Apple

Rather than build “just another cell phone”, Apple, as it is known to do, built something incredible and hard to forget. A large part of the fascination with the iPhone centers on its smooth, touch screen user interface(UI).

Invented by Palm over 20 years ago, the touch screen had never been so fun and sexy as when Apple began playing with it. Rather than using a stylus or having to ‘accommodate’ the interface, Apple created something that all but redefined ‘intuitive’. Natural finger motions allowed the user for the first time to interact with a device as though it were truly an extension of themselves.

Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 by Steven Jobs, Bill Gates one time friend and current business nemesis, Apple Inc. was known for its first 30 years as Apple Computer. And as with the iphone, Apple has a reputation for developing superior and intuitive computers, so much so that the company has a great many loyal customers to whom Apple is more like a lifestyle choice than a company.

Apple may have begun in a modest California garage, but it now employs over 20,000 permanent and temporary workers globally and had $24.01 billion in sales in 2007.

Apple is one of those few companies whose name alone has transcended into the rarified air of household names and worldwide logo recognition.