Apple

Question 1

What is Apple?

Answer 1

An American multinational technology company specialising in computer electronics software and online services.

Question 2

Where, when, and by who was Apple founded?

Answer 2

Apple was founded on April Fools’ Day 1976 in Los Altos, California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.

Question 3

Where are Apple headquarters based?

Answer 3

Cupertino, California.

Question 4

Between 1978 and 1980, by which percentage did sales increase?

Answer 4

1415%.

Question 5

How long did it take for Apple’s value to increase from one trillion to two trillion dollars?

Answer 5

2 years.

Question 6

Where is Apple’s European, African and Middle Eastern headquarters?

Answer 6

Hollyhill Campus, Cork, Ireland.

Question 7

To which Taiwanese companies is the assembly of Apple’s main products outsourced to?

Answer 7

Foxconn (based in Shenzhen near Hong Kong) and Pegatron.

Question 8

How many people work in Apple’s Cork headquarters?

Answer 8

Over 6,000. They are Cork’s largest private employer.

Question 9

Where does Apple’s market lie?

Answer 9

Predominantly in richer, developed countries. 45% of product sales in 2019 took place in the USA alone.

Apple’s market in China has plateaued since 2017 as Huawei undercuts it.

Apple have been generally unsuccessful in India, as the market there is saturated with cheaper and more efficient options.

Question 10

Why has Apple been caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war?

Answer 10

Heavy tariffs are imposed on Chinese imports to the US, so Apple has to pay for importing its products back to its main market in the US.

Question 11

Which pledges have Apple made?

Answer 11

• Creating 20,000 more jobs
• Investing $5 billion to support innovation among US manufacturers

Question 12

Outline Apple’s global impact.

Answer 12

• They employ over 18,000 people directly with a large range of highly skilled workers in the quaternary sector (e.g. computer scientists) and over 1 million are involved in making, supplying and selling the products.
• In 2014, Apple sold almost 75 million iPhones and made £11.8 billion in profits quarterly, with net cash reserves being £93 billion.
• Apple have fluid, simple to use and detailed websites, allowing them to reach all corners of the planet. Their aesthetic is built around minimalism and simplicity, which allows their image to translate easily no matter where you go.

Question 13

Outline Apple’s social impacts.

Answer 13

• Apple’s presence in Cork alone has created over 3000 jobs in ancillary work, and in the US they pledge to investment which will create several jobs.
• In China, workers supposedly work excessive hours and have poor working conditions, despite Apple’s attempts to reform factories. There are even suicide nets set up in factories as a precaution.

Question 14

Outline Apple’s environmental impacts.

Answer 14

• In 2012, Apple sent 4.8 million pounds of waste to landfills. This rose to over 13 million pounds by 2015, and rose again to 36.5 million pounds by 2018. Apple did, however, recycle 3 times this amount (108.5 million) in 2018.
• Despite claims that their data centres in the US are “100% clean energy”, Apple sources their electricity from Duke Energy, a public utility that primarily generates electricity using coal, nuclear power and natural gas - all of which contribute to carbon emissions.
• Air pollution has spiked in Zhengzhou, China, and analysts say that this was due to the production of the iPhone 12.
• Apple’s gross emissions without carbon offsets totalled 23.2 million metric tons of CO2 for the year 2021.

Question 15

Outline Apple’s economic impacts.

Answer 15

• Apple has committed $430 billion in US investments over 5 years.
• Apple has invested at least $275 billion in China since 2016.
• IMF (International Monetary Fund) believes that one quarter of the Irish economy’s 7.8% increase is due to Apple.
• Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world ($35 billion) and has directly created 80,000 US jobs.