Part III

The two men who first introduced the PC to the market – Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak – had neither prestigious university education nor experience in big business.

Jobs was raised by adoptive parents in Cupertino, California, located in what is now known as the Silicon Valley. Though he was interested in engineering, his passions of youth varied. He dropped out of Reed College, Portland, Oregon, took a job at Atari Corporation as a video game designer early in 1974, and saved enough money for a pilgrimage to India to experience Buddhism.

Back in the Silicon Valley in the autumn of 1974, Jobs reconnected with Stephen Wozniak, a former high school friend who was working for the Hewlett-Packard Company. When Wozniak told Jobs of his progress in designing his own computer circuit board, Jobs suggested that they go into business together, which they did after Hewlett-Packard formally turned down Wozniak's design in 1976. A prototype of the Apple I was built in the Jobs' family garage. The computer was actually a circuit board without monitor, keyboard, or casing¹. (See Figure 2)

Their initial plans were modest. Jobs calculated that they could sell about 100 computers to hobbyists for $50 each, twice what the parts cost them.

 

 

Figure 2