How Apple Computers Influenced the Nation

Apple Computers:

From a California Garage to a National Icon

Apple Computers is one of the most familiar business names in the United States. From the extremely recognizable Apple logo to the simple name itself, Apple has ingrained itself into American culture. Apple computers were one of the first computer companies, and consequently, the company in which all other computer companies in the nation desire to emulate. Companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Gateway, and every other computer company, would never have existed if it weren't for the innovative minds behind Apple computers. Throughout their history, Apple would create an innovative design, and the rest of the nations' computer world would follow suit; never the other way around. The second-ever Apple slogan holds true even today: "Soon there will be 2 kinds of people. Those who use computers, and those who use Apples." (Apple Wikipedia)

The founders of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak, began their company soon after the two of them nearly got arrested for creating and selling devices that could manipulate telephones. Both young men decided to pursue a more legitimate line of business, and created their first crude computer from Job's parent's Cupertino, California house (Apple Wikipedia). After mild success creating personal computers, a $250,000 loan was given to the business to create a personal computer far more advanced and user friendly than anything seen before. This computer was known as the Apple II.

Apple Computer's products such as: personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, personal digital assistants, and Internet content have been consistently described as user-friendly; although the founders of Apple Computers never dreamed that their company would grow to offer such a huge variety of products or success. But while these lines of products are most certainly frontrunners in the race for computer sales, there is one that can be credited as the greatest innovation in computer history: the user-friendly personal computer. Although Apple can be credited as the third large computer company to emerge (IBM and Hewlett Packard being first and second respectively), the user-friendly design of the Apple computers were the first to make computer sales skyrocket. Before Apple, those who bought personal computers had to know a good deal about them first. Considering that personal computers were a brand new innovation, very few people had the knowledge to operate one. After the Apple II emerged in 1978 anybody who had to money to afford one, would be able to use it to its full potential without any prior knowledge of computers.

Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak knew that they had to create a market for personal computers beyond the extremely small core of hobbyists who had previously been buying kit computers, and the Apple II was just this. Before the Apple II, the only function of computers was to try to integrate them with programs that could be used from a business perspective, but not for personal use, such as basic financing. There were several features that made the Apple II tremendously better than previous forms of personal computers. Firstly, the Apple II allowed the function of word processing, which did not exist in personal computers before this. The Apple II came complete with the first ever "mouse", which varied only slightly from the mouse we know today. Before this, computer users were restricted to using only a keyboard to operate the computer. The Apple II also came with the first ever floppy drive. The floppy drive made it so that information from the computer, such as a word processing document, could be transferred to another computer via a thin disk. However, the most important feature was the interface that would enable any user to understand its functionality. Before the Apple II, users had to know complex computer coding to navigate the screen, but after the Apple II, simple point-and-click techniques with a mouse were incorporated (Weyhrich). This simple navigation is the greatest breakthrough in the history of personal computers.

Within two years of the Apple II materializing, the company went public. This was shown as a giant step in Apple's history, as before this, Apple was purely a California operated computer company. There was also widespread speculation that the company would go bankrupt after going public, considering the national demand for personal computers was unknown. Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak took the chance, with their own speculation that this small Cupertino, California Company would grow to influence the rest of the nation. Their gamble turned out to be a wise choice. An example of how quickly growing this user-friendly computer was, is best described in the events closely following their company going public. Within a single day, the price of a share of Apple stock went from twenty-two dollars to twenty-nine. Apple was the most successful initial public offering since Ford Motor Company went public in 1956. Apple hit the Fortune 500 faster than any company had previously done, and soon was worth more than many major corporations. (Walsh)

There has never been a rivalry in the arena of computers than that of Apple vs. Microsoft. Both founded within a year of each other, and both were the leading competitors for computer sales. It is clearly evident that Microsoft eventually became larger than Apple (In fiscal year 2004, Apple reported earnings of 13.93 billion, while Microsoft reported 39.8 billion); however, it was due to Apple's innovative and simplistic approach that led Microsoft to ultimately rely on using Apple's ideas to help their success (Microsoft Wikipedia). This is the first case in Apple's history that marked another company stealing Apple's innovative ideas. The events that constituted this stealing will forever go down in technology history as the moment every other computer company in the nation, and future companies to come, would use the same exact ideas as Apple's for their company.

In the early 1980s, Apple was making Apple II's and Microsoft was making an unnamed version of their personal computer. When the Apple II began to acquire national attention, Bill Gates knew that Microsoft's bankruptcy was dangerously near. The reason for this was that the features which were included on the Apple II, were much more user friendly than that of Microsoft. The computers themselves were not much different. Both looked relatively the same, and both had the same amount of computer speed and power. The difference in the two computers was the easy to use navigation and simplicity of Apple, compared to the incredibly hard to use Microsoft. This particular element of computers is known as the "operating