Year In Review: Full Speed Ahead for Apple

For Apple, 2006 marked yet another year in the company's dramatic resurgence. This included the transition of the Macintosh platform to Intel processors, the continued dominance of the iPod music player, and the company's continued evolution into an entertainment provider.

It wasn't all roses however: the company had to deal with accusations of improper stock option granting, and had to deal with legal issues surrounding iTunes and the iPod from its competitors.

YEAR IN REVIEW January began with Apple suing patent holder Burst.com, attempting to have claims of apparent patent infringement against it invalidated. Burst would fail to respond, and in February Apple extended the deadline for it to do so, but again for naught.

Instead, Burst decided to countersue Apple in April, formalizing the claims of patent infringement.

Apple conference Macworld also occurred during the month, with two important announcements: the appearance of Intel iMacs as well as MacBook Pros, the successor to the PowerBook.

February brought cuts in the price of the entry-level iPod Shuffle, as well as the introduction of the 1GB nano during the first part of the month. Rumors of the first Mac OS X virus also surfaced, although the Cupertino company disputed those claims.

At an event on February 28, Apple introduced two new products, an Intel-based Mac Mini and the iPod Hi-Fi Boombox.

The first moves towards offering subscription-based content came in March, as Apple began offering a "Multi-Pass" for Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report for $9.99. 16 shows automatically downloaded for that price, compared to $31.84 if downloaded separately.

France was a thorn in Apple's side during the month, with legislation proposed that opened up the closed format. Apple shot back, calling it "state sponsored piracy," and Francesoftened the bill in May, but it did not prevent it from eventually passing in June.

Music group The Beatles' label Apple Corps took Apple to court late in the month, accusing the company of breaking a 1991 agreement by selling music online. However, the Fab Four was unsuccessful, with Apple scoring a victory in May.

April brought what many would likely consider to be one of Apple's biggest announcements in its 30-year history. The company quietly joined Windows benchmarking consortium BAPco late in March, much to the surprise of many industry watchers.

Those who speculated that Macs may soon run Windows were right, as in April the company announced Boot Camp, a program that allowed the running of Windows - however unsupported - with drivers produced by the Cupertino company.

A 17-inch Intel MacBook Pro appeared late in the month, about a week after the company announced continued strength in iPod sales, and increasing sales of its Macintosh computers in its quarterly earnings report.

The record labels reached an agreement with Apple early in May, keeping songs at 99 cents. This ended an almost year-long back and forth between CEO Steve Jobs and the record labels, with both exchanging verbal barbs through the media.

Creativetook Apple to court by mid-month, accusing it of patent infringement, which Apple countersued, and sue again in June. The spat would be short-lived, and Apple victorious: Creative in August settled with the Cupertino company in August for $100 million USD, and join the "Made for iPod" program.

Among the legal wrangling, May brought several other developments: the unveiling of the Intel MacBook, the opening of Apple Store Fifth Avenue, and the debut of iPod-ready shoes through Nike.

U2 again joined forces with Apple in June to reintroduce the U2 iPod, this time based on the 5G design.

Bloggers and journalists covering Apple breathed a sigh of relief in July, after the company dropped its trade secret case against Apple enthusiast sites AppleInsider and ThinkSecret. The company had lost an earlier appeal of the case in May.

July also brought news of continued financial strength of the company, as well as a wireless version of the Mighty Mouse, first introduced last year. Additionally, it scored a victory in France, as portions of the law were ruled unconstitutional.

The transition to Intel processors were completed in early August, with the introduction of the Mac Pro. The company also began to defend the use of the word "Pod" in some product names.

This month also brought the first inklings of trouble regarding its granting of stock options to employees, with the company receiving a stock delisting threat from the NASDAQ.

Attempting to keep its image as a progressive company, Apple made good on its promises to investigate worker abuse, taking steps to remedy issues at one of its major manufacturers of the iPod music player. While it found some problems, it said the supplier had met most of the terms of its code of conduct.

The company, Hongfujin Precision Industry, later sued two Chinese journalists accusing them of defamation for uncovering the story.

Apple also became the second manufacturer to recall its laptop batteries during the month produced by Sony Electronics. 1.8 million units were targeted, which shipped in 12-inch iBook G4, and 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBook G4 notebook computers between October 2003 and August 2006.

September began with a surprise announcement of a decrease in prices on iMacs along with an upgrade to Core 2 Duo processors. The move put the signature Mac line below $1,000 for the first time in its history.

Mid-month saw a host of announcements, including a much needed refresh of the entire iPod lineup, the addition of movies to iTunes, and a preview of the iTV device, due out in Spring 2007.

Evidence of Apple's increasing popularity came in October, as a zero-day exploit surfaced in early October. The company also joined the PRODUCT(RED) movement, offering a red iPod nano by mid-month.

The iPod stayed in the news during the month, but not in the manner Apple may have liked. The company disclosed that about 1 percent of iPods shipped between September 12 and October 16 were infected with the RavMonE.exe virus.

Apple's Mac line also made headlines, with the company announcing it had shipped a record number of Macs during the summer, and the Macbook Pro was upgraded to a Core 2 Duo processor.

November brought a second (RED) nano due to "outstanding customer demand," and the addition of Core 2 Duo processors to its MacBook line.

Yet another Mac OS X exploit surfaced during the month, dealing with the way the operating system handles .dmg files.

December was noticeably quiet for Apple, save for news surrounding Apple's awarding of stock option grants. A story in the Financial Times late in the month said that Steve Jobs might be implicated in the scandal, receiving 7.5 million stock options through falsified documents made to appear as if the Board of Directors approve it.

Apple quickly responded, with its audit committee, headed by former vice president Al Gore, publicly throwing its support behind its embattled CEO.