Business Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business - Term Paper Example Even though it floundered after the early years of its inception (dating back to 1976), for the past nearly two decades Apple Inc. has consistently led the technology markets in product innovation and brand loyalty. Many credit the vision of one of its earliest developers and current CEO, Steve Jobs, with its repeated successes thanks to such powerhouse creations as the IPod, IPad, and IPhone (to name a few) – a point that is difficult to argue. Even so, recent bouts of illnesses that have caused Jobs to be ‘off the job’ on several occasions have left shareholders edgy about the future of the company and the continued value of their investment in the coming years. In this essay we will briefly review the origins of this organization that began as a brainchild in a garage and follow its history to the present day. Finally we will consider the projected future scenarios of Apple Inc. alongside expert opinions on the likelihood of a company’s success in genera l (and Apple Inc.’s in particular) when its founder and spokesman is no longer a driving factor in its daily and future operations. In the Beginning It would probably not surprise the reader to know that there are dozens of books on the market that offer the definitive history and ‘inside story’ of the Apple Company. Certainly the tale of the creation of the first apple computer has a bohemian aura. According to one author the original designer of the device was not Steve Jobs at all – but Steve Wozniak and a friend of his named Bill Fernandez. Wozniak had dropped out of engineering school and he and Fernandez (who by now had introduced a friend named Steve Jobs) â€Å"built their first computer from parts rejected by local companies for cosmetic flaws† (Linzmayer, 2004). It is true that the first computer they built was in a garage – and the photos of them with their then stylish hair hanging over their foreheads while poring over a part com plete the picture of an era in which people began to believe in the power of their own thinking (versus group thought). This belief is seconded in another recently published tome on the subject of the impact that the Apple company has had on the corporate world. The author teases the reader with this nugget: Two guys named Steve, working in a garage, created a prototype computer designed to be different in a way no one thought possible: It would be easy to use. Those two Steves, one now a billionaire and still at the head of Apple, not only succeeded with that product, but they also broke ground in the business world in ways few thought possible: They proved you could not only have fun at work, but pursuing a capitalist dream could be hip. (OGrady, 2009) It was the beginning of a revolution in this country and the world. Jobs, Wozniak and Fernandez were in and out of each other’s lives over the next few years – supporting each other in technology and money-making ventu res. However, Fernandez was not a part of the Apple Company when it was finally established in 1976. And then there were 2 – Jobs and Wozniak - as a third party sold his shares back to Jobs (for $800) when they incorporated in 1977. Here it becomes difficult to decide what should be put in and what should be left out of the story for sake of time and relevance. The fact is that the