Apple II (original)

The Apple II (stylized as apple ][) is a personal computer released by Apple Inc. in June 1977. It was one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputers and is widely regarded as one of the most important personal computers of all time due to its role in popularizing home computing and influencing later software development. The Apple II's initial electrical design was done by Steve Wozniak. The system is based around the MOS Technology 6502, an 8-bit microprocessor. Howard Cantin designed the printed circuit board, Jerry Manock designed the foam-molded plastic case, and Rod Holt developed the switching power supply. Steve Jobs was not involved in the electrical design of the Apple II, but contributed in its high-level design and positioning as a non-hobbyist general purpose appliance. The Apple II was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. Byte magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, Apple's company logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors. The Apple II was the first in a series of computers referred to by the Apple II name. It was followed by the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIc Plus, and the 16-bit Apple IIGS—all of which remained compatible. Production of the last available model, the Apple IIe, ceased in November 1993.