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I. Do you have any Apple products? Describe them.

II. Read the text and translate it with a dictionary. Apple

Founded 1976 Palo Alto, USA

However there certainly is a lack of truly visionary companies. It is slightly cliché to refer to Apple when speaking of companies with a distinct and successful design strategy. The difference in that company is an entrepreneur by the name Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak came from the hippy and hacker subculture of the 1970s. Frustrated by the primitive computers of that time, they decided to build their own. In 1976 Apple I was born. The company’s logo – an apple with а bite out of it, а graphic emblem of the computer revolution – came from the accompanying advertising campaign. А year later Apple II was introduced ending dependence on the computer giant IBM and ushering in the democratization of the computer.

The Californian underdogs’ answer to IBM’s ‘PC’ was the Macintosh, а quantum leap in the history of home and office computers. This all-rounder, soon referred to affectionately as the ‘Mac’, could be operated by non-professional users thanks to its graphic operating system. The external appearance of the light-coloured computers designed by Hartmut Esslinger’s Frogdesign made them а visually appealing alternative to the more staid and conventional IBM models.

In 1998 the iMac was created, designed by а team of in-house designers headed by Jonathan Ive. The computer’s bold design, in transparent, candy-coloured plastic, successfully transferred the lollipop look to а sophisticated and highly expensive piece of equipment. Follow-up models were also successful, e.g. the iPod MP3 player, а pocket-sized digital jukebox that stores and plays music downloaded from the Internet or the iPhone, а revolutionary mobile phone, where Apple combined innovative hardware features with the world’s most advanced mobile operating system to redefine what a mobile phone can do.

The keywords for Apple’s designs are stylish, functional and iconic. Their user-friendly interface and attractive products puts them way ahead of their colleagues and competitors. That’s why Apple can pride themselves with having dedicated brand fans whose lives depend on the latest products or updates.

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Read the text and translate it with a dictionary.

Bang & Olufsen

Founded 1925 Quistrup near Struer, Denmark

Although the company had made а name for itself before the Second World War, it was not until the beginning of the 1960s that Bang & Olufsen, Denmark’s most famous radio manufacturer, found its own individual style. With the help of Sigvard Bernadotte and his partner, the industrial designer Acton Bjorn, and their former employee Jacob Jensen, the company abandoned the somewhat staid radio sets of the 1950s. Its new, slimline radio sets with their geometrically arranged controls, were reminiscent of products by the German manufacturer Braun; by contrast, the elegant wooden casings were а Danish feature. Bang & Olufsen was transformed into an international brand with cult status, and its strict and rigorously applied approach became virtually synonymous with Danish industrial design, despite the fact that the company did not have its own design department.

Straight lines, sharp edges, immaculate surfaces and sparing use of graphics – Jacob Jensen was responsible for the introduction of this sleek minimalism. А recurring detail was the control knob (or slide control, as on the Beomaster 1200 receiver), which exuded mathematical precision and elegance. It was this combination that transferred Bang & Olufsen sets into something approaching fetish objects, even if the antiseptic casing did not always conceal state-of-the-art technology.

A n upmarket, medium-sized company with 3000 employees, Bang & Olufsen today commands а loyal following among well-heeled hi-fi enthusiasts. Following а change of management at the beginning of the 1990s, the company succeeded in reinventing itself. As well as manufacturing audio systems, it also supplies sound studios for country houses and penthouses around the world, and earns а good profit from its custom-built systems. Under the English in-house designer David Lewis, the company retained its proven recipe for success: extravagant understatement combined with sophisticated control technology, as in the Beocentre 2, а complete audio system with а control unit in the form of а discus. The product range also includes telephone handsets and plasma TV sets in high-tech chic. Bang & Olufsen does not simply produce equipment, it creates audio-visual architecture.