Closed-Loop Learning
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was founded on April Fools’ Day in 1976, with the mission to
create an easier-to-use personal computer. But despite suc-
ceeding at this mission in the eyes of most industry observers,
Apple’s overall success was mixed. In 1996 the company had
less than 5 percent global market share in personal computers,
was stalled in the marketplace, and posted operating losses of
$1.4 billion on revenues of $9.8 billion. Today, Apple’s 2010
revenues exceeded $65 billion, with pretax profit of more than
$18 billion. Except for a short six-month stock price burst in
the Internet bubble period, Apple’s stock price for more than
twenty years (1980–2002) bounced between $1 and $10 per
share; today it is more than $300 ...