The Apple II was a hit for Jobs, left, and Wozniak at the
1977 West Coast Computer Faire.
The computer was the hit of the fair. While most of the other
displays looked like those of hobbyists, due to Jobs’s resolve,
Apple’s display was slick and professional. The display, the adver-
tising and marketing that Jobs insisted on, and the innovativeness
of Apple II, all put the company on the road to success.
In no time, the company received three hundred orders for
the machine. That was just the beginning. By 1978, Apple was
turning a $2 million profit. By 1980, it was making $335 million,
had more than one thousand employees, and was housed in a
huge campus in Cupertino, California. When the company went
public, which means that shares of the company were sold on the
stock exchange, even more money rolled in. Jobs was suddenly
worth more than $217 million, making him the youngest person
in history to make the Fortune 400 list of tycoons.
Much of the Apple’s success was due to Jobs. Moritz
explains:
It [Apple II] was a product of collaboration and blended
contributions . . . The color, the slots, the way in which the
50 Steve Jobs