Apple 2 Logo

The Apple II was an 8-bit home computer designed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1977 that kickstarted Apple Inc’s journey towards being the multi-trillion dollar company it is today.

The Apple II, whose internals were designed by Steve Wozniak and who’s attractive beige shell was the brainchild of Steve Jobs has since become a staple of home computing with it’s modern design language, exclusive features which have since become commonplace in home computers and Apple’s iconic 6 colour Apple Logo.

6 Colour Apple Computers Logo

But just why has the Apple II remained relevant 45 years after it’s introduction in 1977?

In order to fully understand what was so innovative about the Apple II we first need to look at it’s predecessor, the Apple I, initially introduced a year previous in 1976. Apple’s first foray into the home computing space lacks a lot of features that Wozniak was determined to remedy with the Apple II.
The most obvious of these differences could be seen in the two devices performance, The Apple I came with a measly 4KiB of RAM compared to the Apple II which could be configured up to 48KiB.

The Apple II had one other point of interest that seperated it from it predecessor, its $1298 ($5800 adjusted for inflation) starting price. Compared to the Apple I’s $666.66 ($3175) price this might seem egregious however its higher price point offered it a distinct advantage. The Apple II came fully assembled and ready to use as soon as it was bought as opposed to the Apple I which required additional components to be purchased and then assembled before use.

The Apple II allowed homes and businesses to set up and use a computer for their work without needing the technical know-how to build it themselves. This is what propelled the Apple II far beyond it’s predecessor in terms of sales. Only sixty-two Apple I computers are confirmed to exist compared to the 4.8 million Apple II units sold in the products two year lifetime.

Without the Apple II’s unbelievable success, Apple Computer Inc. would never have taken off in the way that it has and many of Apple’s later technilogical advancements would have never come to fruition.
It’s hard to imagine a world without the iPod, the iPhone or any of Apple’s many products from the past 40 years but if it weren’t for this one computer, designed by a 27 year old in his best friend’s garage we would have never seen Apple Inc. or any of it’s later successes.