Apple Inc.

is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino,

California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer sof
tware, online services, and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products
are the Mac line of computers, the iPod media player, the iPhone smartphone, an
d the iPad tablet computer. Its online services include iCloud, iTunes Store, an
d App Store. Apple's consumer software includes the OS X and iOS operating syste
ms, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork cr
eativity and productivity suites.
Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 197
6, to develop and sell personal computers. It was incorporated as Apple Computer
, Inc. on January 3, 1977, and was renamed as Apple Inc. on January 9, 2007, to
reflect its shifted focus towards consumer electronics.
Apple is the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue af
ter Samsung Electronics, and the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after
Samsung and Nokia.[5] Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in t
he United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012.[6][7][8][9][10] On
September 30, 2013, Apple surpassed Coca-Cola to become the world's most valuab
le brand in the Omnicom Group's "Best Global Brands" report.[11] However, the co
mpany has received criticism for its contractors' labor practices, as well as fo
r its own environmental and business practices.
As of June 2014, Apple maintains 425 retail stores in fourteen countries,[12][13
] as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store,[14] the latter of which is
the world's largest music retailer.[15] Apple is the largest publicly traded co
rporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated market capita
lization of $446 billion by January 2014.[16] As of September 29, 2012, the comp
any had 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time emplo
yees worldwide. Its worldwide annual revenue in 2013 totaled $170 billion.[17] A
s of Q1 2014, Apple's five-year growth average is 39% for top line growth and 45
% for bottom line growth. In May 2013, Apple entered the top ten of the Fortune
500 list of companies for the first time, rising 11 places above its 2012 rankin
g to take the sixth position.[18]