The multinational company founded by Steve Jobs, known as Apple Inc.without a doubt, has given a lot to talk about for a long time more than 40 years all over the world. Well, it is one of the largest and most expensive companies that designs high-tech software and equipment, always staying at the forefront.
Hence, the creation of the famous iPhone, iPod, iPad and of course Mac computers They have been very successful worldwide. Thus, they have been able to set the pace of the tech industry themselves and have also determined various product categories.
However, in this post, we only want to focus on the beginnings of Apple; specifying how and when it was founded. In addition to, the evolution that Apple computers have shown, Until now; taking into account their most interesting innovations.
How and when was Apple founded? History of the bitten apple
In the year 1971, Steve Jobs and Steve Wonziakalso know as “woz”They met through a mutual friend. Back then, Jobs was just 16 years old, while Wozniak was already 21. The latter was a lover of electronics and thanks to his abilities, when he was 13 years old he was awarded a scientific award for having built his own adding and subtracting machine.
Five years after they met, in 1976, these two young people began to build their own computer in Los Altos, California, specifically in the garage of Steve Jobs’ parents’ house. Where, initially, they met to Design and create your microcomputers and since then, they baptized their first construction as Apple I. Thus, officially, it was founded Apple Computer Inc. On April 1, 1976.
In this sense, from its beginnings to the present, Apple has experienced different facets of evolution within the computer world and completely change a world without personal computers to make way for an interconnected society. Taking into account that, at the beginning of the 90’s, the success of the company was under the direction of Jobs, solely. Giving, in addition, his great contribution to the 21st century where he established various models of fixed and mobile devices.
Evolution of Apple computers that have been developed to date
During more than 40 yearsApple has connected with a large number of customers for its hallmarkas well as by quality, design and innovation that it has always exhibited with each of its products. Although, of course, we must not forget that this multinational has also had certain failures and even very little-known products.
In this sense, it is important to know and detail the evolution of Apple computers, specifically. Bearing in mind that these have been the protagonists of the company’s progress and have had a great influence on the development of other computers, forever. Below, chronologically, we indicate the characteristics of each one:
Apple I. Year Released: 1976
It is the first product distributed by Apple Computer Inc., with which this company was founded. Thus, the machine was manufactured in April 1976 and designed by Steve Wozniak or Woz, the co-founder of Apple. Although Jobs was less than convinced to publish the computer, his partner Steve Jobs induced him to package and sell the machines. So, it was also the first model marketed by the multinational.
For their part, it is estimated that they sold about 200 Apple I computers in less than a yearor, well, it was one of the biggest innovations at the time. Which, had a MOS Technology 6502 processor running at 1,023 MHz and a 256 Byte ROM.
As a curious fact, it should be noted that, in an auction held in 1999, An Apple I sold for $50,000. and since then, it has become the most collectible computer of all time (its original price was $666).
Apple II. Release Year: 1977
This is defined as Apple’s first mass-produced microcomputer. Being a machine that, mainly, had the same processor as the Apple I and also ran at the same speed, but its commercial success was truly disproportionate and much greater than Apple’s first creation. Since, it represented an excellent improvement with respect to its predecessor.
Among its main characteristics, we note that it had the operating system Apple DOS, it had 4K RAM for the base model and expandable up to 48K. It also featured a color screen, a casing with a keyboard, and it was marketed as an assembled motherboard and so, the client had to add the keyboard, a monitor and a casing so that it could fulfill all its functions.
Apple IIPlus. Release Year: 1979
Two years later, the improvement of the Apple II was released, being the second model of the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer Inc., which introduced the Applesoft BASIC programming language in ROM which was written by Microsoft. Taking into account that its distribution began in June 1979 and sold until December 1982.
In this way, it should be noted that they were sold around 380,000 units during those three years of validity. Now, detailing some of its main features, the Apple II Plus shipped with 16KB, 32KB, or 48KB of main RAM, expandable to 64KB via the Language Card. Additionally, its original operating system was the Apple DOS and optional included the Apple Pascal and Apple ProDOS.
Apple III. Release Year: 1980
Although there are very few portals that take this Apple design into account, it is certainly important to include it in this chronology. In view of the fact that it is considered Apple’s first major business failure; which was obscured by the IBM PC. Taking into account that, the machine was discontinued on April 24, 1984.
For its part, Apple III was available in two configurations: one for $4,340 and another for a total of $7,800; a price similar to the Apple II with all the accessories, but more expensive than the CP/M computers (here one of its cons). On the other hand, it is presumed that the main reason for this failure is due to Jobs’s attitude towards his design; Well, he forced the engineers to put all the electronic components in small spaces without any type of possible ventilation.
Apple Lisa. Release Year: 1983
It was the first revolutionary commercial personal computer designed by Apple Computer, with user interface and a mouse. Although it was a project that evolved very slowly since 1978, it is considered one of the best creations of the multinational, at the level of innovation. Because they took the time to design a powerful personal machine with a modern graphical user interface at the time.
In this sense, the computer revealed a cost of nearly $10,000 and featured a 5 MHz clock speed, had 1 MB of RAM, and used a Motorola 68000 CPU.
It should also be noted that it had two diskette drives and a capacity of approximately 871 kilobytes. However, after a couple of years, the Apple Lisa revealed a notable commercial failure for the company, due to its high price. Thus, was discontinued in August 1986.
Apple II.C. Release Year: 1984
Another of the models belonging to the Apple II series of personal computers, in which the multinational focused on presenting and marketing a laptop. That is to say, it is the first portable Apple II and the final result, as such, was a portable version with a weight of 3.4 kg and a 5”1/4 floppy drive located to the side. Also, new peripheral expansion ports were integrated into the motherboard.
For its part, it should be noted that the “C” in its name, refers to “Compact” due to the fact that it was a complete configuration of the Apple II computer, essentially; inside a small box that made it very portable, for those times. Regarding its accessories, Apple announced an optional black and white LCD screen called “Apple Flat LCD”but it was very expensive.
Macintosh 128K. Release Year: 1984
It was introduced to the market in the same year as Apple’s first portable personal computer, which it was the first Macintosh computer and the first one that showed the most success with GUI. Taking into account that, at that time, it was ranked as the best computer to offer a graphical user interface at an affordable price, since it only cost $2,495. Additionally, its intuitive folder and icon layout was also an excellent innovation.
Thus, this first Macintosh became the founder of the line that is currently known as “Mac” or “MacBook”. It is opportune to distinguish that it had two particularities far superior to the competition: its GUI and the inclusion of a mouse to operate the machine and opt for a much easier interaction.
However, it was a bit of a slow machine, because I only had a 128 kb RAM. However, the graphics performance was amazing at the time.
Macintosh XL. Release Year: 1985
It is classified as the modified version of Apple Lisa, which had a cost of $3,995. Thus, it was designed as an attempt by the multinational to recover the few sales of the Apple Lisa that were “stolen”in a certain way, for the Macintosh line that was just coming out on the technology market.
In this sense, the Macintosh XL had a proprietary 10 MB hard drive and had the option of adding a 5 or 10 MB ProFile external hard drive including a Parallel interface board.
In addition to this, the computer had a 3.5” 400K floppy drive. But, despite its great success, the machine was discontinued because no components had been ordered to keep it in production and once sold out, there were no more units available. So, in 1986, no more Macintosh XLs were sold.
MacintoshPlus. Release Year: 1986
This machine was the evolution of the Macintosh 128K and was only offered or manufactured for four years, units of this computer were not sold until 1990. Which had a Motorola 68000 processor with an 8 MHz clock frequency and resembled the Macintosh 128 due to its casing with a 9-inch screen. However, this one had more memory, thanks to 1 MB expandable to 4 MB.
Among other details, the Macintosh Plus had a SCSI interface, through which hard drives could be connected and external data exchanged. It also offered a SCSI ethernet adapter and had a larger ROM (128 KB). However, the computer did not contain a fan and in order to cool it, used the “chimney effect”.
Macintosh SE. Release Year: 1987
Specifically, it was released on March 2, 1987 and stands out from the rest, for being the first compact Macintosh with space for an internal hard drive (if the customer wanted, it also included dual floppy drives). Thus, highlighting its characteristics, it had very similar shell…
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