Apple Wallpaper, #10275

Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL, LSE: ACP) is an American computer technology corporation with global annual sales in 2005 of US$13.9 billion and 14,800 employees in several countries. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple develops, sells, and supports a series of personal computers, portable media players, computer software, and computer hardware accessories. The company's most well-known products are the Apple Macintosh line of personal computers, the iPod portable music player, and the iTunes media player. Apple operates retail stores in the United States, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The stores carry most of Apple's products as well as many third-party products and offer on-site support and repair for Apple hardware and software.Apple has been a major player in the evolution of personal computing since its founding in 1976. The Apple II microcomputer, introduced in 1977, was a hit with home users. In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, the first commercial personal computer to employ a graphical user interface, which was influenced in part by the Xerox Alto. In 1984, the Macintosh (commonly called the "Mac") was introduced, furthering the concepts of a user-friendly graphical user interface, and also introducing the mouse for the first time in a personal computer. Apple's success with the Macintosh became a major influence in the development of graphical interfaces elsewhere, with major computer operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, all appearing on the market within two years of the introduction of the Macintosh. In 1991, Apple introduced the PowerBook line of portable computers, establishing the modern ergonomic form and design that has since become ubiquitous in the portable market. The 1990s also saw Apple's marketshare fall as competition from Microsoft Windows and the comparatively inexpensive IBM PC compatible computers that would eventually dominate the market. In the 2000s, Apple expanded their focus on software to include professional and prosumer video, music, and photo production solutions, with a view to promoting their computers as a "digital hub". It also introduced iPod, a portable digital music player which has since become the most popular player on the market.Due in part to Apple's "counterculture" roots as a company that differentiates itself from IBM and others by encouraging people to "Think Different", Apple has fostered a high level of devotion to the brand amongst some of their users. This is sometimes referred to as the Cult of Mac, where the use of Apple products is deemed to be part of a lifestyle.Critics of Apple commonly point to their vertically-integrated business model, where all the hardware and software comes from one company; for many years, Apple's hardware was closed and proprietary, and Apple generally refused to adopt prevailing industry standards for hardware, instead creating and implementing their own. This trend was largely reversed in the late 1990s beginning starting with Apple's adoption of the PCI bus in the 7500/8500/9500 Power Macs.