A 1981 invoice for an Apple II+ computer
The Apple II, which was styled as apple ][, was first sold on June 10, 1977. After seeing a crude, wire-wrapped prototype demonstrated by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs November 1976, Byte magazine predicted in its April 1977 issue that the Apple II “may be the first product to fully qualify as the ‘appliance computer’ … a completed system which is purchased off the retail shelf, taken home, plugged in and used.” Because the Apple II had color graphics capability, the company added the rainbow stripes to its Apple-shaped logo to underscore the point.
In the May 1977 issue of Byte, Wozniak, in a story he penned about the Apple II, said that “[T]o me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use, and inexpensive.’
By the end of production in 1993, almost d six million Apple II series computers – which included ca. 1.25 million Apple IIGS models as well as the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIc Plus – had been produced and the Apple II had the longest production run of any home computer series, after being in production for just under 17 years. All of these models were able to operate the same software programs.
The Apple II was unquestionably the most recognizable and successful computer in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s and led the way to the personal computer revolution which saw computer mainframe behemoth IBM enter the personal computer market with the IBM PC in 1982.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
