Apple

Of all the many companies that have flooded the personal computing market over the last few decades, few have been as distinctive and memorable as Apple. Co-founded by industry visionary Steve Jobs in the late 1970s, it has maintained a small, but tenacious market share despite a few sales lapses. From the first Apple PC, to the mouse, to the iBook laptop and the now-ubiquitous iPod, Apple has released many products that have since gained near-legendary status as cultural icons.

Apple's first foray into the personal computer market was with the Apple II models, which offered basic word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and programming capabilities to private consumers everywhere. Their real break into the mainstream, however, occurred with the release of the Macintosh computer. This stylish and affordable home computer featured a revolutionary new interface (utilizing the hitherto-unseen mouse) and a versatility that attracted many customers.

The Macintosh hardware and software remained Apple's bread and butter for many years, as the line increased in power to include whatever cutting-edge technologies were available. Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, a series of innovate advertising and design decisions allowed Macintosh to remain popular despite heavy competition from outside sources. Then, in the mid-1990s, the release of the iMac produced another spike in sales.

Since then, Apple has been as strong as ever. With new versions of the iMac and iBook lines coming out regularly, their relatively small personal computer market seems to be as powerful as ever. More importantly by far, however, has been the immense success of the iPod and iTunes technologies; both releases have put the name "Apple" on consumers' lips once again.