FC: History of computers
1: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had been friends for some time, having met in 1971, when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a machine and selling it.
2: Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, who said they would be interested in the machine, but only if it came fully assembled. The owner, Paul Terrell, went further, saying he would order 50 of the machines and pay US $500 ($2.04 thousand in present-day terms) each on delivery. Jobs then took the purchase order that he had been given from the Byte Shop to Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor, and ordered the components he needed to assemble the Apple I Computer.
3: The Apple I was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.
4: Joined by another friend, Ronald Wayne, the three started to build the machines. Using a variety of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family, selling various prized items, eventually 200 of the apple I's were built.
5: The very first Apple Computer logo, drawn by Ronald Wayne, depicts Isaac Newton under an apple tree.
6: Wozniak had already moved on from the Apple I. Many of the design features of the I were due to the limited amount of money they had to construct the prototype, but with the income from the sales he was able to start construction of a greatly improved machine, the Apple II;Wozniak had already moved on from the Apple I. Many of the design features of the I were due to the limited amount of money they had to construct the prototype, but with the income from the sales he was able to start construction of a greatly improved machine, the Apple II;
8: While the Apple II was already established as a successful business-ready platform because of Visicalc, Apple was not content. The Apple III (Apple 3) was designed to take on the business environment. It was released on May 19, 1980. | Unfortunately, the physical design of the case was not sufficient to cool the components inside it. By removing the fan from the design, the Apple III was prone to overheating. | The Apple III was a relatively conservative design for computers of the era.
9: The Apple III Plus was introduced in December 1983, while discontinuing the revised III model, at a price of US$2995 | Apple III Plus showing the heatsink and the cast aluminum case.
10: While Apple Computer’s business division was focused on the Apple III, a separate group was focused on a computer that would change the world | this new machine would feature a completely different interface and introduce the words mouse, icon, and desktop into the lexicon of the computing public.
11: After months of usability testing, Apple designed the LISA interface of windows and icons.
12: iMac, iBook, and Power Mac G4 | While discontinuing Apple's licensing of its operating system to third-party computer manufacturers, one of Jobs's first moves as new acting CEO was to develop the iMac, which bought Apple time to restructure.
14: In October 2001, Apple introduced its first iPod portable digital audio player. The iPod started as a 5 gigabyte player capable of storing around 1000 songs. Since then it has evolved into an array of products including the Mini (now discontinued), the iPod Touch, the Shuffle, the iPod Classic, the Nano, the iPhone and the iPad. Since March 2011, the largest storage capacity for an iPod has been 160 gigabytes.
15: Since then it has evolved into an array of products including the Mini (now discontinued), the iPod Touch, the Shuffle, the iPod Classic, the Nano, the iPhone and the iPad.