This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English EconomicsReport.

One of the most powerful toolsever developed is the P.C., the personal computer. One of thecompanies important to the history of the P.C. is Apple Computer.Apple is based in Cupertino, California.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs started the company innineteen-seventy-six. Mister Wozniak designed an early personalcomputer, the Apple One. At that time, people who wanted to workwith computers often built their own, or used larger systems.

Early personal computers had limited uses. Users had to writecommands. This was true of the Apple One. But other Apple computersoperated with a system known as a graphical user interface. Userschose from little pictures called icons. Researchers at Xeroxdesigned such a system. But Apple was the first to make it popular.Today most personal computers use icons.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs tried to sell their ideas to othercompanies. They were rejected. But soon they found investors. Applebegan to sell shares to the public in nineteen-eighty. The companybecame worth more than one-thousand-million dollars.

In nineteen-eighty-one,International Business Machines began to sell a personal computerthat many people bought. I.B.M. was the biggest computer company inthe world. But Apple was known for its creativity. Innineteen-eighty-four, it released the first Macintosh. Thesecomputers were simple to use.

Over the years, Apple gained a following of loyal users. But thenlower-priced computers appeared. These used the Windows operatingsystem made by Microsoft. Most personal computers today use Windows.

Apple does not compete with makers of low-cost computers. Many ofits computers are designed for special uses like video and musicproduction.

The brain of a computer is the processor. For years, Apple usedprocessors made by Motorola. In two-thousand-three, Apple joinedwith I.B.M. to create a faster processor. But Apple still has only asmall share of the computer market.

Now, one of its most popular products is the iPod. This is asmall music player. It can store up to one-thousand songs. Applesays it sold more than eight-hundred-thousand iPods in the threemonths ending in March.

Apple reported a profit of forty-six million dollars for theperiod. It says the iPod greatly helped sales.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by MarioRitter. This is Bob Doughty.