN  0307-1235 ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed June 19, 2018]).
  6. a b c d Steven Levy: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution . Doubleday 1984, ISBN 0-385-19195-2 .
  7. Harry McCracken: For One Night Only, Silicon Valley's Homebrew Computer Club Reconvenes. TIME Magazine, November 12, 2013, accessed on November 12, 2013 : “… the open exchange of ideas that went on at its biweekly meetings did as much as anything to jumpstart the entire personal computing revolution. It was the crucible for an entire industry. "
  8. Dave Lee: Apple at 40: The forgotten founder who gave it all away. BBC News, April 1, 2016, accessed April 1, 2016 .
  9. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , p. 65.
  10. a b Boris Grondahl: Hacker . Rotbuch 3000, ISBN 3-434-53506-3 .
  11. a b c Steve Wozniak : “ iWoz: How I invented the personal computer and co-founded Apple. ", Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, October 2008, ISBN 978-3-423-34507-1 .
  12. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , p. 75.
  13. ^ Macworld: Apple: The first 30 years . March 30, 2006, accessed March 11, 2013.
  14. a b Malcolm Gladwell: Creation Myth. Xerox PARC, Apple, and the truth about innovation. In: The New Yorker. May 16, 2011, accessed March 11, 2013.
  15. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , pp. 94-97.
  16. Bruce Horn: On Xerox, Apple and Progress. From: folklore.org, accessed March 11, 2013.
  17. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , p. 182. Quotation: “'The happiest two days for me were when Macintosh shipped and when John Sculley joined Apple,' [Jobs] said. […] In response, Sculley effused about the joys of being Jobs's partner for the past year […] 'Apple has one leader,' he said, 'Steve and me.' "
  18. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , pp. 201-206.
  19. ^ Arun Rao, Piero Scaruffi: A History of Silicon Valley. ISBN 978-0-9765531-8-2 . Chapter 18: Early Failures: Good Ideas which Arrive Early are Bad Products (1980–94) ( online ( Memento of November 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
  20. Apple Newton - All-time 100 gadgets . Time Magazine, October 25, 2010; Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  21. ^ Andrew Pollack: Company News; Apple's Net Is Up 10.3% In Quarter. In: New York Times , January 17, 1992. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  22. ^ Dawn Kawamoto: Riding the next technology wave . Interview with John Sculley. In: CNET News, October 2, 2003; Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  23. Motorola licenses Mac OS . CNET News February 19, 1996; Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  24. a b Jobs touts "very cool technology" in: CNET News of 9 October 1997, accessed March 14, 2013.
  25. Stock Reports: Apple Computer, Inc. Standard & Poor's, July 16, 1997; Retrieved March 5, 2014.
    Los Angeles Times: Gateway Overtakes Apple in Education Field. August 21, 1997, accessed March 5, 2014.
  26. Jim Davis: Apple: The best and worst of times . In: CNET News of December 27, 1996, accessed March 14, 2013.
  27. Apple stock up on buyout rumors . CNET News of July 11, 1997, accessed March 14, 2013.
  28. ^ Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs. Little, Brown, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4087-0374-8 , p. 296.
  29. ^ Apple, Be quarrel over money . In: CNET News of November 13, 1996, accessed March 14, 2013.
  30. ^ Apple acquires Next, Jobs . In: CNET News, December 20, 1996; Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  31. Has Jobs seized the day? CNET News, Jul 9, 1997; Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  32. Jobs named new Apple board . CNET News, Aug 6, 1997; Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  33. Macworld Keynote, August 6, 1997 ( recorded ).
  34. Jobs rejects Apple chairman post . CNET News, July 31, 1997; Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  35. Jobs move seen as necessary step . CNET News September 16, 1997; Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  36. Jobs takes Apple CEO job full time . CNET News January 5, 2000; Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  37. John Markoff: Apple and PC's, Both Given Up for Dead, Are Rising Anew . In: New York Times , April 26, 1999; Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  38. Apple scraps Newton . CNET News, Feb. 27, 1998; Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  39. Ben Heskett, Margie Wylie: Jobs offers tough love for Apple . In: CNET News, August 6, 1997, accessed March 31, 2013.
  40. ↑ Arch- rivals move closer together . Rhein-Zeitung, August 8, 1997; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  41. ^ Graham Lea: Apple and Compaq were threatened, insists Tevanian In: theregister.co.uk. November 10, 1998, accessed February 22, 2013.
  42. Apple press release on the introduction of iMovie: Apple's iMovie Software Brings Digital Video Editing to Consumers and Classrooms ( Memento of October 12, 1999 in the Internet Archive ), October 5, 1999, accessed on March 13, 2013. Archived at Archive.org.
  43. Joe Wilcox: A peek inside Apple's retail experiment In: CNET News, May 15, 2001, accessed March 14, 2013.
  44. ↑ Announced at Macworld San Francisco on January 9, 2007. ( Recording on Youtube )
  45. Fred Vogelstein: And Then Steve Said, 'Let There Be an iPhone'. In: New York Times , International Herald Tribune . October 4, 2013, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  46. a b Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple. Apple press release, Aug. 24, 2011; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  47. Quarterly reports for first (PDF), second (PDF), third (PDF) and fourth (PDF) fiscal quarters 2015. Total revenue: $ 233.7 billion. Of which iPhone and iPad: $ 178.4 billion.
  48. ^ Nilay Patel: Apple officially renames Mac OS X to OS X, drops the 'Mac'. theverge.com, February 16, 2012, accessed March 12, 2015 .
  49. Significant losses: Apple's downward trend continues. In: Spiegel Online . October 26, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2017 .
  50. HENDRIK ANKENBRAND: Apple has to fight in China. In: FAZ.net. March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
  51. Apple balance sheet. wallstreet-online.de, accessed on October 11, 2018 .
  52. Profit from Apple Inc. through 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2020 .
  53. Apple vs. Qualcomm: "I could hardly stop shaking my head while reading the complaint". Mac & i, January 28, 2017
  54. a b heise online: Apple vs. Qualcomm: "I could hardly stop shaking my head while reading the complaint". Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  55. a b c d heise online: US judge: Qualcomm owes Apple an open billion dollar discount payment. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  56. a b by Stefan Beiersmann on January 23, 2017, 7:37 a.m .: Qualcomm considers Apple's claim for damages to be insubstantial. January 23, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  57. by Bernd Kling on January 24, 2018, 5:03 p.m .: Qualcomm - EU imposes a cartel fine of 1 billion euros. January 24, 2018, accessed March 27, 2019 .
  58. LG Munich I: Qualcomm can prevent the sale of older iPhones in a patent dispute. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  59. ^ LG Munich I: Defeat for Qualcomm in Munich patent proceedings against Apple. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  60. LG Munich: Four lawsuits against Apple's "Siri & Search" function rejected. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  61. LG Mannheim rejects the patent lawsuit of the chip manufacturer Qualcomm against Apple. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  62. Patent dispute with Qualcomm: Apple threatens to stop imports of iPhones in the USA . In: Spiegel Online . March 27, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 27, 2019]).
  63. ^ Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine: Fire in the Valley. The Making of the Personal Computer . ( Online in the Internet Archive. ( Memento from August 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )) In the original: “And we were about three months late in filing a fictitious business name so I threatened to call the company 'Apple Computer' unless someone suggested a More interesting name by five o'clock that day. Hoping to stimulate creativity. And it stuck. And that's why we're called 'Apple' ".
  64. Walter Isaacson , "Steve Jobs: The Authorized Biography of the Apple Founder" . Translated from English by Antoinette Gittinger, Oliver Grasmück, Dagmar Mallet, Elfi Martin, Andrea Stumpf and Gabriele Werbeck. 1st edition. C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-570-10124-7 , pp. 86-87.
  65. Steve Wozniak: iWoz - How I Invented the Personal Computer and co-founded Apple ; Hanser Verlag, Munich 2007; ISBN 3-446-40406-6 , p. 175.
  66. Macwelt: The Battle for the Apple ( Memento from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), May 12, 2006, accessed on November 22, 2015.
  67. Roland Lindner: Trademark rights - The apple now belongs to Apple . In: FAZ , February 5, 2007; Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  68. Apple Inc. and The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd. Enter into New Agreement. Apple press release, February 5, 2007; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  69. Computer company argues with Bonn café: Woe, you're kidding Apple's apple! In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 27, 2011.
  70. Arno Lampmann: Apple child against Apple: The dispute continues . lhr-law.de, November 27, 2012; Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  71. Bastian Brinkmann: Café Apfelkind defeats Apple. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (online). October 1, 2013, accessed on October 1, 2013 : "The group has withdrawn its opposition to the trademark before the German trademark office, as the authority has now announced."
  72. Information on the Apfelkind brand  in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
  73. Interview with Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo. creativebits.org, August 3, 2009, accessed on November 25, 2011 (English): "CB:" What does the bite in the apple represents? Is it a reference to a computing term byte? Is it a reference to the biblical event when Eve bit into the forbidden fruit? Is the fruit itself referencing the discovery of gravity by Newton when an apple fell on his head while sitting under the tree? "RJ:" They are really interesting, but I'm afraid it didn't have a thing to do with it. «“
  74. ^ Letraset Handbook, 1975, publisher: Letraset Deutschland GmbH, design; HSAG London, print: Boom-Ruybrok bvm, Netherlands, p. 139.
  75. books.google.de
  76. Zac Hall: Apple Stores go green around the world ahead of Earth Day (Photos). In: 9to5Mac. April 19, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016 .
  77. Earth Day: Apple shows its own environmental initiatives in a new commercial. In: MacTechNews. April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016 .
  78. Karl Kruszelnicki: Dr Karl's Great Moments In Science: Alan Turing and the apple , abc.net.au, August 26, 2014
  79. Apple boss Steve Jobs resigns with immediate effect . In: Focus Online from August 25, 2011.
  80. ^ Letter from Steve Jobs . Apple press release, Aug. 24, 2011; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  81. a b Apple Board of Directors. Apple; Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  82. Apple names Arthur D. Levinson as chairman of the board. Apple press release, November 15, 2011; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  83. Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple's Board of Directors . Apple press release, Aug 3, 2009; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  84. Apple Inc. 2018 Form 10-K Report
  85. ^ SEC Form 10-K for Fiscal Year 2014 Apple Inc., p. 8; October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  86. Angela Ahrendts: “15 years ago today, we opened our first 2 Apple stores. Now we have 478 stores worldwide and over 60k employees that make it all so magical. ” On: Twitter .com on May 19, 2016.
  87. Dirk Hohnsträter: What does Apple University teach? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. November 27, 2019, p. N3.
  88. Apple Stores Chief to Take the Helm at JC Penney . In: New York Times , June 14, 2011; Retrieved September 8, 2011. “[R] etailers have been trying to give shoppers reasons to go to stores - known as“ retail theater ”or“ retailtainment ”in the industry. Arguably, no business has done that better than Apple under Mr. Johnson ".
  89. a b List of Apple stores ; accessed on November 29, 2019.
  90. Apple is daring to hit the streets with its German flagship store . Heise online , December 4, 2008, accessed February 26, 2013.
  91. Apple Store opened in Zurich at Rennweg 43. In: Techgarage. August 31, 2019, accessed on September 12, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
  92. Apple opens first branch in Austria - wien.ORF.at. Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
  93. Apple Unveils New "Mini" Retail Store Design . Apple press release, October 14, 2004; Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  94. Good Design Winners . ( Memento from August 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) chi-athenaeum.
  95. Apple Inc. Retail Stores - Current and Future ( Memento from March 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 78 kB) ifoapplestore.com
  96. Global Top 100 companies by market capitalization. (PDF) Retrieved October 26, 2021 .
  97. Fortune 2020 Global 500.Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  98. Forbes Global 2000 (sorted by profit) As of May 2020, accessed January 20, 2021.
  99. Apple Surpasses Google to Reclaim Title of World's Most Valuable Brand. Macrumors.com; accessed on May 27, 2015.
  100. Worldwide ranking: Google ousts Apple as the most valuable brand. In: Spiegel Online . May 21, 2014, accessed June 8, 2016 .
  101. Kara Swisher: Yahoo Back on to List of Top 100 Brands at No. 92, Though Apple Remains No. 1 In: All Things D, May 20, 2013, accessed May 23, 2013.
  102. Kif Leswing: Apple becomes first US company to reach $ 3 trillion market cap. January 3, 2022, accessed January 3, 2022 .
  103. ^ Nivedita Balu: Apple becomes first company to hit $ 3 trillion market value . In: Reuters . January 3, 2022 ( reuters.com [accessed January 3, 2022]).
  104. Hardika Singh: Apple Becomes First US Company to Reach $ 3 Trillion Market Value . In: Wall Street Journal . January 3, 2022, ISSN  0099-9660 ( wsj.com [accessed January 3, 2022]).
  105. Investor Relations - Frequently Asked Questions. ( Memento dated November 14, 2012 on WebCite ) Apple; Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  106. Plus share buyback: Apple pays a dividend for the first time since 1995. In: Computerwoche . March 19, 2012, accessed on May 23, 2013 : “Apple last sat on cash reserves of around $ 100 billion. In view of this, the pressure to finally pay out a stake again to the shareholders, who were spoiled anyway given the share price development, had increased. "
  107. a b Apple announces plans to launch a dividend and share buyback program. Apple press release, March 19, 2012; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  108. 100 billion mountain: Apple pays a dividend for the first time since 1995. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 19, 2012, accessed May 21, 2013 .
  109. Apple's capital repayment program more than doubled. Apple press release, April 23, 2014; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  110. Apple expands share buyback program to over $ 130 billion. Apple press release, April 23, 2014; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  111. Apple expands capital repayment program to $ 200 billion. Apple press release, April 27, 2015; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  112. Thomas Schulz: Mr Spock is in command . In: The mirror . No. 18 , 2015, p. 78-81 ( online ).
  113. Apple Reports Second Quarter Results. Apple press release, April 26, 2016; Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  114. Christoph Neidhart : Everything for your own brand. Just five manufacturers from Taiwan produce 80 percent of the world's laptops. And most smartphones. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of October 29, 2016, p. 34.
  115. Mirjam Hecking: The Apple Inspirator Interview with Dieter Rams in Manager-Magazin , October 22, 2007; accessed on February 26, 2013. Gallery for product comparison on Gizmodo.
  116. Thorin Klosowski: OS X 10.10.3 Arrives with New Photos App. In: Lifehacker. April 8, 2015, accessed April 9, 2015 .
  117. Open Source . Apple; accessed on February 24, 2014.
  118. PCWorld / Techhive: The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time: 10th Apple PowerBook 100 (1991). Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  119. Apple introduces the new iPod touch and iPod nano. Apple press release, September 12, 2012; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  120. Apple Removes iPod Classic from Online Store. Macrumors, September 9, 2014; Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  121. iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano: Apple stops selling MP3 players
  122. Apple presents the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro: three cameras for even better pictures. In: Techgarage. September 10, 2019, accessed on September 10, 2019 (Swiss Standard German).
  123. iPhone SE (2nd gen.). Retrieved April 27, 2020 .
  124. Apple introduces iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max with 5G. Retrieved April 9, 2021 .
  125. Huawei is the new power on the smartphone market Report from the daily Handelsblatt dated August 1, 2018, accessed on May 1, 2019
  126. Who is BBK, the world's third largest phone manufacturer? Report on the Androidauthority portal from October 20, 2017, accessed on May 1, 2019
  127. Vivo sold the most number of smartphones in China in Q3 2018, followed closely by the OPPO report on the Gizmochina portal on November 21, 2018, accessed on May 1, 2019
  128. Apple introduces the Apple Watch Series 6. Retrieved April 9, 2021 .
  129. Apple Fitness +. Retrieved December 22, 2020 (American English).
  130. Accessibility - iOS. In: apple.com. Retrieved March 31, 2016 .
  131. Felix Knoke: Accessibility through touchscreens: Why many blind people love the iPhone. In: Spiegel Online . October 17, 2010, accessed April 1, 2016 .
  132. Ben Schwan: US Association of the Blind praises Apple. In: heise.de. July 14, 2014, accessed April 1, 2016 .
  133. a b c d e Borries, Friedrich von., Klincke, Harald., Polsa, Bernd., Wagner, Thomas., Zec, Peter .: Designed in California The History of Apple Design (AT). 1st, new edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2011, OCLC 725060863 .
  134. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 44 .
  135. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 45-46 .
  136. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 46-47 .
  137. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 47 .
  138. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 49 .
  139. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 50 .
  140. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 51 .
  141. Leander Kahney: Jony Ive: The Apple design genius . Plassen Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86470-210-5 , pp. 231-232 .
  142. Leander Kahney: Jony Ive: The Apple design genius . Plassen Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86470-210-5 .
  143. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulz (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 82 .
  144. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulz (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 83-84 .
  145. Ina Grätz, Sabine Schulz (Ed.): Apple Design . 1st edition. Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3010-5 , pp. 86-87 .
  146. ^ Larry Dignan: Apple-Foxconn tale goes well beyond Apple, and tech . In: CNET News of January 27, 2012, accessed March 31, 2013.
  147. Tanya Klowden: iPod City: Apple Criticized for factory conditions. In: Ars Technica of June 13, 2006, accessed November 1, 2013.
  148. ^ A b Report on iPod Manufacturing. Apple, August 17, 2006. ( in the Internet Archive; as of August 20, 2006 ( memento of August 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive )); BBC: Apple admits excessive iPod hours. August 18, 2006, accessed November 1, 2013.
  149. Supplier Responsibility - Progress Report. Apple; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  150. ^ Foxconn - Public Eye Awards. (No longer available online.) Greenpeace Switzerland, archived from the original on November 3, 2013 ; Retrieved November 22, 2015 .
  151. Stanley James, Adam Satariano: Apple Opens Suppliers' Doors to Labor Group After Foxconn Worker Suicides. Bloomberg, January 13, 2012, accessed November 1, 2013.
  152. ^ Foxconn Investigation Report. Fair Labor Association, March 29, 2012; Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  153. first test report from August 21, 2012 and second test report from May 16, 2013. Fair Labor Association; accessed on November 1, 2013.
  154. Supplier Responsibility 2015 Progress Report. ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) Apple, p. 15; accessed on March 24, 2015.
  155. Apple's Broken Promises, Panorama. In: bbc.co.uk. December 18, 2014, accessed April 1, 2016 .
  156. Vicky Xiuzhong Xu et al .: Uyghurs for Sale. In: Australian Strategic Policy Institute. February 2020, accessed on May 3, 2021 .
  157. ^ Reed Albergotti: Apple is lobbying against a bill aimed at stopping forced labor in China. In: washingtonpost.com. November 20, 2020, accessed November 22, 2020 .
  158. Wayne Ma: Seven Apple Suppliers Accused of Using Forced Labor From Xinjiang. Retrieved May 10, 2021 .
  159. Greener Electronics Greenpeace; Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  160. Data sheet on Apple in the first Guide to Greener Electronics . ( Memento of November 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Greenpeace, August 2006; Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  161. Keith Ripley: Rotten to the Core? A Guest Blogger Responds to Greenpeace's New Controversial Report on Laptop Toxicity. In: treehugger.com. October 3, 2006, accessed February 5, 2012 .
  162. Greenpeace Report: Guide to Greener Electronics 2017 - Greenpeace USA ; accessed on August 8, 2020.
  163. Steve Jobs aims to make Apple a leader in environmental protection . Heise News, May 3, 2007.
  164. Steve Jobs: A Greener Apple ( Memento January 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), May 2, 2007.
  165. Moritz Koch: Design beats environmental protection . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 9, 2012; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  166. ^ Guide to Greener Electronics . ( Memento of January 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Greenpeace, November 2012; Retrieved February 20, 2013.
  167. Data sheet on Apple in the 18th Guide to Greener Electronics (PDF; 201 kB) Greenpeace, November 2012; Retrieved February 20, 2013.
  168. Angela Meyer: Apple waives environmental certification. In: Heise Online. July 7, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012 .
  169. Michael Knott: Design versus environmental protection: Apple leaves Green IT program (update). In: netzwelt. July 11, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012 .
  170. Andreas Donath: Apple is back in the eco-label. In: Golem. Retrieved July 14, 2012 .
  171. Greenpeace praises Apple . In: Mac & i, May 30, 2013, accessed November 24, 2013.
  172. Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet. ( Memento of May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) Greenpeace, April 2014; Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  173. 93 percent of Apple's facilities run on renewable energy. The Verge, March 21, 2016; accessed on March 31, 2016.
  174. Andreas Wilkens: Apple has completely switched to renewable energy worldwide. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
  175. Apple now globally powered by 100 percent renewable energy . In: Apple Newsroom . ( apple.com [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  176. iPhone manufacturer: Apple wants to become climate neutral by 2030 - from the factory to the electronic junkyard. Retrieved July 22, 2020 .
  177. Stock scandal costs Apple $ 84 million. In: ZDNet of December 29, 2006, accessed on February 26, 2013.
  178. Apple's stock option affair turns into a scandal ( Memento from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: Macwelt from November 22, 2015.
  179. Apple affair: Jobs options become a case for the US judiciary. In: Spiegel Online . January 12, 2007, accessed June 8, 2016 .
  180. Blogger reveals company internals In: Zeit Online from January 11, 2005, accessed on February 26, 2013.
  181. Confidentiality: Apple launches deliberately fake products. In: Golem.de from January 16, 2007.
  182. Apple has to compensate bloggers. In: Swiss IT Magazine from February 1, 2007.
  183. ^ A b Matthias Kremp, Christian Stöcker: Apple's security policy - the paranoid company . Spiegel Online , April 26, 2010. Spiegel Online quotes an eyewitness report from Gizmodo.com: Apple Gestapo - How Apple Hunts Down Leaks .
  184. Apple buffs marketing savvy to a high shine. USA Today, March 8, 2007; accessed September 5, 2011 .
  185. App Review Guidelines . Apple; Retrieved on March 6, 2013. Quote: "We review all apps to ensure they are reliable, perform as expected, and are free of offensive material." behave as expected and contain no offensive content. ")
  186. Censorship stays as iPhone app development rules "relax". In: gizmodo.com. September 9, 2010, accessed July 26, 2011 .
  187. Laura Sydell: Apple's iPad: The End Of The Internet As We Know It? In: NPR. April 5, 2010, accessed April 23, 2010 .
  188. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger criticizes Apple's data protection rules . Heise online, June 26, 2010; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  189. Big Brother Awards 2011 - Communication category (2) Big Brother Awards website, April 1, 2011; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  190. Big Brother Awards 2013 - Category Work World Website of the Big Brother Awards, April 12, 2013; Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  191. Felix Lee: Beijing intensifies censorship: China continues to seal off its Internet. In: taz.de . January 30, 2018, accessed May 20, 2021 .
  192. Jack Nicas, Raymond Zhong, Daisuke Wakabayashi: Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China. In: The New York Times . May 17, 2021, accessed on May 20, 2021 : “Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, has said the data is safe. But at the data center in Guiyang, which Apple hoped would be completed by next month, and another in the Inner Mongolia region, Apple has largely ceded control to the Chinese government. Chinese state employees physically manage the computers. Apple abandoned the encryption technology it used elsewhere after China would not allow it. And the digital keys that unlock information on those computers are stored in the data centers they're meant to secure. "
  193. Apple is threatened with product liability problems . In: FAZ , October 1, 2012; Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  194. EU commissioner suspects Apple of customer deception . Spiegel Online , September 30, 2012.
  195. EU suspicion: Apple is systematically deceiving consumers. Report to teltarif from September 30, 2012.
  196. a b c d e How the EU wants to put an end to Apple's tax tricks Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 9, 2018, Book II, p. 13
  197. The tax tricks from Apple and Amazon. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . November 26, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012 .
  198. Nelson Schwartz, Charles Duhigg: Apple's Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds. In: The New York Times . May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013 .
  199. a b Cecilia Kang: Apple avoids taxes with 'complex web' of offshore entities, Senate inquiry finds. In: Washington Post . May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013 .
  200. Jim Newell: Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies at Senate hearing over tax practices - live. In: The Guardian . May 21, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013 .
  201. Nellie Bowles: Cupertino's mayor: Apple 'abuses us' by not paying taxes. In: theguardian.com. May 5, 2016, accessed May 5, 2016 .
  202. ^ State aid: Commission investigates transfer pricing arrangements on corporate taxation of Apple (Ireland) Starbucks (Netherlands) and Fiat Finance and Trade (Luxembourg) . European Commission, press release, June 11, 2014.
  203. "State aid: Ireland gave illegal tax benefits to Apple worth up to € 13 billion" European Commission, press release, August 30, 2016.
  204. ^ Letter "A Message to the Apple Community in Europe" from Tim Cook, Apple CEO, dated August 31, 2016
  205. Christoph G. Schmutz: EU court cancels record tax back payment for Apple in Ireland. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, July 15, 2020.
  206. Action plan for fair and simple taxation . 15th July 2020.
  207. Article 116 of the EU Treaty . , accessed on July 15, 2020.
  208. ^ Luxembourg Leaks Database. In: icij.org. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, accessed November 6, 2014 .
  209. ^ Paradise Papers - The research of the Süddeutsche Zeitung . Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  210. Carsten Knop: Apple boss Cook: "We are the largest taxpayer in the world" In: Frankfurter Allgemeine , on October 13, 2017, accessed on October 16, 2017
  211. ZDNet (ed.), Adrian Kingsley-Hughes (author): Apple admits iOS is a mess, has a plan to make it better , February 13, 2018, accessed on May 28, 2018
  212. Notebookcheck (Ed.), Vaidyanathan Subramaniam (Author): Apple hit with class action suit over faulty butterfly-switch keyboards , May 13, 2018, accessed May 28, 2018
  213. Notebookcheck (Ed.), Sanjiv Sathiah (Author): Apple knew iPhone 6, 6 Plus could bend more easily ahead of launch , May 13, 2018, accessed May 28, 2018
  214. Notebookcheck (Ed.), Sam Medley (Author): Apple damaged an iMac Pro while trying to repair it , May 26, 2018, accessed May 28, 2018
  215. Nick Statt: Apple confirms its T2 security chip blocks some third-party repairs of new Macs. November 12, 2018, accessed January 4, 2022 .
  216. heise online: T2 in the Mac: Apple confirms nailing repair by chip. Retrieved January 4, 2022 .
  217. Alexander Fanta: How Apple forces its cables on us. In: netzpolitik.org . March 12, 2019, accessed March 13, 2019 .
  218. Lisa Eadicicco: Apple apologizes and announces changes coming to Siri after a report revealed that workers regularly hear private conversations. Retrieved May 22, 2020 (English).
  219. Isobel Asher Hamilton: An Apple whistleblower who had to listen to sex via Siri iPhone users is now publicly denouncing the tech giant. May 21, 2020, accessed May 22, 2020 .
  220. Kim Rixecker ( t3n ): Telegram: Apple demands blocking of Belarusian chat groups. October 9, 2020, accessed October 9, 2020 .
  221. TASS : Apple claims it has not requested blocking of Telegram channels on Belarus. October 9, 2020, accessed October 9, 2020 .
  222. Italy fines Apple millions. Retrieved May 1, 2021 .
  223. Apple Misrepresents iPhones' Water Resistance, Lawsuit Alleges. Accessed May 1, 2021 .
  224. Ann-Kathrin Nezik: US tech companies: As in the age of the oil barons and railroad tycoons. In: zeit.de. October 14, 2020, accessed October 24, 2020 .
  225. tagesschau.de: EU Commission accuses Apple of unfair competition. Retrieved May 1, 2021 .
  226. European Commission: Antitrust: Commission sends Apple statement of objections on app store rules for music streaming providers. Accessed May 1, 2021 .


Coordinates: 37 ° 20 ′ 8 "  N , 122 ° 0 ′ 33"  W.