Apple ComputersIn 1976, three enterprising young men founded Apple Computers, Inc, with the intention of creating and distributing personal computers. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne began with a dream of making super computers smaller and available to the public. They built their computers in Jobs’ parent’s garage and debuted the Apple I personal computer kit the year they founded Apple. Eventually, 200 of these computers would be built. Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, which ordered fifty units and paid $500 for each unit after much persuasion from Jobs. Jobs then ordered components from Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor. Using a variety of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family and selling various items including a Volkswagen Type 2 bus, Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while Wozniak and Ronald Wayne assembled the Apple I. In 1977, the Apple II was introduced and quickly became much more popular than its competitors, the TRS-80 and the Commodore even though the price of the Apple was higher. One of the big advantages of the Apple was the development of the floppy disk drive and software. The Apple II was chosen by programmers to be the desktop platform for the first “killer app” of the business world. This was a spreadsheet program called VisCalc. This created a market for the Apple. The corporate market attracted many more software and hardware developers to the machine plus it attracted home users in an effort to be compatible with their business machine. Over the years, the Apple computer would release many more designs each one just a little better than the last. In 1989, Apple introduced the Macintosh Portable. However, this computer was actually quite bulky and cumbersome and was met with mixed reviews. At this point, Apple hired industrial designers to develop a better, more portable personal computer. In 1991, the Apple Power Book was introduced. The Power Book would provide the layout and form for the laptop computers we know today. This solidified Apple’s reputation as a quality manufacturer of both desktop and portable machines. The success of this laptop led to increased revenues and growing popularity of Apple in the computer market. While they have had their ups and downs over the years, Apple Computers, Inc. has remained a solid presence in the computer and laptop market. Their products have continued to evolve to meet the needs of both the corporate and individual user.
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