Chapter 23 The first grand product launch

The release of the Apple II was scheduled to coincide with the inaugural West Coast Computer Expo.The show will be held in San Francisco in April 1977.The organizer of the exhibition was Jim Warren, a staunch member of the Homebrew Computer Club. Jobs immediately booked a booth for Apple after getting the information about the exhibition.He wanted to secure a spot at the front of the showroom so he could launch the Apple II in grand fashion, so he paid $5,000 up front, much to Woz's surprise. "<kbd>99lib•net</kbd> Steve thinks this is a big launch for us," Wozniak said, "We want the world to know that we have great computers and that we're a great company." s company."

This is a practical application of Markkula's marketing maxim: Impressing people to "instill" you and your product's superior quality in them is crucial, especially when launching a new product .This is also reflected in Jobs' work on Apple's display area.Other exhibitors used plain tables and signs made of cardboard.Apple's <dfn>99lib•net</dfn> went with a black velvet-covered counter and a large piece of backlit plexiglass emblazoned with Janoff's newly designed logo.They're showing the only three Apple IIs that have been completed, but there are empty boxes piled around to make it look like they have ample stock.

Computer cases sent to the show had tiny stains on them, and Jobs was so annoyed that he had a handful of employees sand them off. The "indoctrination" work even extended to dressing Jobs and Wozniak <q>九九书网</q>.Markkula sent them to a San Francisco tailor and ordered a three-piece suit, but they looked funny in it, like children in evening gowns. “Markkula explained how we had to dress up, how we had to look on stage, how we acted,” Wozniak recalled. It's worth the effort.The Apple II, housed in a handsome beige case, looked sturdy and friendly, not at all like the ugly metal-plated machines or bare circuit boards on other booths.Apple received 300 orders at the show, and Jobs also met Mizushima Satoshi, a Japanese textile manufacturer who later became became Apple's first distributor in Japan.

However, neither the gorgeous costumes nor Markkula's earnest teachings can stop the restless Woz from playing some pranks. He showed a program that guesses people's nationalities based on their surnames, and then some <acronym>www·99lib .net</acronym> racial jokes.He also printed and distributed hoax pamphlets himself, introducing a new type of computer called the Zaltaire, complete with all sorts of hyperbole copied from other advertisements, such as "Imagine a A car with five wheels..." Jobs easily believed it, and was even proud that the Apple II was on par with Zaltai.It wasn't until eight years later, when Woz gave Jobs a framed brochure as a birthday present, that he realized who had created the farce.