June 5, 1977 — Release of Apple II
June 5, 1977
Sometimes it feels like IT History Journal is really just an Apple History Journal. Still, it’s impossible to tell the story of the technology industry without constantly mentioning one of its most influential companies.
On June 5, 1977, Apple began selling its first mass-market product: the Apple II. The machine was so successful that Apple continued supporting various versions of it well into the early 1990s.
Today, Apple is primarily associated with the iPhone, but it was the Apple II that truly made the company. During some of Apple’s most difficult years, it was the Apple II that kept money coming in when other products failed to achieve commercial success.
If the Apple I was essentially just a circuit board that required additional components before it could be used, the Apple II was sold fully assembled. It came in a plastic case, included a built-in keyboard, and could be connected to a regular television. This design dramatically expanded the potential audience. The core idea was simple: give people a complete computer they could take home, plug into a wall outlet, connect to a TV, and start using immediately.
One of the Apple II’s greatest strengths was its eight expansion slots. Owners could add disk controllers, memory cards, and all kinds of additional hardware. This flexibility turned the machine into an incredibly adaptable platform and quickly made it popular among developers and hobbyists alike.
The real explosion came in 1979 with the release of VisiCalc, created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston. It was the first widely successful spreadsheet program. Many businesses purchased Apple II computers for VisiCalc alone because it allowed financial calculations to be performed far more quickly and conveniently than on paper.
By the early 1980s, Apple II computers could be found in schools, universities, businesses, and homes around the world. Several million units were sold, and the profits from the Apple II line effectively financed the development of both Lisa and Macintosh.
People often begin Apple’s story with the Macintosh or even the iPhone. But without the Apple II, Apple might have remained just another Silicon Valley startup from the late 1970s. It was this computer that transformed Apple from a small garage-based company into one of the leaders of the personal computer industry.