- published: 24 Mar 2015
- views: 4208906
The Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc., dealing with computers and consumer electronics. The stores sell Macintosh personal computers, software, iPod, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and select third-party accessories. All stores offer a Genius Bar for technical support and repairs, free product workshops for the public, youth programs (workshops, field trips, Apple Camps); some high-profile stores feature a theater for presentations and workshops and a studio for training with Apple products. Under the leadership of Ron Johnson, the former senior Vice President of Retail Operations, the Apple Stores have, according to an article in The New York Times, been responsible for "[turning] the boring computer sales floor into a sleek playroom filled with gadgets". Apple stores have a standardised appearance with light wood tables and a general minimal design.
With global sales of US$16 billion in merchandise in 2011, Apple leads the United States retail market in terms of sales per unit area. Apple has 481 retail stores in 18 countries and an online store available in 39 countries.
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (/ˈdʒɒbz/; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American information technology entrepreneur and inventor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc.; CEO and largest shareholder of Pixar Animation Studios; a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors following its acquisition of Pixar; and founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT Inc. Jobs is widely recognized as a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s, along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Shortly after his death, Jobs's official biographer, Walter Isaacson, described him as the "creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing."
Adopted at birth in San Francisco, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s, Jobs's countercultural lifestyle was a product of his time. As a senior at Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, his two closest friends were the older engineering student (and Homestead High alumnus) Wozniak and his countercultural girlfriend, the artistically inclined Homestead High junior Chrisann Brennan. Jobs briefly attended Reed College in 1972 before dropping out, deciding to travel through India in 1974 and study Buddhism.