A report on Apple Inc. and Smartphone

The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard

In 1976, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in his parents' home on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California. Although it is widely believed that the company was founded in the house's garage, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called it "a bit of a myth". Jobs and Wozniak did, however, move some operations to the garage when the bedroom became too crowded.

Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s

Apple's first product, the Apple I, designed by Steve Wozniak, was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and wooden case.

The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006

The Apple II Plus, introduced in 1979, designed primarily by Wozniak

The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads

The Macintosh, released in 1984, is the first mass-market personal computer to feature an integral graphical user interface and mouse.

The PenLite is Apple's first prototype of a tablet computer. Created in 1992, the project was designed to bring the Mac OS to a tablet – but was canceled in favor of the Newton.

The Nokia 9 PureView features a five-lens camera array with Zeiss optics, using a mixture of color and monochrome sensors.

The MacBook Pro, Apple's first laptop with an Intel microprocessor, introduced in 2006

The Huawei P30 features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics.

Newly announced iPhone on display at the 2007 MacWorld Expo

A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch".

Apple customers wait in line around an Apple Store in Shanghai in anticipation of a new product.

A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera

Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer

Apple Fifth Avenue, the flagship store in New York City

Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control

The Genius Bar at Apple's Regent Street store in London

"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second

The Apple store in the Carnegie Library of Washington D.C. maintains the building's historic exterior design.

The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button.

Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld at the Apple User Group Connection club in 1985

Universities with the most alumni at Apple

Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a Google Chromium derirative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

PRISM: a clandestine surveillance program under which the NSA collects user data from companies like Facebook and Apple.

Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010.

A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank).

Several smartphones running Google's Android OS

A Nokia N70 smartphone (2005) running Symbian OS, which was highly popular in Europe and Asia in the 2000s

A New York City driver holding two phones

A user consulting a mapping app on a phone

A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm

In January 2007, Apple Computer introduced the iPhone.

- Smartphone

iPhone is Apple's line of smartphones that use the company's proprietary iOS operating system, derived from macOS's kernel.

- Apple Inc.

24 related topics with Alpha

IPhone

10 links

First iPhone on display under glass at the January 2007 Macworld show

A comparison of iPhone sizes from the iPhone 5S to the iPhone 12

When making a call, the iPhone presents a number of options, including FaceTime on supported models. The screen is automatically disabled when held close to the face.

Wikipedia on the iPhone Safari web browser in landscape mode

The virtual keyboard on the first generation iPhone touchscreen

iPhone 5S shown with the SIM tray partially ejected and SIM ejector tool in the eject hole.

The iPhone is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. These devices use Apple's iOS mobile operating system.

Tablet computer

7 links

Mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package.

Wireless tablet device portrayed in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Apple Newton MessagePad, Apple's first produced tablet, released in 1993

A Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook tablet running Windows XP, released in 2003

The Nokia N800, the first tablet manufactured by Nokia

Steve Jobs introducing the iPad in San Francisco on January 27, 2010

Crossover tablet device types from 2014: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 laplet and Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet, next to a generic blue lighter for size comparison

Comparison of several mini tablet computers: Amazon Kindle Fire (left), iPad Mini (center), and Google Nexus 7 (right)

Samsung's Galaxy Note series were the first commercially successful phablets.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3, a prominent 2-in-1 detachable tablet

Asus Transformer Pad, a 2-in-1 detachable tablet, powered by the Android operating system

Nvidia Shield Tablet, notable gaming tablet

Games on a Ziosk table ordering tablet at an Olive Garden restaurant

Samsung Galaxy Tab demonstrating multi-touch

Chinese characters like this one meaning "person" can be written by handwriting recognition (人-order.gif, Mandarin: rén, Korean: in, Japanese: jin, nin; hito, Cantonese: jan4). The character has two strokes, the first shown here in brown, and the second in red. The black area represents the starting position of the writing instrument.

Modern tablets largely resemble modern smartphones, the only differences being that tablets are relatively larger than smartphones, with screens 7 inch or larger, measured diagonally, and may not support access to a cellular network.

In 2010, Apple released the iPad, the first mass-market tablet to achieve widespread popularity.

Microsoft Windows

6 links

Group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft.

Windows 1.0, the first version, released in 1985

Apple came to see Windows as an unfair encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as the Lisa and Macintosh (eventually settled in court in Microsoft's favor in 1993).

However, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones.

Android 12 home screen with Pixel Launcher

Android (operating system)

5 links

HTC Dream or T-Mobile G1, the first commercially released device running Android (2008)

Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin and Hugo Barra at a 2012 press conference announcing Google's Nexus 7 tablet

Frontal buttons (home, menu/options, go back, search) and optical track pad of an HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with Android OS.

The stack of Android Open Source Project

The first-generation Nexus 7 tablet, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Ouya, a video game console which runs Android

Android-x86 running on an ASUS Eee PC netbook

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

An early prototype had a close resemblance to a BlackBerry phone, with no touchscreen and a physical QWERTY keyboard, but the arrival of 2007's Apple iPhone meant that Android "had to go back to the drawing board".

IPhone 5

4 links

Comparison between the 30-pin port of the iPhone 4s (top) and Lightning port of the iPhone 5 (bottom)

Example of an iPhone 5 with chipped coating.

Apple's A6 chip is 22% smaller than the Apple A5 and consumes less power.

The iPhone 5 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 6th generation iPhone, succeeding both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and preceding both the iPhone 5S and 5C.

IPhone 4

4 links

Steve Jobs presenting the iPhone 4 in 2010

The iPhone 4 is the first iPhone model to have two cameras. The LED flash for the rear-facing camera (top) and the forward-facing camera (bottom, left of the speaker) are not present in older models.

An iPhone 4 A1332 with a micro-SIM card removed with a paper clip, showing its SIM card compartment.

The iPhone 4 is constructed of glass faces and a metal rim.

Steve Jobs demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23, 2010

A girl takes pictures with an iPhone 4. Havana, Cuba, 2015

The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S.

IPhone 4S

4 links

The "Let's Talk iPhone" event was held at the Apple Campus, instead of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where most non-WWDC events are held.

The iPhone 4S setup screen - it is the first iPhone that does not need to connect to iTunes in order to be activated because iOS 5 introduces features such as iCloud.

The iPhone 4S features a Sony 8-megapixel camera and 1080p video recording.

The iPhone 4S uses the same proprietary 30-pin dock connector that is used on the iPhone 4.

There is a line on top of the earpiece of a white iPhone 4S that is the proximity sensor. This is included on the black model as well, but is less visible.

Comparison of the iPhone 4 (GSM) antenna placement (top) with that of the iPhone 4S (bottom). Notice the repositioning of the antennas that forms the perimeter around the smartphone; the iPhone 4 antenna is on the top of it while on the iPhone 4S, the antennas are on the sides. This side antenna placement meant a benefit of cellular signal attenuation and was used in later models such as the iPhone 5.

An iPhone 4S with a cracked rear cover. The glass rear covers on the iPhone 4S (along with the iPhone 4) were notorious for cracking easily after an accidental fall. A similar design (glass body with stainless-steel frame) was later reused with the introduction of the iPhone X and iPhone 8, although this second iteration of the glass-back design was for wireless charging.

The iPhone 4S (originally styled as iPhone 4 S, retroactively stylized with a lowercase 's' as iPhone 4s as of September 2013) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 4 and preceding the iPhone 5.

OS/360 was used on most IBM mainframe computers beginning in 1966, including computers used by the Apollo program.

Operating system

5 links

System software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.

PC DOS was an early personal computer OS that featured a command-line interface.

Mac OS by Apple Computer became the first widespread OS to feature a graphical user interface. Many of its features such as windows and icons would later become commonplace in GUIs.

The first server for the World Wide Web ran on NeXTSTEP, based on BSD.

Linux, a unix-like operating system was first time released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Picture of Tux the penguin, mascot of Linux.

A kernel connects the application software to the hardware of a computer.

Privilege rings for the x86 microprocessor architecture available in protected mode. Operating systems determine which processes run in each mode.

Many operating systems can "trick" programs into using memory scattered around the hard disk and RAM as if it is one continuous chunk of memory, called virtual memory.

File systems allow users and programs to organize and sort files on a computer, often through the use of directories (or "folders").

A screenshot of the Bash command line. Each command is typed out after the 'prompt', and then its output appears below, working its way down the screen. The current command prompt is at the bottom.

A screenshot of the KDE Plasma 5 graphical user interface. Programs take the form of images on the screen, and the files, folders (directories), and applications take the form of icons and symbols. A mouse is used to navigate the computer.

macOS by Apple Inc. is in second place (17.72%), and the varieties of Linux are collectively in third place (1.73%).

Linux is also commonly used on other small energy-efficient computers, such as smartphones and smartwatches.

Personal computer

6 links

Multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use.

Commodore PET in 1983 (at the American Museum of Science and Energy), an early example of a personal computer

The 8-bit architecture Pravetz 82 computer produced in Bulgaria from 1982, in school class in the Soviet Union

The three personal computers referred to by Byte Magazine as the "1977 Trinity" of home computing: The Commodore PET, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 Model I.

The 8-bit PMD 85 personal computer produced in 1985–1990 by the Tesla company in the former socialist Czechoslovakia

Sun SPARCstation 1+ from the early 1990s, with a 25 MHz RISC processor

A portable computer Cambridge Z88 released in 1987

HP Compaq tablet PC with rotating/removable keyboard

A screenshot of the LibreOffice Writer software

A screenshot of Krita, which is a raster graphics editor.

Children being taught how to use a laptop computer in 2005. An older (1990s-era) desktop personal computer's CRT monitor is visible in the background.

Personal computers worldwide in million distinguished by developed and developing world

These include Apple's macOS and free and open-source Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux.

Smartphones are often similar to tablet computers, the difference being that smartphones always have cellular integration.

Microsoft

5 links

American multinational technology corporation which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washington, United States.

An Altair 8800 computer (left) with the popular Model 33 ASR Teletype as terminal, paper tape reader, and paper tape punch.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates on October 19, 1981, after signing a pivotal contract with IBM

Windows 1.0 was released on November 20, 1985, as the first version of the Microsoft Windows line

In 1996, Microsoft released Windows CE, a version of the operating system meant for personal digital assistants and other tiny computers, shown here on the HP 300LX.

Microsoft released the first installment in the Xbox series of consoles in 2001. The Xbox, graphically powerful compared to its rivals, featured a standard PC's 733 MHz Intel Pentium III processor.

CEO Steve Ballmer at the MIX event in 2008. In an interview about his management style in 2005, he mentioned that his first priority was to get the people he delegates to in order. Ballmer also emphasized the need to continue pursuing new technologies even if initial attempts fail, citing the original attempts with Windows as an example.

Headquarters of the European Commission, which has imposed several fines on Microsoft

Surface Pro 3, part of the Surface series of laplets by Microsoft

Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as the CEO of Microsoft in February 2014

The Nokia Lumia 1320, the Microsoft Lumia 535 and the Nokia Lumia 530, which all run on one of the now-discontinued Windows Phone operating systems

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin using a Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset in September 2016

Five year history graph of nasdaq: MSFT stock on July 17, 2013

Windows 8 Launch Event in Akihabara, Tokyo on October 25, 2012

The west campus of the Microsoft Redmond campus

$2012–present: Fifth Microsoft logo, introduced on August 23, 2012<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2012/08/23/microsoft-unveils-a-new-look.aspx |title=Microsoft Unveils a New Look |work=Microsoft |date=August 2012 |access-date=August 23, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825012157/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2012/08/23/microsoft-unveils-a-new-look.aspx |archive-date=August 25, 2012}}</ref>$

It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Google, Amazon, Apple, and Meta.

While a large majority (at least 75%) of them do not run any version of Windows Phone— those other phones are not categorized as smartphones by Gartner – in the same time frame 8 million Windows smartphones (2.5% of all smartphones) were made by all manufacturers (but mostly by Microsoft).