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 3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. Though competitive in the field for several years in the late 1990s, by the end of 2000 it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry. It was headquartered in San Jose, California until, on the verge of bankruptcy, many of its intellectual assets (and many employees) were acquired by its rival, Nvidia Corporation. 3dfx Interactive filed for bankruptcy on October 15, 2002 Founded in 1994 by Ross Smith, Gary Tarolli and Scott Sellers (all SGI alumni) with backing from Gordie Campbell's TechFarm, 3dfx released its Voodoo Graphics chip in 1996. The company only manufactured the chips and some reference boards, and initially did not sell any product to consumers; rather, it acted as an OEM supplier for graphics card companies, which designed, manufactured, marketed, and sold their own graphics cards including the Voodoo. 3dfx gained fame due to their great success within the arcade market. At the time, arcades were a very visible place to go visit and see the latest in 3D gaming and technology. The first arcade machine that 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics hardware was used in was called ICE Home Run Derby, a game released in 1996. Later that year they were featured in more popular titles, such as Atari's San Francisco Rush and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey.[3] 3Dfx received a lot of focus from the media because of the obvious graphical prowess of these titles, and that new game consoles such as Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn would be showcases for similar next-generation graphics. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) (often abbreviated to WD) is a manufacturer of computer hard disk drives, and has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 as General Digital, initially (and briefly) a manufacturer of MOS semiconductor test equipment. It rapidly became a specialty semiconductor maker, with startup capital provided by several individual investors and industrial giant Emerson Electric Company. In July, 1971, they adopted their current name, had moved to Newport Beach, California, and soon after introduced their first product, the WD1402A UART. Western Digital is currently the second largest hard drive company, after Seagate Technology. WDC is also notable because it is the first manufacturer which, in 2001, offered mainstream ATA hard disk drives with 8 MB (8 MiB) of cache buffer. At that time most desktop hard disk drives (HDDs) had 2 MB of buffer. WDC labeled the 8 MB models as "Special Edition" and distinguished them with the JB code (the 2 MB models had the BB code). The first 8 MB cache drive was the 100 GB WD1000JB and soon models with capacities from 40 GB to 250 GB and more followed. WDC advertised the JB models as a good choice for cost-effective file servers. In 2003, WD acquired most of the assets of bankrupt hard drive one-time market leading magnetic read-write head developer Read-Rite Corporation. In the same year, WDC offered the first 10,000 rpm Serial ATA HDD: The WD360GD "Raptor" with a capacity of 36 GB and an average access time of less than 6 milliseconds. Soon, the 74 GB WD740GD, which is also much quieter, followed and in 2005 Western Digital released the 150 GB version, the WD1500. As of 2004 the "Raptor" drives have 5 years of warranty, making them a more attractive choice for inexpensive storage servers, where a large number of drives in constant use increases the likelihood of a drive failure. In 2006, Western Digital introduced its MyBook line of mass market external hard drives that feature a compact book-like design. On the 7th October 2007 Western Digital released several editions of a single 1 TB hard drive - the largest in its MyBook line. In 2007 Western Digital adopted perpendicular recording technology in its line of notebook and desktop drives. This allowed it to produce notebook and desktop drives in the largest classes of the time. Western Digital also started to produce the energy efficient GP (Green Power)[3] range of drives notable for their very low power consumption and heat dissipation but surprisingly good performance.[4] in 2007 Western Digital announce the WD GP drive touting rotational speed "between 7200 and 5400 rpm" which is technically correct, the drive spins at 5405rpm, but the Green Power spin speed is not variable. On April 21, 2008, Western Digital announced the next generation of its 10,000 RPM SATA Raptor series of hard drives. The new drives, called WD VelociRaptor, feature 300 GB capacity and 2.5-inch platters enclosed in the IcePack™, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with a built-in heat sink. Western Digital claims the new drives are 35 percent faster than the previous generation Raptors. On September 12, 2008, Western Digital ships a 500gb 2.5 inch notebook hard drive which is part of their Scorpio Blue series of notebook hard drives. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Quantum Corporation (NYSE: QTM) is a manufacturer of tape drive, tape automation, data deduplication storage products and scalable file storage software, based in San Jose, California. From its founding in 1980 until 2000, it was also a major disk storage manufacturer (usually #2 in market share behind Seagate), and was based in Milpitas, California. By 2000, the hard drive market was getting squeezed. Personal computer sales were dropping, value drives had razor-thin margins and were only getting thinner, and several makers (notably Western Digital) were in trouble. Quantum decided to sell its hard drive division to Maxtor at this time. Maxtor continued most of Quantum's disk storage products and brands until it was acquired by Seagate Technology on December 21st, 2005. Quantum got its start when executives and designers from Shugart Associates, IBM and Memorex came up with an idea for an 8-inch hard drive that would achieve decent performance without the cost or complexity of using a full closed-loop servo system — a difficult task before the advent of dedicated servo ICs and readily-available DSPs. Quantum made a few missteps during the late 1990s. After hitting its peak with the Fireball AT 1080 and Fireball AT 1280 (both high-performance 5400 rpm models), it skewed briefly toward "value" drives that concentrated more on capacity than speed or performance. The Bigfoot drive was the best-known product of this era; it used a 5.25-inch form factor and larger disks to increase drive capacity without forcing an increase in areal density. However, the Bigfoot drives had slow spindles (the first ones ran at only 3600 rpm, long obsolete by then), and the larger disk diameters meant the heads had to move farther when seeking. They were thus generally disliked by "power users", and found their way mostly into inexpensive brand-name PCs. Quantum also applied the "Fireball" name (which had previously been reserved for the high-end 1080 and 1280 models) to a new "TM" model that featured better throughput, but slower seek times due to a 4500 rpm spindle. Later versions of the Fireball series reversed this trend, and eventually a 7200 rpm Fireball Plus ATA version was released, being one of the first mainstream consumer-oriented 7200 rpm drives. The first of the Plus series was the Fireball Plus KA, a drive available in sizes up to 18.2 gigabytes, and equipped with the new Ultra DMA 66 interface. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Maxtor Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer hard disk drives founded in 1982 and acquired by Seagate in 2006. As of December 2005, just prior to the acquisition, Maxtor was the world's third-largest manufacturer of hard disks. It now operates as a subsidiary of Seagate. In 2000, Maxtor purchased Quantum's hard drive business. This move made them larger than their rivals (notably Seagate), and also returned them to the server-SCSI market. In a deal worth US$1.9 billion, Maxtor was acquired by its rival Seagate in 2006. It is now used as a Seagate brand. Maxtor targeted both the server and desktop market, concentrating on disk capacity more than disk speed for desktops. After nine years of development, the original XT-series of drives had achieved a capacity of 1 GB. Maxtor sold the rights to the series to a company called Sequel in the mid-1990s, thus exiting the server SCSI drive market. Sequel was not a disk drive manufacturer; rather they specialized in refurbishing drives for the existing customer base. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in 1992, Maxtor's exit from the high capacity 5.25-inch SCSI market temporarily left a product void in the industry. Around this time, SCSI versions of the 7000 series drives were also discontinued and all engineering operations in San Jose were shut down in late 1993, leaving only the former MiniScribe design engineering staff. After turnover in the executive staff, Maxtor decided it had made a mistake, and having moved its headquarters to nearby Milpitas, gradually began rebuilding its Silicon Valley engineering staff. Maxtor, in recent years, like many other hard drive makers, had been expanding into the external hard disk market, with the Maxtor One-Touch II personal hard drive, which is marketed as convenient external storage for the home user. Maxtor had initially made efforts to get into the 2.5-inch hard disk market (notebook computer format) but, in the beginning of 2005, new management made the surprising decision to discontinue development in this field. This was considered by many industry watchers[who?] to be a particularly peculiar move, since the market for such hard drives (mainly notebook computers and MP3 players) was already experiencing rapid growth, with no signs of slowing down in the foreseeable future. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Compaq Computer Corporation was an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. The company was formed by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto — former Texas Instruments senior managers. The name "COMPAQ" was derived from "Compatibility and Quality", as at its formation Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compatible computers. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it merged with Hewlett-Packard. Prior to its takeover the company was headquartered in northwest unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States. In 2001, Compaq engaged in a merger with Hewlett-Packard. Numerous large HP shareholders, including William Hewlett, publicly opposed the deal, which resulted in an impassioned public proxy battle between those for and against the deal. The merger was approved only after the narrowest of margins, and allegations of vote buying (primarily involving an alleged last-second back-room deal with Deutsche Bank) haunted the new company. It was subsequently disclosed that HP had retained Deutsche Bank's investment banking division in January 2002 to assist in the merger. HP had agreed to pay Deutsche Bank $1 million guaranteed, and another $1 million contingent upon approval of the merger. On August 19, 2003, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged Deutsche Bank with failing to disclose a material conflict of interest in its voting of client proxies for the merger and imposed a civil penalty of $750,000. Deutsche Bank consented without admitting or denying the findings.[8] Before the merger, Compaq's ticker symbol was CPQ. This was melded with Hewlett-Packard's previous symbol (HWP) to create the current symbol of HPQ. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Toshiba Corporation (Kabushiki-gaisha Tōshiba ?) (TYO: 6502) is a multinational conglomerate manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company's main business is in Infrastructure, Consumer Products, and Electronic devices and components. Toshiba-made Semiconductors are among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. Toshiba is the world's fifth largest personal computer manufacturer, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U.S., Acer of Taiwan and Lenovo of China. Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939. One, Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment and was established by Hisashige Tanaka in 1875. In 1904, its name was changed to Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the 20th century Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan modernized during the Meiji Era and became a world industrial power. The second company, Hakunetsusha, was established in 1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electric lamps. It diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products and in 1899 was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Acer Incorporated (LSE: ACID) is a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturer. It owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan. Acer is the third largest computer manufacturer in the world (by sales) after HP and Dell Inc. and its product lineup includes desktops and laptops, as well as personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business services for business, government, education, and home users. Acer ranks as the world's No. 3 branded PC vendor behind the Hewlett Packard Company and Dell Inc, recently claiming the No.3 rank from Lenovo. It has surpassed Dell in worldwide notebook shipments, becoming the world's No. 2 branded notebook vendor. But it has recently lost its 2nd position to Dell to become 3rd only by a small margin. Moreover Acer will put renewed efforts in its newly acquired brands to regain its place. [8] In September 2008, Acer surpassed HP and Dell over worldwide notebook shipment. [9] On August 27, 2007, Acer announced plans to acquire U.S. based rival Gateway Inc. for US$710 million. J.T. Wang, the company's chairman, said in a statement that the acquisition "completes Acer's global footprint, by strengthening our U.S. presence."[10] In January 2008, Acer announced that it had acquired a controlling interest of 75% of Packard Bell. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL, HKEX: 4331) is a multinational technology corporation that develops, manufactures, sells, and supports personal computers and other computer-related products. Based in Round Rock, Texas, Dell employs more than 82,700 people worldwide. In 2006, Fortune magazine ranked Dell as the 25th-largest company in the Fortune 500 list, 8th on its annual "Top 20" list of the most-admired companies in the United States. In 2007 Dell ranked 34th and 8th respectively on the equivalent lists for the year. A 2006 publication identified Dell as one of 38 high-performance companies in the S&P 500 which had consistently out-performed the market over the previous 15 years. Dell grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become (for a time) the largest seller of PCs and servers. As of 2008[update] it held the second spot in computer-sales within the industry behind HP. The company currently sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs that are manufactured by other brands. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Lenovo Group Limited (pinyin: Liánxiǎng Jítuán Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī SEHK: 0992, OTCBB: LNVGY) is China's largest and the world's fourth largest personal computer manufacturer (the latter since its 2005 purchase of IBM's PC division), after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U.S. and Acer of Taiwan. Lenovo produces desktops, laptops, servers, handheld computers, imaging equipment, and mobile phone handsets. Lenovo also provides information technology integration and support services, and its QDI unit offers contract manufacturing. On May 1, 2005 Lenovo completed its acquisition of the IBM personal computing (PC) division, valued at $1.25 billion USD. Its executive headquarters are located in Beijing, China and in Morrisville, North Carolina, USA. It is incorporated in Hong Kong. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. HP is the largest technology company in the world and operates in nearly every country. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, storage, and networking hardware, software and services. Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise servers, related storage devices, as well as a diverse range of printers and other imaging products. Other product lines, including electronic test equipment and systems, medical electronic equipment, solid state components and instrumentation for chemical analysis were spun off as Agilent Technologies in 1999. HP markets its products to households, small to medium size businesses and enterprises both directly, via online distribution, consumer-electronics and office-supply retailers, software partners and major technology vendors. HP posted US $91.7 billion in annual revenue in 2006[3] compared to US$91.4 billion for IBM, making it the world's largest technology vendor in terms of sales. In 2007 the revenue was $104 billion,[4] making HP the first IT company in history to report revenues exceeding $100 billion.[5] HP is the largest worldwide seller of personal computers, surpassing rival Dell, according to market research firms Gartner and IDC reported in January 2008;[6] the gap between HP and Dell widened substantially at the end of 2007, with HP taking a near 3.9% market share lead. HP is also the 5th largest software company in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Canon Inc. (Kyanon Kabushiki Gaisha?, TYO: 7751, NYSE: CAJ) is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, photocopiers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo. The name Canon began in 1934 with a prototype for Japan’s first-ever 35mm camera with a focal plane shutter. It was named 'Kwanon'[4] by Goro Yoshida after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Canon is a manufacturer of business and consumer imaging products which includes printers, scanners and binoculars, as well as a range of digital compact and SLR cameras. The Business Solutions division offers print and document solutions for small and medium businesses, large corporations and governments. These include multifunctional printers, black and white and colour office printers, large format printers, scanners, black and white and colour production printers, handy terminals and microfilm scanners, as well as software to support these products. Lesser known Canon products include medical, optical and broadcast products, including Ophthalmic and X-Ray devices, broadcast lenses and semiconductors. Handy Terminal Solutions, Digital Microfilm Scanners. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Seiko Epson Corporation (Seikō Epuson Kabushiki-gaisha?), or Epson, is a Japanese company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of inkjet, dot matrix and laser printers, scanners, desktop computers, business, multimedia and home theatre projectors, large home theatre televisions, robots and industrial automation equipment, point of sale docket printers and cash registers, laptops, integrated circuits, LCD components and other associated electronic components. Traditionally, the company has been manufacturing Seiko timepieces since its foundation and is one of three core companies of the Seiko Group. Based in Nagano prefecture, Japan, the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide. Net sales over 2006/2007 amounted to ¥1.416 trillion. The company is headquartered in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Kingston Technology Company is an American producer of memory products. Its global headquarters is located in Fountain Valley, California. It has manufacturing and logistics facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Taiwan, Malaysia, and China. It is the largest independent producer of DRAM Memory Modules, currently owning 27.5% of the third-party worldwide module market share, according to iSuppli. These figures do not include Kingston OEM revenues. Kingston is arguably the second largest supplier of Flash memory. In 2007, Kingston generated revenues of US $4.5 billion, growth of 21.6% over 2006. Kingston has been growing at a rate of over 20% for the past 9 years, except 2001 when it saw decline in revenues due to global slowdown. Forbes lists Kingston as #83 on its list of "The 500 Largest Private Companies in the U.S." and Inc. ranks Kingston as the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company By Revenue. Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs. Through its ownership of Kingston Technology Company Inc. and Advanced Validation Labs Inc. (AVL), Kingston Technology Corporation is one of the world’s leading memory module manufacturing, module validation, semiconductor packaging and test companies in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Apacer Technology Inc. is a multinational corporation that produces computer memory and memory based products. They manufacture DRAM and flash memory and in the past have made RIMM in cooperation with Rambus. Aside from memory they also produce mp3 players, USB hubs, and memory card readers. The company was founded in 1997. Their headquarters are in Taiwan, and have locations in USA, Japan, India, China, and Europe. In 2006 they became the world's sixth largest branded memory maker. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) is the world's largest manufacturer of hard drives and storage solutions. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Scotts Valley, California. Seagate's hard drives are used in a variety of computers, from servers, desktops, and laptops, to other consumer devices, such as digital video recorders, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and in portable media players and automotive navigation systems. In addition, Seagate designs rugged 2.5-inch hard drives optimized for extreme temperatures, shock and vibration. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 ATI Technologies Inc. (ATI) was a major designer and supplier of graphics processing units, motherboard chipsets, and video cards. In 2006, the company was acquired by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), although the ATI brand was retained for graphics cards. ATI was a fabless semiconductor company conducting in-house research and development and outsourcing the manufacturing and assembly of its products. Its main competitor was NVIDIA in the graphics and handheld market. The flagship product, the Radeon series of graphics cards, directly competes with NVIDIA's GeForce. The two companies' dominance of the market forced other manufacturers into niche roles. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 The multinational corporation Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA, pronounced /ɪnˈvɪ.di.ə/), specializes in the manufacture of graphics-processor technologies for workstations, desktop computers, and mobile devices. Based in Santa Clara, California, the company has become a major supplier of integrated circuits (ICs) used for personal computer motherboard chipsets, graphics processing units (GPUs), and video game consoles. The company's name combines an initial n — a letter usable as a pronumeral in mathematical statements — and the root of video— which comes from Latin videre, "to see", thus implying "the best visual experience"[citation needed] or perhaps "immeasurable display".[original research?] The name NVIDIA suggests "envy" (Spanish envidia or in Latin, Italian, or Romanian invidia); and Nvidia's GeForce 8 series product uses the slogan "Green with envy". The company-name appears entirely in upper-case ("NVIDIA") in company technical documentation. Notable Nvidia product lines include the GeForce series for gaming and the Quadro series for graphics processing on workstations, as well as the nForce series of integrated motherboard chipsets. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) (NYSE: AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and processor technologies for handheld devices, digital television, and game consoles. AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture after Intel Corporation, and the third-largest supplier of graphics processing units. It also owns 21 percent of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory. In 2007, AMD ranked eleventh among semiconductor manufacturers in terms of revenue.[ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC; SEHK: 4335) is the world's largest semiconductor company and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Founded on July 18, 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation and based in Santa Clara, California, USA, Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names. Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until the early 1980s. While Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became their primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the PC industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes controversial tactics in defense of its market position, as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry.[5][6] The 2007 rankings of the world's 100 most powerful brands published by Millward Brown Optimor showed the company's brand value falling 10 places – from number 15 to number 25.[7] In addition to its work in semiconductors, Intel has begun research in electrical transmission and generation. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Sony Corporation (Sonī Kabushiki Gaisha?) is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding US$99.1 billion (as of 2008).[1] Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from Sonus, the Greek goddess of sound.[3] Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its five operating segments—electronics, games, entertainment (motion pictures and music), financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, and Sony Financial Holdings. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The company's slogan is Sony. Like no other. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 The Samsung Group (Korean: Samsung Guerup) is South Korea's largest chaebol and the world's largest conglomerate by revenue[2], leading several industries in the world. It is composed of numerous international businesses, all united under the Samsung brand, including Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company[4], Samsung Heavy Industries, one of the world's largest shipbuilders and Samsung Engineering & Construction, a major global construction company. These three multinationals form the core of Samsung Group and reflect its name - the meaning of the Korean word Samsung is "tristar" or "three stars". The Samsung brand is the best known South Korean brand in the world and in 2005, Samsung overtook Japanese rival Sony as the world's leading consumer electronics brand and became part of the top twenty global brands overall.[5] It is also the leader in many domestic industries, such as the financial, chemical, retail and entertainment industries. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American electronic commerce (e-commerce) company in Seattle, Washington. It is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc.[2] Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and launched it online in 1995. It started as an on-line bookstore but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs and MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Japan. It also provides global shipping to certain countries for most of its products. On 15 January 2009, a survey published by Verdict Research found that Amazon was the UK's favourite music and video retailer, and came third in overall retail rankings. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Nokia Corporation (pronounced [ˈnɔkiɑ] in Finnish) (OMX: NOK1V, NYSE: NOK, FWB: NOA3) is a Finnish multinational communications corporation, headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki. Nokia is focused on wireless and wired telecommunications, with 112,262 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of 51.1 billion euros and operating profit of 8.0 billion as of 2007.[1][3] It is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile telephones: its global device market share was about 38% in Q3 of 2008, down from 39% in Q3 2007 and down from 40% sequentially.[2] Nokia produces mobile phones for every major market segment and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and W-CDMA (UMTS). Nokia's subsidiary Nokia Siemens Networks produces telecommunications network equipments, solutions and services. Nokia has sites for research and development, manufacture and sales in many continents throughout the world. As of March 2008, Nokia had R&D centers in 10 countries and employed 30,415 people in research and development, representing approximately 27% of Nokia’s total workforce.[3] The Nokia Research Center, founded in 1986, is Nokia's industrial research unit of about 800 researchers, engineers and scientists.[4] It has sites in seven countries: Finland, Denmark, Germany, China, Japan, United Kingdom and United States. Besides its NRCs, in 2001 Nokia founded (and owns) INdT – Nokia Institute of Technology, a R&D institute located in Brazil. Nokia's production facilities are located at Espoo, Oulu and Salo, Finland; Manaus, Brazil; Beijing, Dongguan and Suzhou, China; Fleet, England; Komárom, Hungary; Chennai, India; Reynosa, Mexico; Jucu, Romania and Masan, South Korea.[5][6] Nokia's Design Department remains in Salo, Finland. Nokia plays a very large role in the economy of Finland: it is by far the largest Finnish company, accounting for about a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX Helsinki) as of 2007; a unique situation for an industrialized country.[7] It is an important employer in Finland and several small companies have grown into large ones as Nokia's subcontractors. Nokia increased Finland's GDP by more than 1.5% in 1999 alone. In 2004 Nokia's share of the Finland's GDP was 3.5% and accounted for almost a quarter of Finland's exports in 2003. In 2006, Nokia generated revenue that for the first time exceeded the state budget of Finland. Finns have ranked Nokia many times as the best Finnish brand and employer. The Nokia brand, valued at $35.9 billion, is listed as the fifth most valuable global brand in Interbrand/BusinessWeek's Best Global Brands list of 2008 (first non-US company).[8][9] It is the number one brand in Asia (as of 2007)[10] and Europe (as of 2008),[11] the 23rd most admirable company worldwide in Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list of 2008 (tied with Exxon Mobil; second in Network Communications, fifth non-US company),[12] and is the world's 88th largest company in Fortune Global 500 list of 2008, up from 119 of the previous year.[13] As of 2008, AMR Research ranks Nokia's global supply chain number two in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is an American public corporation with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, (in Silicon Valley), and provides Internet services worldwide. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine, Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, news, and social media websites and services. Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On 13th January 2009, Yahoo has appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairman of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors.[4] According to Web traffic analysis companies (including Compete.com, comScore,[5] Alexa Internet,[6] Netcraft,[7] and Nielsen Ratings[8]), the domain yahoo.com attracted at least 1.575 billion visitors annually by 2008.[9] The global network of Yahoo! websites receives 3.4 billion page views per day on average as of October 2007[update]. It is the second most visited website in the U.S., and the most visited website in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Google Inc. is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. The Google headquarters, the Googleplex, is located in Mountain View, California. As of 15 December 2008, the company has 24,400 full-time employees.[3] Google was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were students at Stanford University and the company was first incorporated as a privately held company on 4 September 1998. The initial public offering took place on 19 August 2004, raising US$1.67 billion, making it worth US$23 billion. Google has continued its growth through a series of new product developments, acquisitions, and partnerships. Environmentalism, philanthropy and positive employee relations have been important tenets during the growth of Google, the latter resulting in being identified multiple times as Fortune Magazine's #1 Best Place to Work.[4] The unofficial company slogan is "Don't be evil", although criticism of Google includes concerns regarding the privacy of personal information, copyright, censorship and discontinuation of services. According to Millward Brown, it is the most powerful brand in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Apple Inc., (NASDAQ: AAPL) formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporation which designs and manufactures consumer electronics and software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, iPod portable media players, and the iPhone. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system, the iTunes media browser, the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software, and Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio- and film-industry software products. The company operates more than 250 retail stores in nine countries and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was called "Apple Computer, Inc." for its first 30 years, but dropped the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. Apple has about 32,000 employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of US$32.48 billion in its fiscal year ending September 29, 2008. For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. In 2008, Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" (for its official corporate color), is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. IBM has been known through most of its recent history as the world's largest computer company. With over 388,000 employees worldwide, IBM is the largest and most profitable information technology employer in the world. IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. based technology company and has eight research laboratories worldwide. Known for its highly talented workforce, the company has scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals in over 170 countries. IBM employees have earned three Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, five National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. As a chip maker, IBM has been among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders in past years, and in 2007 IBM ranked second in the list of largest software companies in the world. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEX: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Originally founded to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Windows line of operating systems. Its products have all achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market. One commentator notes that Microsoft's original mission was "a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software"—it is a goal near fulfillment. Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV. The company released an initial public offering (IPO) in the stock market, which, due to the ensuing rise of the stock price, has made four billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism, including monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive business practices including refusal to deal and tying. The U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission, among others, have ruled against Microsoft for various antitrust violations. Known for what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has historically given customer support over Usenet newsgroups and the World Wide Web, and awards Microsoft MVP status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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