April 17, 1977: The Apple II debuts on the West Coast Pc Faire, positioning Apple on the forefront of the looming private pc revolution.
The corporate’s first mass-market pc, the Apple II boasts an attractively machined case designed by Jerry Manock (who will later design the primary Macintosh). It additionally packs a keyboard, BASIC compatibility and, most significantly, shade graphics.
Fueled by some advertising savvy from Steve Jobs, the Apple II launch makes fairly a splash on the San Francisco Bay Space’s first private pc conference.
Apple II launch at West Coast Pc Faire
After forming the earlier 12 months, Apple had already handed a number of vital milestones by April 1977. The corporate had seen certainly one of its three co-founders stop, launched its first pc and formally included.
Nonetheless, the 1977 West Coast Pc Faire served as a large “popping out” get together for Apple. This occasion featured all the large gamers within the burgeoning PC trade. Within the days earlier than the web, it drew 1000’s of prospects — a lot of whom grew to become early tech devotees.
Apple confirmed off its new company emblem on the pc honest for one of many first instances. The multicolored design by Rob Janoff featured the define of an apple with a chew taken out of it. The immediately iconic image changed an earlier Apple emblem by former Apple co-founder Ron Wayne.
Steve Jobs introduces the Apple II
Proper from the beginning of his profession, Jobs realized the significance of product introduction. With no particular media occasion to introduce the Apple II, he used the West Coast Pc Faire to carry out the identical perform. (Curiously, the occasion happened on the Invoice Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, which Apple returned to for its fall media occasion in 2015.)
Apple occupied the 4 cubicles instantly dealing with the constructing’s entrance entrance. The strategic positioning made Apple the primary of 175 firms on the Faire that guests noticed after they arrived. At a time when cash was brief, Apple splashed out on a backlit plexiglass show that includes the brand new emblem.
The attention-catching setup showcased a dozen Apple II computer systems. Unbeknownst to prospects, these had been unfinished prototypes, for the reason that precise computer systems wouldn’t be prepared till June.
A significant cash spinner
Apple’s second pc grew to become an enormously vital product line. The 12 months of the Apple II debut, the machine introduced in $770,000 in income. That determine elevated to $7.9 million the next 12 months and a large $49 million the 12 months after that. Apple continued producing some model of the Apple II till the early Nineties.
This pc introduced various vital gamers into the world of excessive tech, together with Mitch Kapor (founding father of Lotus Growth Company and co-founder of the Digital Frontier Basis) and John Carmack (the legendary coder behind smash-hit video games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake).
The Apple II additionally queued up Cupertino’s first “killer app” — spreadsheet program VisiCalc.
Whereas Apple later moved away from the Apple II product line (a lot to the annoyance of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak), this pc put Cupertino on the map. And the Apple II launch on the West Coast Pc Faire gave the world its first glimpse of the revolutionary machine.
