History Of Apple Computers
The history of Apple computers starts with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who were friends for some time, since 1971. Then, a mutual friend of theirs, Bill Fernandez, presented Wozniak, who was 21 years old to Jobs who was only 16. Jobs managed to convince Wozniak to write together an assembly language which then they were going to sell.
The Apple company was founded on April 1st 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, for selling the Apple I personal computer. The Apple I was built by hand by Wozniak and was the first time shown to the public at Homebrew Computer Club. Apple I was sold as a motherboard with processor, RAM memory, less than it is considered today a personal computer. Apple I was launched on the market in July 1976 for $666.66.
Apple was incorporated in January 3rd 1977, without Wayne, which has sold his part of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.
Apple II was introduced to the public in April 16th 1977, at West Coast Computer Faire. It was different from it’s rivals the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, because it came with a colored graphic and an open architecture. While the early models used cassette tapes as storage devices, Apple used 5 1.4 inch floppy disks for the interface, called Disk II.
By the end of the 1970s, Apple had a team of personal computer designers and a production line. Apple II was followed by Apple III, in May 1980 while competing with IBM and Microsoft.
1981 – 1985: Lisa and Macintosh
Steve Jobs started working at Apple Lisa in 1978, but from 1982 he was removed from the Lisa team. In 1983, Lisa was the first personal computer sold for the public with a graphic interface, but its marketing was a failure because of its high price and limited number of applications.
In 1984, Apple launches Macintosh. Its debut was announced by the famous 1.5 million dollars commercial from 1984. Which was directed by Ridley Scott in January 22nd 1984, and now is considered to be a crucial event for the Apple success.
1986 – 1993: Rise and fall
After learning some painful lessons after introducing the voluminous Macintosh Portable in 1989, Apple introduces in 1991 the PowerBook which had a modern and ergonomic design of a laptop computer. In the same year, Apple introduced System 7, a big upgrade for the operating system which adds color to the graphical interface and introduces new capabilities for the network functions. Following this success, Apple presented the Centris line. The end was disastrous for Apple.
In this time, Apple experimented with a series of other products which didn’t have success on the market, like digital cameras, portable CD-players, speakers, video consoles, TVs. In 1990 Apple launches the Macintosh LC with a single extension slot for the Apple Card. Apple stopped selling Apple II in 1993.
1994 – 1997: Attempts of reinvention
In 1993 Apple starts working with IBM, Motorola in the AIM Alliance. Their goal was to create a new platform for the computers which will use IBM and Motorola hardware along with Apple software. In the same year, Apple presents Power Macintosh, the first computer which used Power PC processor from IBM.
1998 – 2005: Return to profitability
On August 15 1998, Apple introduces on the market a new computer which reminds the Macintosh 128k, the iMac. The design team of the iMac was led by Jonathan Ive, the one which later was going to design the iPod and the iPhone.
Written by hugepedia, date Mar 13, 2010 in Apple
2 comments
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Hi,this apple is really a great ,I like the fantastic ability and the price,hope I can have one,Lee
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