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Tasting the Fruits of Success: Apple Computer Corporation Takes Off

Article Overview: Wozniak and Jobs began spending an inordinate amount of time together, talking, planning, and envisioning what they could achieve as a pair. And they never stopped building.

Tasting the Fruits of Success: Apple Computer Corporation Takes Off

Wozniak and Jobs began spending an inordinate amount of time together, talking, planning, and envisioning what they could achieve as a pair. And they never stopped building. With "the oldest, cheapest surplus parts I could find," says Wozniak, he went to work on the Apple I. With Jobs' keen ability to ask anything from anyone, he was able to get Wozniak all the parts he needed. But, he did not need many; he wanted the first Apple to be small, and that is exactly what it as. At 8 by 11 inches, and using only 30 or 40 chips, the Apple I was tiny.

The rest of the story is history. Wozniak was working part-time jobs to pay for his schooling at UC Berkeley, when he was finally offered a job at Hewlett Packard. It was there that he would learn about being a system designer in its fullest capacity. In the day, for instance, he would work on designing the first ever scientific calculator. Then, he would take spare parts from the HP stock room and go home to build machines of his own interest.

In 1975, Wozniak and Jobs decided to come together to form a company, with a goal of building a machine that the masses could use. Wozniak was the engineer, while Jobs took on the management role. Apple Computer Corporation was born the next year.

Initially, both Wozniak and Jobs sacrificed a lot to get the company going. Wozniak even sold his HP-35 calculator, but the feeling was inspired. "When we started Apple, it seemed as though nothing could go wrong," he says. "Our first computers were born not out of greed or ego but in the revolutionary spirit of helping common people rise above the most powerful institutions."

Apple I was a machine with 8K of RAM. After loading the 4K Basic, adding a keyboard and monitor, and wiring two transformers onto the power supply, users had 4K to run their programs. Wozniak and Jobs built 200 Apple I computers and sold 175 in 10 months.

By the time Apple I was released, Apple II was already in development. "They were the first low-cost computers ever with built-in colour, graphics, sound, and programming languages," says Wozniak. "In addition, they were usable out of the box. Our vision was that people would find computers useful at home, for ‘people things' like balancing checkbooks, keeping address lists and typing letters."

By this time, Wozniak had already left college. But now, Jobs was trying to persuade Wozniak to leave HP and devote himself full-time to Apple. "My love wasn't starting a company and making money; it was designing computers and writing software," says Wozniak. "Things I could do without a company. I loved HP and wanted the greater job security. Steve went into a frenzy and had my relatives and friends call me and convince me that it was OK to start a company and just be an engineer."

Wozniak finally quit HP and went to work full-time on Apple II. It was smaller, more powerful, and more successful. "Basically, all the game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with - Breakout - at the Homebrew Computer Club," recalls Wozniak. "It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in Basic was going to change the world."

Apple II worked because of Wozniak's background as both a programmer and an electrical engineer. Where he could not include a feature in the software, he would find the way to add the necessary hardware.

The computer was a success, but with that success, came more management responsibilities, and Wozniak had never had any interest in running a company. He took on less and less responsibility at the company, and went back to finish his undergraduate degree in Engineering at Berkeley. Finally, in 1981, Wozniak stepped back from Apple to follow other dreams.

He created a company called CL9, which went to work building a universal remote for control of multiple electronic devices. He also organized a concert called U.S. Festival, which proved a financial disaster. But in 1983, Wozniak returned to Apple, and went to work creating Apple III.

He had great visions for Apple III, but again, after pressure to take on a management role, he again fell back, without fully quitting. "I have never left the company," he says. "I keep a tiny residual salary to this day because that's where my loyalty should be forever. I want to be an ‘employee' on the company database."

Today, Wozniak devotes himself to teaching and philanthropy, but his legacy as the inventor of the Apple personal computer lives on.

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Article Tags: 10 months, apple computer, apple computer corporation, apple ii, common people, first apple, first computers, hp stock, keen ability, management role, part time jobs, rest of the story, revolutionary spirit, scientific calculator, spare parts, stock room, supply users, time apple, uc berkeley, wozniak and jobs



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