WORLD'S MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2018
1. Apple
Apple
For a company slagged for not having had a hit since the iPad in
2010, Apple had a notable 2017: Its wireless AirPods became ubiquitous around
the country; the Apple Watch Series 3 is a bestseller; developers embraced
ARKit, its AR framework; and even skeptics were blown away by the iPhone
X. Apple became the world’s most valuable company by being its preeminent
maker of computing devices, from those you stick on a desk (Macs) to ones you
strap to your wrist (the Apple Watch). So when people talk about the company as
a creative force, they tend to assess its newest devices and judge how
strikingly they improve on their predecessors.
But creativity is more than skin deep—and Apple’s approach to the
hardware and software engineering that creates its experiences has never been
more ambitious. Other makers of phones and tablets buy the same off-the-shelf
chips as their competitors. Apple, by contrast, designs its own chips—so an
iPhone packs a processor designed specifically optimized for Apple’s operating
system, apps, display, camera, and touch sensor. The company has gotten so good
at chip design that the A10 Fusion inside the iPhone 7 trounces rival
processors in independent speed benchmarks.
Apple has also made major inroads in artificial intelligence, an
area where the competition from companies such as Google couldn’t be any more daunting. For instance, it
uses AI techniques to wring as much life as possible out of the iPhone’s
battery. Because of Apple’s privacy-driven decision to limit the amount of
information it aggregates and analyzes in the cloud, it also does much of its
AI right on the devices rather than using massive server farms. When it calls
machines such as the iPad Pro “supercomputers,” it isn’t exaggerating.
The company has been expanding beyond its traditional consumer
electronics roots and is growing an entertainment business with Apple
Music and Apple TV. In March 2016, Apple announced CareKit, an open-source
platform that makes it easier for developers to aggregate and share patients'
medical information with their caregivers—all with consent. Since its launch,
CareKit has already been used to make apps to help patients manage diabetes
(One Drop), monitor depression (Iodine), track reproductive health (Glow), and
record asthma symptoms (Cleveland Clinic). Apple's approach to health is to
operate behind the scenes by helping researchers, patients, and developers to
make use of the health data they're collecting via a smartphone.
Cofounded in 1976 by the revered tech entrepreneur and
inventor Steve Jobs and engineer Steve Wozniak in Cupertino,
California, Apple has continually revolutionized the consumer electronics
industry. The company helped usher in the age of the personal computer in the
1980s with the sleek, affordable Macintosh; bolstered the age of digital-music
listening with the iPod and iTunes in 2001; and laid the groundwork for the
current smartphone landscape with 2007's iPhone and iOS operating
system. Under Jobs's purview as Apple's CEO from 1997 until shortly before
his death in 2011, the company became known for its intense focus on design.
The British designer Jony Ive, who was
hired in 1992 and later became Apple's chief design officer, is largely
responsible for much of the company's iconic visual appeal: sleek (often white)
minimalism and an emphasis on unparalleled user experience.
https://www.fastcompany.com/company/apple
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