June 10, 1977: Apple Computer Inc. ships its first Apple II computer.
A hulking beige behemoth with 4KB of RAM (upgradeable to a whopping 48KB), the Apple II is the computer that will define Apple for a generation of fans. Retailing at $1,298, it cost the equivalent of a handful of MacBook Pros today — even though it seemed a total bargain at the time.
First Apple II ships
Unlike its Apple-1 predecessor, the Apple II was polished and ready for the mass market. It featured a keyboard, BASIC compatibility and, most notable of all, color graphics. Despite being the company’s second computer, the Apple II was responsible for a number of firsts at Apple.
It also was the machine that turned Apple into a million-dollar company (yes, million — not billion). The year the Apple II debuted, Apple turned over $770,000 in revenue. The year after that, the computer’s success brought in $7.9 million, and the year after that $49 million.
That’s not all.
VisiCalc, a ‘killer app’ for the Apple II
Screenshot: Steven Weyhrich/Apple2History
It was also the computer that created Apple’s (and arguably personal computing’s) first “killer app” in the form of VisiCalc. The world’s inaugural spreadsheet, VisiCalc turned personal computers from cool-to-have toy into must-have business accessory. (And they say it’s only now that Apple’s really getting into the enterprise market.)
The Apple II became the first computer of many influential people in tech. Among them was Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the first chair of the Mozilla Foundation. Speaking about the Apple II in the kind of reverent tones a person only uses for their first love, Kapor told me for my book The Apple Revolution about selling his stereo for cash and driving to New Hampshire, where there was no sales tax, to buy one of Apple’s hot new computers.
It additionally fueled Apple’s focus on industrial design. Apple designer Jerry Manock told me he was hired to create “a nice balance between manufacturability and human factors.” Manock later went on to design the first Macintosh computer. But the Apple II is in many ways an equally iconic machine. It paved the way for the look and feel of later Apple creations.
Apple marketing comes of age
!["Within just a few weeks, Steve [Jobs] received a letter from a woman in Oregon, complaining that the ad was sexist -- which it very clearly was," says original copywriter Bill Kelley.](https://www.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/a2original.jpg "A2original")
“It was interesting to watch, but it wasn’t really clear to us what we were seeing,” says Bill Kelley, the copywriter behind the first Apple II adverts, recalling his first demo of the machine.
After the initial ads showed a sexist scenario in which a woman slaved in the kitchen while her husband typed on the Apple II, Jobs received a furious letter from a woman in Oregon, complaining about it. Future commercials for the machine reversed the equation, and started a trend for Apple ads that subvert viewer expectations.
First Apple II ships … and subsequent models keep shipping!
Ultimately, the Apple II was a superb machine. It stands as a triumph of collaboration between Apple co-founders Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who would never again work so well together. The computer benefited from great peripherals like the Disk II 5 1/4-inch floppy drive and superb software ranging from games to productivity tools. The Apple II changed the face of computing years before the Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch were gleams in the eye of anyone in Cupertino.
The product line continued until 1993 — more than 15 years after the first Apple II shipped on this day in 1977, and nearly a decade after the first Mac arrived. Cupertino sold between 5 million and 6 million Apple II computers in the process.
Happy birthday, Apple II!
Do you have fond (or not so fond) memories of the Apple II? Share them with us in the comments!
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
9 responses to “Today in Apple history: The first Apple II ships”
I learned BASIC on one of these, still warm from the plant. Those were the glory days. Led me to purchase my first computer with my own hard earned money. An Apple //c. With a screaming fast external 300/400/1200 baud Hayes smart modem.
I’m with ya Wayne. I moved to Alaska in 1982. I was 13 and it was spring break (mid March). Had to go to my seventh grade classes when that Monday rolled around …only to find out the school was brand new. It’s first year ‘in use’ with two computer labs, two dozen IIe(s) in both. Same. Learned my 10 BRun Basic and was completely clueless and/or creative enough to even consider what could, would and has happened over three decades. Awesome rig. I didn’t get the IIc though. Second floppy 5.25″ was my big achievement that year;) … Made gettin games a bit easier as a 13 year old
I got my Apple II plus in ’78. To this day, if I’m on any keyboard for very long, I feel the heat of the power light from the II on my left palm. That light used to get very hot.
The first page of the ad might be kind of sexist, but there’s a woman programming on the second page.
A woman in the kitchen is sexist? Really, Gloria Steinem?
PC douchebag.
Great article. Back in the early 1980’s I was part owner of a Computer/software store in Tallahassee, Florida. We were not an Apple dealer but we had Apple IIe computers set up so people could try software before buying it. It was great fun and we sold tons of software to schools and consumers for their Apple IIe’s.
One last thing,, how about posting an image of the ad you described that shows the wife on the computer and not the husband.
Although not as pretty, this photo would be more consistent with the product Apple released in 1977: http://apple2history.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Apple-II-cassette-TV.png
It would not be until 1978 that there was any Disk II option, and the Monitor II pictured here was released in 1984.
At the college where I work, our writing lab had two of these same as in the picture, with dual floppies and the green screen monitor to run some educational software. They were only retired about 3 or 4 years ago, and still worked.