You Won't Believe These 15 Facts About Apple

With the new movie coming out looking at the life of Steve Jobs, we thought it might be fun to give you some facts about the company that you probably didn’t already know. Here are 15 facts about the largest company in the world, Apple:

1. Six states do not have Apple stores: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.

2. Apple was established on April Fool’s Day, 1976.

3. Apple has already produced a gaming console called the Pippin, a CD-based console selling for $600, which came out in 1995 and failed miserably.

4. Apple creates fake projects for new and senior employees to work on. If the project leaks, then they know the source and fire the employee immediately. They don’t trust anyone.

5. Bill Gates and Microsoft helped Apple out of bankruptcy in 1997. They invested $150 million and Gates developed and shipped versions of Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer and other tools for Macintosh. Over 8 million Apple customers bought Microsoft Office. The move was made to boost Apple’s popularity as well as make a large amount of money for both companies. Also, this move helped keep anti-trust lawyers off Microsoft’s back.

6. The famous Apple advertisement from 1984 featuring IBM as the “Big Brother” was directed by Ridley Scott — the same man who also directed “Aliens” and “Gladiator.”

7. Apple’s First iPod had a secret game. Go to the “About” menu and hold down the center button for roughly 3 seconds and you get a Breakout (Pong) game that you can play while you are listening to your music.

8. The original Apple Logo featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree with an apple about to hit his head — now the name makes more sense. The logo was created by the less known founder of Apple, Ronald Wayne and was briefly used in 1976. Wayne sold his stake in the company to the Steves for $800. His stake in the company would now be worth $22 billion.

9. Apple invented the “DogCow.” For those of you that remember her — yes, it’s a female — she was included in the Cairo font as part of the original Macintosh. Eventually the DogCow, named Clarus, became a mascot for the Apple tech staff, having its own “moof” sound. DogCow and the “moof” sound were created by Susan Kare and because of its popularity, Apple eventually trademarked both the DogCow and its sound.

10. Apple invented the first mass-marketed digital camera back in 1994. The Apple Quick Take 100 could take 8 photos and then connect to a Mac via serial cable. It sold for $749 (roughly $1,000 today). Apple produced 2 more models before shutting down the project in 1997.

11. The name “Macintosh” was inspired by an actual apple. Jef Raskin, an Apple employee, is accredited with naming the machine after his favorite variety of apple. It is said that Macintosh was only a code name and that Steve Jobs wanted to rename the project “Bicycle,” but the name Macintosh stuck.

12. Steve Wozniak sold his scientific calculator to raise capital for the company so that they could build and ship the first few orders of the Apple I. Wozniak, a Hewlett-Packard employee at the time, sold his calculator for $500 (it retailed for $795) while Jobs sold his Volkswagen.

13. The Apple I was selling for $666.66. If you calculate for inflation that would make the Apple I more expensive than today’s MacBook Pro. "I was into repeating digits," said Wozniak, explaining that the wholesale cost to stores was $500, and adding a third to get the retail price made it about $667, which Wozniak changed to one repeating digit: $666.66… "was just easier to type."

14. The name iPod was inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Vinnie Chieco is credited with coming up with the moniker as he was part of the team assembled by Jobs. "As soon as I saw the white iPod, I thought 2001," Chieco told Wired back in 2006. "Open the pod bay door, Hal! Then it was just a matter of adding the 'i' prefix, as in 'iMac.'"

15. Apple once held the title as the most irresponsible labor rights and environmental offender out of all the 29 major tech companies working with Chinese suppliers. It is also said that Apple was non-responsive to the Chinese NGO’s requests for action. Violations included: hazardous water runoff containing heavy metal waste that polluted lakes, rivers and even groundwater in rural Chinese areas.

Also, they were cited for emitting noxious gases that caused nearby residents respiratory illness, chronic headaches and dizziness. Some nearby communities reported increased cancer rates. A report was released this year that Apple has just begun to respond to some of these more atrocious problems and that improvements have been made at some of the suppliers. However, Apple is still being criticized for not being more hands-on with its supply chain and not managing its suppliers.

Photo Credit: WENN, Tumblr, Wiki Commons