Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, [1] [2] transmit and

manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with information technology, such as computer [3][a] hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, e-commerce and computer services. In a business context, the Information Technology Association of America has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information [5] systems". The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software is maintained, upgraded and replaced. Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer such as monitor, keyboard, computer data storage, hard drive disk, mouse, system unit (graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips), etc. all of which are physical objects [1] that can be touched. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, application, concepts, and symbols, but it has no physical substance. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system. Software, is any set of machine-readable instructions that directs a computer's processor to perform specific operations. It can refer to all computer instructions in general, or to any specific set of computer instructions. It is inclusive of both machine instructions (the binary code that the processor "understands") and source code (more humanunderstandable instructions that must be rendered into machine code by compilers or interpreters before being executed). Electronics deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies. The nonlinear behaviour of active components and their ability to control electron flows makes amplification of weak signals possible and electronics is widely used in information processing, telecommunications, and signal processing. A semiconductor is a material which has electrical conductivity to a degree between that of a metal (such as copper) and that of an insulator (such as glass). Semiconductors are the foundation of modern electronics, includingtransistors, solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), quantum dots and digital and analog integrated circuits. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve several billion users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) is hardware used for the purposes of telecommunications. Since the 1990s the boundary between telecoms equipment and IT hardware has become blurred as a result of the growth of the internet and its increasing role in the transfer of telecoms data. Electronic commerce is a type of industry where the buying and selling of products or services is conducted over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing etc. CASE STUDY: APPLE INC.\ Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered [2] in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Its best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, the iPod music player, the iPhone smartphone, and the iPad tablet computer. Its consumer software includes the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites. The [6] company was founded on April 1, 1976, and incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. The word "Computer" was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, the same day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, reflecting its shifted focus towards consumer electronics. Some products:

Mac

Computers

MacBook Air: Consumer ultra-thin, ultra-portable notebook, introduced in 2008. MacBook Pro: Professional notebook, introduced in 2006. Mac Mini: Consumer sub-desktop computer and server, introduced in 2005. iMac: Consumer all-in one desktop computer, introduced in 1998. Mac Pro: Workstation desktop computer, introduced in 2006.

iPad
On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad, running a modified version of iOS. It offers multi-touch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, ebooks, textbooks, photos, movies, videos of TV shows, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, videogames, and most existing iPhone [167] apps. It also includes a mobile version of Safari for web browsing, as well as access to the App Store,iTunes Library, iBookstore, contacts, and notepad. Content is downloadable via Wi-Fi and optional 3G service or synced through the user's computer. There are 5 Generations of the iPad and the iPad Mini has also been introduced. iPod On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player. Several updated models have since been introduced. Apple currently sells four variants of the iPod- iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPod Classic.

iPhone
The original iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. It combined a 2.5G quad band GSM and EDGE cellular phone with features found in handheld devices, running scaled-down versions of Apple's Mac OS X (dubbed iPhone OS, later renamed iOS), with various Mac OS X applications such as Safari and Mail. It also includes web-based and Dashboard apps such as Google Maps and Weather. Currently, there are 7 generations of the iPhone: iphone, 3G, 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 5c.