Intelligently designed and built in a humble garage owned by the parents of co-founder Steve Jobs, the early personal computer begat a family of products that won the hearts and minds of consumers for its user-friendly software, sleek design and an enticing, countercultural ethos.
Stories about Apple’s most ardent users and their cultlike devotion to its products are legend. David Kuo, an editor at the religious Web site Beliefnet.com, contended in a blog post that the fervor over the iPhone showed the company had grown into a new religion, "Appleism."