December 25, 1977: Steve Wozniak spends the vacations constructing a prototype of the Disk II, the Apple II’s revolutionary floppy disk drive.
“I labored all day, all night time, by means of Christmas and New 12 months’s making an attempt to get it finished,” Wozniak would later recall in his autobiography, iWoz. “[Early Apple employee] Randy Wiggington, who was really attending Homestead Excessive, the college Steve and I had graduated from, helped me quite a bit on that venture.”
Wiggington takes December 25 off. Woz doesn’t.
Disk II: The tip to an awesome yr for Steve Wozniak
1977 was an awesome yr for Woz, most likely the artistic spotlight of his profession. It began out with Apple formally incorporating as Apple Pc Co. in January, with Wozniak and Steve Jobs listed as co-founders.
With enterprise funding behind them, Apple went on to debut the Apple II at April’s West Coast Pc Faire, the San Francisco Bay Space’s first-ever private laptop conference. The pc went on sale two months later in June, priced at $1,298 for a base unit — the equal of $6,400 in 2022.
The Apple II proved a hit, bringing in $770,000 in income throughout its first yr. Nonetheless, the Disk II’s unbelievable significance can’t be overstated. It addressed the issue of lack of storage on the pc. It additionally offered a greater approach for customers to retailer and entry applications and information than the gradual cassette tapes used on the time.
The floppy disk was nonetheless a comparatively new know-how. Invented within the early Seventies by IBM, the unique 8-inch floppies had been shrunk down to five 1/4 inches by Shugart Associates in 1976.
A good deadline for Disk II
Apple’s first investor (and eventual second CEO) Mike Markkula advisable that Wozniak construct a disk drive for the Apple II. He mentioned the accent would make the pc extra compelling to prospects. Markkula figured folks needed authentic causes to purchase an Apple II, reasonably than simply the enjoyment of proudly owning a pc.
Woz wound up working over Christmas to complete the gadget. Each he and Apple needed it prepared for the Shopper Electronics Present in January. Whereas Woz labored on the {hardware}, Wiggington helped develop the mandatory software program to get the Disk II up and working.
Ultimately, the pair hit their tight deadline, and the Disk II went on sale the next June. The Disk II turned obscenely worthwhile for Apple. It price simply $140 in parts, however offered for $595. Even at that value, it got here in as essentially the most inexpensive floppy disk drive offered by a pc firm.
Thanks partially to the Disk II, Apple introduced in $7.9 million in 1978, and a large $49 million the yr after that. Now, that’s a Christmas properly spent!
Completely happy holidays, everybody!
