Apple Inc.is an Americanmultinational corporationheadquartered inCupertino,California, that designs, develops, and sellsconsumer electronics, computer software, online services, and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products are theMacline of computers, theiPodmedia player, theiPhonesmartphone, and theiPadtablet computer. Its online services includeiCloud,iTunes Store, andApp Store. Apple's consumer software includes theOS XandiOSoperating systems, theiTunesmedia browser, theSafariweb browser, and theiLifeandiWorkcreativity and productivity suites.Apple was founded bySteve Jobs,Steve Wozniak, andRonald Wayneon April 1, 1976, to develop and sellpersonal computers. It was incorporated asApple Computer, Inc.on January 3, 1977, and was renamed as Apple Inc. on January 9, 2007, to reflect its shifted focus towardsconsumer electronics.Apple is theworld's second-largest information technology companyby revenue afterSamsung Electronics, and theworld's second-largest mobile phone makerafterSamsung.[4]Fortunemagazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012.[5][6][7][8][9]On September 30, 2013, Apple surpassedCoca-Colato become the world's most valuable brand in theOmnicom Group's "Best Global Brands" report.[10]However, the company has receivedcriticismfor its contractors' labor practices, as well as for its own environmental and business practices.As of June 2014, Apple maintains 425retail storesin fourteen countries,[11][12]as well as the onlineApple StoreandiTunes Store,[13]the latter of which is theworld's largest music retailer.[14]Apple isthelargest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated market capitalization of $446 billion by January 2014.[15]As of September 29, 2012, the company had 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time employees worldwide. Its worldwide annual revenue in2013 totaled $170 billion.[16]As of Q1 2014, Apple's five-year growth average is 39% fortop linegrowth and 45% forbottomlinegrowth. In May 2013, Apple entered the top ten of theFortune 500list of companies for the first time, rising 11 places above its 2012 ranking to take the sixth position.[17]According to the 2014 edition of theInterbrandBest Global Brands report, Apple is the world's most valuable brand, with a valuation ofUS$118.9billion.[18]HistoryMain article:History of Apple Inc.1976–80: Founding and incorporationTheApple I, Apple's first product, was soldas an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.Apple was established on April 1, 1976, bySteve Jobs,Steve WozniakandRonald Wayne[19][20]to sell theApple Ipersonal computer kit. TheApple Ikits were a computer single handedly designedand hand-built by Wozniak[21][22]and first shown to the public at theHomebrew Computer Club.[23]The Apple I was sold as amotherboard(withCPU,RAM, and basic textual-video chips), which is less than what is today considered a complete personal computer.[24]The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66 ($2,763 in 2014 dollars, adjusted for inflation).[25][26][27][28][29][30]Apple was incorporated January 3, 1977,[31]without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.[20]MultimillionaireMike Markkulaprovided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple.[32][33]During the first five years of operations, revenues doubled every four months, an average growth rate of 700%.TheApple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16, 1977, at the firstWest Coast Computer Faire. It differedfrom its major rivals, theTRS-80andCommodore PET, because of its character cell-based color graphics and anopenarchitecture. While early models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices, they were superseded by the introduction of a 5 1/4 inchfloppy diskdrive and interface, theDisk II.