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Apple - the brand linking lifestyle to consumerism

Founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and Steve Jobs who still plays an important part as the official CEO - only being temporarily replaced by COO Timothy D. Cook until approx. June 2009 - Apple has developed into the company with the 7th highest brand equity over the years. This is further supported by the fact that Apple employs 32,000 workers all around the world on a full-time basis. The manufacturer and developer of multimedia products is said to be the inventor of nowadays essential tools relating to PC-usability such as the mouse or the desktop as we know it.

Apple's core business still is - not much surprising - the PC-market. Both, the popular laptops and "regular" computers come with Apple's famous operating system Macintosh. But in the course of the last years new core markets with rising value for the Californian manufacturer have evolved: MP3-Players and mobile phone.

The so-called iPod has become an emblem of a whole generation and lifestyle circle by being the first portable MP3 player reconciling user-friendly, intuitive handling, innovative design and high quality sound reproduction. The iPod product range accounts for a large part of Apple's turnover and has become an term of its own in the targeted consumer segment. Currently there are over ten different models available ranging from low priced products focusing on functionality to highly sophisticated devices which have been product-placed in the prime-market.

The last coup definitely was the introduction of the Apple iPhone which has not only revolutionized the mobile phones market thanks to innovations such as the implemented touch screen allowing the user to navigate through his phone solely via the fingertips, the almost jewelry-like design and the completely new and extremely popular user-interface.

Besides the above named products which come up for a vast part of Apple's popularity in the course of the past years the company has launched various other products such as Apple TV, iPod Hi-Fi, Apple Mighty Mouse which however did not turn out to be as successful as the flagships Mac, iPod and iPhone.