--- title: "Apple II Computer Launch" year: 1977 country: "United States" canonical: "https://recap.at/1977/apple-ii-launch-1977" slug: "apple-ii-launch-1977" recapType: "global_event" startDate: "1977-01-01" --- # Apple II Computer Launch On April 16, 1977, Apple Computer Company unveiled the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco, a machine that looked like office equipment and cost less than a used car., a machine that looked like office equipment and cost less than a used car. It was the first computer designed for ordinary people to actually use-complete with color graphics, built-in programming language, and a price that didn't require institutional funding. The Apple II didn't create the personal computer market, but it proved that market could exist. ## Summary The Apple II arrived at a moment when computers were still room-sized industrial equipment or hobbyist kits soldered together by enthusiasts in garages. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had formed Apple Computer Company in 1976 after Wozniak designed the original Apple I, a bare-circuit-board machine that Jobs convinced a local electronics retailer to stock. The Apple II, unveiled April 16, 1977, at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco, changed the calculus entirely. It came in a beige plastic case that looked like a typewriter, plugged into a standard wall outlet and television set, and sold for $1,298-expensive by today's standards but a revelation compared to the $20,000-plus price tags on competing systems. Wozniak's engineering made this possible. His design used fewer chips than competitors' machines, ran cooler, and included color graphics capability at a time when most computers output only text. The machine shipped with 4 kilobytes of RAM, expandable to 48 KB., and ran at 1 megahertz. More crucially, it came with Applesoft BASIC already built in-meaning buyers could start programming immediately, no additional purchases required. That combination of accessibility, color output, and built-in software made the Apple II genuinely different from machines like the Commodore PET and Tandy TRS-80, which hit shelves around the same time. The Apple II's real power emerged over the next few years, not at launch. VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet application, arrived in 1979 and ran only on the Apple II initially-that single piece of software justified the purchase price for thousands of small-business owners who had never thought of computers as business tools. The machine stayed in production, with incremental improvements, for sixteen years. By 1981, Apple had shipped 25,000 units; by 1983, that number topped 1 million. The Apple II established the template for personal computing: a closed, integrated system with a friendly interface, priced for individuals rather than institutions. Steve Jobs understood something his competitors didn't: computers weren't just faster calculators for engineers. They were tools that ordinary people might actually want. The Apple II's industrial design-the work of Jerry Manock and others at Apple-signaled that. So did its price point, which positioned it as attainable technology rather than laboratory equipment. The machine never dominated the market in raw numbers; IBM's PC, launched in 1981, eventually outsold it many times over. But the Apple II proved the personal computer market existed and was worth building for, which made everything that followed-the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone-possible. ## Key facts - **Launch date**: April 16, 1977 - **Launch location**: West Coast Computer Faire, San Francisco - **Original retail price**: $1,298 - **RAM (base configuration)**: 4 kilobytes - **RAM (maximum expandable)**: 48 kilobytes - **Processor speed**: 1 megahertz - **Units shipped by 1981**: 25,000 - **Units sold by 1983**: Approximately 1 million. - **Production run length**: 16 years ## Timeline - **1976-04-01** - Apple Computer Company is founded in April 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, following Wozniak's design of the Apple I single-board computer. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form Apple Computer Company after Wozniak designs the Apple I single-board computer. - **1977-04-16** - Apple II unveiled 4 KB RAM (expandable to 48 KB) - **1977-06-10** - Apple II ships to customers First Apple II units begin shipping to retail customers following the April announcement. - **1979-10-01** - VisiCalc launches on Apple II VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet application, becomes available exclusively on Apple II. The software drives significant business-user adoption. - **1980-12-12** - Apple Computer goes public Apple's initial public offering prices shares at $22; trading opens higher on the first day. - **1981-08-12** - IBM PC launches IBM introduces its Personal Computer running PC DOS, beginning competition that will eventually dominate the market. IBM PC does not initially match Apple II's graphics capabilities. - **1983-01-01** - Apple II sales exceed 1 million units Apple II has become the best-selling personal computer. The machine remains the company's primary revenue source. - **1993-01-01** - Apple II production ends After 16 years and millions of units sold, Apple discontinues the Apple II line as the Macintosh becomes the company's focus. ## Relationships - **evolved into**: iphone-launch - Apple II established the consumer personal computer market and brand trust that directly enabled the iPhone's reception as a revolutionary device in 2007; Jobs's design philosophy and focus on ease-of-use originated with the II's user interface ambitions. - **enabled**: world-wide-web-public-release - Apple II and its clones became primary vehicles for accessing the web in the early 1990s; the computer's installed base and affordability were prerequisites for the web's mass adoption beyond research institutions. - **caused by**: stockton-darlington-railway - Timeline of "Apple II Computer Launch" references "First Passenger Railway Opens (Stockton & Darlington)" (3 shared tokens incl. title anchor). - **caused**: ibm-personal-computer-launch - Timeline of "Apple II Computer Launch" references "First IBM Personal Computer Launch" (4 shared tokens incl. title anchor). - **caused**: youtube-founded - Timeline of "Apple II Computer Launch" references "YouTube Founded" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor). ## Consequences - **1981 - IBM PC Released**: IBM's entry into the personal computer market, directly inspired by Apple II's commercial success, establishing the x86 architecture that would dominate business computing for decades. - **1982 - Commodore 64 Launch**: The best-selling single computer model in history, priced aggressively and featuring superior graphics compared to Apple II, intensifying the home computer market competition. - **1980 - Apple III Released**: Apple's troubled follow-up to the II, designed for business users but plagued by overheating and compatibility issues, exposing the difficulty of building on an existing platform's success. - **1984 - Graphical User Interface Commercialization**: Apple's Macintosh brought the GUI to mass market consumers, a concept that had gestated at Xerox PARC but required Apple II's market foundation and brand trust to reach viability. - **1979 - Spreadsheet Software Explosion**: VisiCalc's release for the Apple II created the first killer app for personal computers, proving that consumers would pay for machines to run specific software applications. ## Then vs now - **Base Price**: 1977: $1,298 → 2024: $999 - Apple II cost adjusted to 2024 dollars is approximately $6,800; modern entry-level computers are vastly cheaper for dramatically more power. - **RAM**: 1977: 4 KB → 2024: 16 GB - A 4-million-fold increase in standard memory capacity in less than 50 years. - **Storage Capacity**: 1977: Cassette tape or 5.25" floppy (140 KB) → 2024: 1-2 TB SSD standard - Storage density increased by approximately 10 million times. - **Processor Clock Speed**: 1977: 1 MHz → 2024: 3-4 GHz - Raw speed improvement of 3,000-4,000x, though comparison is complicated by architectural differences and multi-core design. ## Impact The Apple II was unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. --- Canonical: https://recap.at/1977/apple-ii-launch-1977