Does Apple Mail not have folders to put email to? Well then what is the equivalent for Apple Mail of folders in Outlook?

You create the folders and subfolders to suit your own purposes. It is completely customizable. You can even choose if you want the folders on your mail server or on your CPU. You can also create Smart Folders, like the Smart Playlists in iTunes, that will sort your messages based on certain criteria, such as who they are from, or key words, etc. I have never used Outlook, so I can not compare the two.

To create a folder, click the + sign in the bottom left corner of the Mail window.