In What Year Did Apple Computer Start?

What began as a hobby for two engineers tinkering with computers in their garage has grown into Apple Computer, a multibillion dollar company that has revolutionized the way people communicate. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple on a shoestring and went on to become American icons.

Apple Computer Debuts

Apple Computer was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. While Wozniak provided the technical skills to produce the company's first computer, the Apple I, it's Jobs who became the face of the company.

Origins

Jobs met Wozniak in 1972 while they were working at Hewlett-Packard. In 1974, they joined "The Homebrew Computer Club," a group of electronics enthusiasts interested in building home computers. While Wozniak considered computers a hobby, Jobs recognized their money-making potential, and convinced Wozniak they should build their own computer and start a business.

The Apple I

By early 1976, the pair finished a working prototype they dubbed the Apple I. Jobs, who once worked on an apple farm and admired the Beatles and their record label Apple Records, chose Apple as a working name for the computer, and it stuck. After offering the design to Hewlett-Packard and getting turned down, Jobs and Wozniak decided to build it themselves, and scraped together $1,250 to produce the first main boards. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak hawked his HP calculator to raise the necessary funds. To help design the computer, they offered Ron Wayne, a draftsman at video game maker Atari, a 10 percent stake in the company for his work. Wayne designed the Apple I and the company's original logo but resigned a few months later after deciding the venture was too risky. He accepted a one-time payment of $800 for his work.

First Order

A computer store called The Byte Shop saw potential in the Apple I and ordered 50 computers. Needing $5,000 to build the computers--parts alone cost $100 for each unit--Jobs convinced a parts supplier to give 30 days' credit, and the pair built them in Jobs' garage. Working day and night, they delivered them 10 days later, and the first Apple computer debuted at The Byte Shop in April 1976 at a price of $666.66. The first computers did not come with a monitor or a keyboard.

Aftermath

After successfully producing the Apple I, Wozniak went to work on the Apple II and finished a prototype in fall 1976. Looking to produce the Apple II on a larger scale, they offered the job to Commodore, a company that was producing the CPU used in the Apple II, but executives showed little interest. Using his now legendary skills as marketer and promoter, Jobs raised $92,000 in seed money from investors and hired an ad agency to promote the computer. Apple was officially incorporated in 1977 and went public in 1980. In 2008, Apple generated $32.4 billion in revenue.