Apple 1996 Annual Report Download - page 4

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PART I
Item 1. Business
General
Apple Computer, Inc. ("Apple" or the "Company") was incorporated under the laws of the State of California on January 3, 1977. The
Company's principal executive offices are located at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, 95014 and its telephone number is (408) 996-1010.
The Company designs, manufactures and markets microprocessor-based personal computers and related personal computing and
communicating solutions for sale primarily to education, home, business and government customers. Substantially all of the Company's net
sales to date have been derived from the sale of personal computers from its Apple Macintosh(registered trademark) line of computers and
related software and peripherals. The Company operates in one principal industry segment across geographically diverse marketplaces.
During 1996, the Company began to implement certain restructuring actions aimed at reducing its cost structure, improving its competitiveness,
and restoring sustained profitibility. The Company's restructuring actions have included the termination of employees, as well as the sale of the
Company's Fountain, Colorado, manufacturing facility to SCI Systems, Inc. ("SCI"). As part of the terms of this sale, the Company is
committed to purchase product manufactured by SCI in the future. Further information regarding the above may be found in Part II, Item 7 of
this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the "Form 10-K") under the subheadings "Restructuring of Operations" and "Inventory and Supply"
included under the heading "Factors That May Affect Future Results and Financial Condition," and in Part II, Item 8 on this Form 10-K in the
Available Sources of Supply of Materials and Product" included under the heading "Concentrations of Risk," and under the subheading
"Purchase Commitment" included under the heading "Commitments and Contingencies," which information is hereby incorporated by
reference.
Principal products
Apple Macintosh personal computers were first introduced in 1984, and are characterized by their intuitive ease of use, innovative applications
base, and built-in networking, graphics and multimedia capabilities.
The Company offers a wide range of personal computing products, including personal computers, related peripherals, software, and networking
and connectivity products.
All of the Company's Macintosh products include the PowerPC(trademark) RISC-based microprocessor. The Company also offers computer
products capable of running application software designed for the MS-DOS or Windows operating systems ("Cross Platform Products"). These
products include the RISC-based PowerPC microprocessor and either include the Pentium or 586-class microprocessor or can accommodate an
add-on card containing a Pentium or 586-class microprocessor. These products enable users to run concurrently applications that require the
Mac OS, MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 operating systems.
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh high-performance family of personal computers is targeted at business, academic and professional users and is designed
to meet the speed, expansion and networking needs of the most demanding Macintosh user. These Power Macintosh products not only support
virtually all existing Macintosh applications, but can also run MS-DOS and Windows applications when using SoftWindows(trademark)
software from Insignia Solutions.
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