BOC Midterm: MAC PC

MAC: The first product I have chose for my midterm project is the Mac computer. I am and always will be a Mac lover, and I recently just purchased a macbook. When I was told I needed to pick a popular consumer product the first thing that popped in to my head was my computer! Everyone and their grandma has a MAC so I thought it would be the perfect product to conduct my research on. Apple is an amazing company that has been able to cultivate a brand for themselves around their amazing products. “Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry.”(http://www.crunchbase.com/) This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Their customers are very loyal and will stand in line for hours to get the new version of and already existing product. Many people prefer Mac to PC for its many advantages. Mac has created its own community for its target market. They are starting to create a lifestyle for their brand. “Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008.”(http://www.gizmdo.com/) Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. “The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools; the Safari internet browser; and iOS, a mobile operating system.”(http://www.apple.com/) As of August 2010, the company operates “301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.”(http://www.apple.com/) As of May 2010, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world and the most valuable technology company in the world, having surpassed Microsoft. “The company was established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California. As of September 2010, Apple had 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $65.23 billion.”(http://www.apple.com/)