Steven Jobs saw the brilliance of Wozniak and the market potential of his designs. Although initially not interested in being a businessman, reassurance from friends and family that he could still be an engineer convinced Woz to agree to the partnership. To finance their venture, Jobs sold his volkswagon van and Wozniak sold his progammable calculator to raise $1,300. They formed the Apple Computer Company and built 50 computers, the Apple I, in 1975. They sold well, and Woz quit Hewlett Packard and concentrated on a newer, smaller, more powerful computer. The result was the Apple II, released in 1977. What made it appealing were its video abilities as well as the capability to have things added to it, such as an increase in RAM or an addition of a modem. It was the last computer designed by a single person. The success meant rapid growth and change in how Apple designed computers. Soon there were many software and hardware people and teams of engineers. The thrill and excitement that Woz had for his hobby was replaced by company politics and power struggles. Woz suggested that Apple be more open to third party software developers and that they should give more support to the Apple II. His proposals were igmored and he became frustrated with the lack of acceptance of his input. The business world was not for Woz. In 1985, a year after the MacIntosh was introduced, Woz left the company.

The first Mac (above) and a modern Mac (below)

to top

This page is an original production by Alan Shechter for ICSA741, project 3.