ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines Apple Inc'.s past and present as a designer, manufacturer, promoter, and supplier of digital technology. It presents a political economic view of the brand and its operations around the world. By the mid-1980s, desktop publishing had taken off, but so had low-cost personal computers running on Intel chips and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Like many small companies seeking to grow, Apple enlisted corporate managers to counter this tendency and went onto the capital market to attract investment. Apple conducts ongoing lobbying and exercises political pressure in order to protect its lucrative operations and market position. These social-justice efforts diverge from company attitudes under Jobs. Unlike Cook, Jobs had no interest in aligning Apple with such distractions from wealth and fame, and it's significant that they have generated a backlash. New developments include investment in data services an emerging line of Internet-of-things products, with its watch the centerpiece, and a foray into financial services through Apple Pay.
