14 DAY TRIAL // Steve Wozniak is the least known guy of the two that started Apple Computer in a garage. In a Bloomberg Businessweek special, the Woz reveals that they didn’t even get much work done in that iconic garage on at 11161 Crist Avenue.
The interview, accompanied by a touching video featuring Woz fiddling with an Apple II computer, is probably the most revealing story of the humble beginnings of Apple Computer told from Woz’s perspective.
Steve Jobs found his words later in life
Woz and Jobs were business partners, but they were also very close friends. He’s not shy to let the world know that he always made the best computer designs, even though it was Jobs who was really outspoken about changing the world (or putting a dent in the universe as the visionary said with his own mouth).
“Steve wanted a company real badly. His thinking was not necessarily about what computers would do for the average Joe in the average home. Steve found the words that explained what these computers would do for people and how important it was a little later in life,” says the lesser-known Apple co-founder.
This is echoed by some of Jobs’s own speeches, as well as the stories about him fleeing to India to find spiritual guidance. Woz touched on several other aspects regarding his partner’s modus operandi and personality, and mainly had words of praise for the late visionary genius.
Selling one million Apple IIs
Asked about the evolution of Apple through sales of computers, Woz revealed that the first generation of computers – the Apple Is that keep fetching millions on auctions whenever someone digs one up from an old warehouse – sold only about 100 units. The Apple II, however, was a whole different matter.
While this one also didn’t sell like water in the desert at first, sales boomed the instant they designed “a spreadsheet program that let small businessmen do more work in one hour than they could do in 10 years with pencil and paper,” Woz said. “Sales shot up. It was maybe five years before we sold a million—the first computer ever to sell a million,” he added.
As far as the garage story is concerned, Woz says it’s more of a myth than anything really. He claims they hardly ever got any work done there. The special includes a touching video, so don’t hesitate to hit the play button.
