Amaya Toman On April 17, 1977, Apple introduced its Apple II computer to the public for the first time. This happened at the first-ever West Coast Computer Faire, and we will remember this event in today's installment of the Apple History series.
It could be interest you
As we all know, the first ever computer to come out of the then-newly established Apple company was the Apple I. But its successor, the Apple II, was the first computer that was intended for the mass market. It was equipped with an attractive chassis, the design of which came from the workshop of Jerry Manock, the designer of the first Macintosh. It came with a keyboard, offered compatibility with the BASIC programming language, and one of its most appealing features was color graphics.
Thanks to Steve Jobs' marketing and negotiating skills, it was possible to arrange for the Apple II to be introduced at the aforementioned West Coast Computer Faire. In April 1977, Apple had already achieved several important milestones. For example, the company experienced the departure of one of its founders, released its first computer, and also acquired the status of a publicly traded company. But she still hasn't had time to build a big enough name to be able to do without outside assistance when promoting her second computer. Many big names in the computer industry attended the fair back then, and it was fairs and other similar events that in the pre-Internet era represented the best possible opportunity for many manufacturers and sellers to promote themselves.
Gallery
In addition to the Apple II computer, Apple also presented its new corporate logo, designed by Rob Janoff, at the said fair. It was the now well-known silhouette of a bitten apple, which replaced the earlier more detailed logo of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree - the author of the first logo was Ronald Wayne. Apple's booth at the fair was located right across from the main entrance to the building. This was a very strategic position, thanks to which Apple products were actually the first thing visitors saw after entering. The company was not doing very well financially at the time, so it did not even have the funds for a redecorated stand and had to make do with a Plexiglas display with a backlit logo of a bitten apple. In the end, this simple solution turned out to be a genius and caught the attention of many visitors. The Apple II computer eventually became an excellent source of income for the company. In the year of its release, it earned Apple 770 thousand dollars, the following year it was 7,9 million dollars and the year after that it was already 49 million dollars.
