Chapter 14 Chapter 7 The Birth of the Apple

Jobs realized almost immediately that there must be business opportunities in the computer designed by Woz.Of course, Jobs at the end of 1975 was still a kid in his early 20s.His original plan was not very big, he just wanted to sell printed circuit boards without chips in the geek circle.If they cost $25 per PCB, they can sell 100 boards if all goes well, netting $2,500 if they sell for $50 each. To make money, it is best to start a company first.Well, be sure to have your own company.Jobs felt that he would be a good boss and Woz would be a good technical partner.However, Woz was not too interested in the establishment of the company. He felt that being an engineer at HP was a serious job.Jobs spent a lot of effort persuading Woz to join the team.

"We had to have a company so we could sell computers," Jobs said. "Also, it didn't take too much risk. With just over $1,000 in startup capital, the first printed circuit boards could be produced." "What if you can't sell it? What if you lose money?" Woz carefully calculated the risk of setting up a company. "Even if we lose the start-up capital, we have our own company after all. Think about it, owning a company! This is an important life experience in our life no matter what." Jobs said Sincere and persuasive. "Well, what you said makes sense." Woz was moved, "We can try it first, but I won't resign from HP for the time being."

"Sure," Jobs said, "let's start a company together." Woz didn't think about resigning from HP.And, in order to sell the computer he designed, Woz had to wrestle with a legal issue.As an HP employee, all his technical achievements are owned by HP.Without HP's consent, Woz has no right to profit from the products he invents.To this end, Woz specifically showed the computer he designed to his boss at Hewlett-Packard and asked if Hewlett-Packard was interested in owning and selling this product. While Woz's bosses and colleagues raved about Woz's design, no one thought HP would have an incentive to sell the new computer.The computer looked like a toy compared to HP's line of business-oriented electronics, so why would HP's customers pay for such an inconspicuous little thing?In this way, HP, which has always been known for being rigorous and pragmatic, missed the opportunity to lead the personal computer revolution.At Woz's request, HP also issued a legally valid written certificate for Woz, relinquishing ownership of Woz's invention.

To raise the starting capital, Woz sold his HP65 calculator and raised $250.Jobs sold his Volkswagen and raised a few hundred dollars more. The company should also have a nice name.Coincidentally, during that time, Jobs took time to go back to the apple farm in Oregon. On the day of flying back to Silicon Valley, Woz drove to the airport to pick Jobs home.As the car sped down the highway, Jobs suddenly said to Woz: "I just came back from the apple farm. I love fruit myself. What do you think our company is called Apple?" "Apple?" Woz's first reaction was that the Beatles' record company was also called Apple. "Isn't this the same name as the Beatles' Apple record company?"

"Oh... let me think again." Along the way, the two Steves thought of many technical names, but both of them felt that none of them sounded as good as Apple. "It's okay, let's call it Apple," Jobs said confidently, "Apple Computer is completely different from Apple Records, and nothing will happen." At that time, Jobs himself probably never thought that Apple would really become a world-class computer company one day.Jobs himself was a fan of the Beatles, of course he knew that the Beatles' record company was also called Apple.But how could something as trivial as Apple, a small company started by two young men to sell printed circuit boards, alert the Beatles?Fate made a big joke with Jobs.A few years later, Apple Computer really overshadowed the Beatles' eponymous record company, and the record company really took the computer company to court.The lawsuit between the two companies began in 1978, intermittently, on and off, and lasted until 2007.Of course, these grievances and grievances with the Beatles are another story, which we will talk about later.

Apple Inc. was founded on the night of April Fool's Day, April 1, 1976.A secret that has not been known for a long time is that Apple's original founders were not two, Jobs and Woz, but three.The third person's name was Ronald Wayne (Ronald Wayne), a colleague of Jobs at Atari. After persuading Woz to start the company, Jobs felt that both he and Woz were young men, and he must have a senior, seasoned person who understands law and business to help.Wayne was the right man. He was thoughtful, experienced, and understood legal procedures and business processes.Jobs had little trouble convincing Wayne to join him.In fact, in Wayne's mind, the company the two young men wanted to set up was just to sell computer accessories that cost tens of dollars a piece, and no matter how hard they tried, it was just a small business worth thousands of dollars.Since a friend asks himself to help, why not do it?

The three talked for a long time before finally deciding on the partnership method.The two main founders, Jobs and Woz, each hold 45% of the shares, and Wayne, as a partner, holds 10% of the shares.Wayne drafted a ten-page agreement document. On the night of April 1, the three signed the document together in the bedroom of Jobs' home, and Apple was announced.Another theory mentions that the place where the documents were signed was Wayne's apartment in Mountain View, not Jobs' home.However, it doesn't matter.Importantly, Apple was not founded by Jobs and Woz in a garage, nor was the Apple Computer built in a garage.

In Silicon Valley, it seems that starting a company and building a computer in a garage is a glorious tradition, and everyone wants to believe that Apple has continued this glorious tradition.Many years later, even Apple itself was willing to accept and promote such rumors. Jobs himself took the media to visit his garage many times, and proudly told the media that it was the birthplace of Apple and Apple Computer. In fact, it was HP, not Apple, that actually built computers and companies in garages.Around the time Apple was founded, Jobs worked in his bedroom while Woz designed and built Apple computers in his apartment.

Soon, the newly established Apple Company received an unexpected large order, and the third founder, Wayne, also withdrew from Apple. This large order is entirely due to Jobs.At the time, Paul Terrel, a member of the Homebrew Computer Club, had just opened the Byte Shop, the first computer retail store in history, in Mountain View.Jobs went to the byte store alone to find Terrell and said: "At the club, you've seen Woz's computer. That's great, isn't it? We can now mass-produce the printed circuit boards for this computer for $50 a piece. How about it, are you interested in consignment sales?"

"Printed circuit board?" Terrell said in surprise, "Who would want a printed circuit board without a chip? Buying it home and soldering the chip yourself? I don't want to sell this kind of blank that doesn't even have accessories board." "But at least the person who buys this board doesn't have to design the circuit himself?" Jobs tried to persuade Terrell again. "You might as well just buy the Altair 8800," Terrell said. "It's all assembled, including the case. Do you really think ordinary people are going to buy components and build their own computers like the crazy people in our homebrew club? "

For the first time ever, Apple's fledgling business plan was dealt a major blow.However, Jobs is not the kind of person who is easily discouraged. He almost revised the sales plan in his mind in a few seconds: "So, what if we could provide the assembled computer?" "Oh, that can be considered." Terrell himself still admires Woz's design, "The assembled computer has a case, a keyboard, and a power supply. It can be used after being connected to the screen, so it can be sold. " "Then, what do you think is the right price for an assembled computer?" Jobs asked Terrell tentatively. "It must be cheaper than the Altair 8800. Well, I can underwrite 50 units and pay you $500 each. How?" $500 for one, 50 of them!Jobs quickly calculated the costs and benefits in his head.Woz had assembled a prototype, and Jobs knew the cost of purchasing chips, power supplies, and keyboards. Even including the chassis, the total cost was just over $400.Wholesale to Terrell's byte store can sell for $500 each, and the profit margin is not small! Today the store no longer exists. "I think it will work." Jobs said decisively, "$500 a piece, 50. I'm going to organize production." Jobs' business acumen and sense of risk were clearly ahead of Woz and Wayne.After hearing about the contract Jobs had negotiated with Terrell, both Woz and Wayne thought Jobs was crazy. "Where do we have the money to produce 50 assembled computers?" Woz asked puzzledly, "The three of us pooled together more than $1,000 as the cost. Now, the cost is not even a fraction of the production cost." "To produce so many computers, you have to borrow money from the bank." Wayne said, "However, are these computers sure to be sold? What if the money is not in the bank?" Jobs is not as timid as Woz and Wayne. He believes that a computer that can change the world cannot be sold, even if it borrows money, it must be produced. "No, no, we don't just want to do the byte store," Jobs said, "we also want to sell more computers through other channels. The first batch we want to make 100, sell 50 to Terrell, Retailed for 50 units, sold to friends and colleagues. Retailed for 30% more than $500!" Jobs' self-confidence and persistence impressed Woz.Selling 100 units, a conservative estimate, if each unit earns only $100, that is also a profit of $10,000!The two Steves saw hope in Apple's growth. "Well, I think it's reliable." Woz stood on Jobs' side. "The retail price can be set at $666.66 a piece. I like repeated numbers." The honest and steady Wayne is about to collapse.He regretted being fooled by the two Steves and got on the "thief ship" of Apple.Expanding the scale of production means that debts must be borrowed, and borrowing means that the shareholder himself must bear the obligation of repayment.Wayne had just experienced an investment failure not long ago, and he didn't want to experience a second time in such a short period of time. On April 12, less than two weeks after the establishment of Apple, Wayne sold his shares in Apple at a discount and retired from Apple. Poor Wayne had just seen the apples as two children's games and adventures, and when the adventures were more than reasonable, his own reason would prevail.In any case, Wayne never imagined that the two young men who co-founded Apple with him were not only hot-headed young men, but computer duo who were about to change the world. The two Steves were not disturbed by Wayne's withdrawal, and quickly found a friend to borrow the first production funds, and then recruited Fernandez and a group of good friends to help assemble the computer.In less than a month, 50 computers for the byte store have been produced. However, due to financial and time constraints, Jobs did not fulfill his promise to Terrell.The Apple I computer finally delivered to the byte store is not a complete product with keyboard, case and power supply, but a computer motherboard with all chips assembled.Facing a pile of computer motherboards brought by Jobs, Terrell paid for the goods on the spot, although he felt a little regretful. Apple's first business, the two Steves managed to make a profit of $8,000.The revolutionary Apple I did not disappoint Terrell, and soon became the best-selling product in Byte Store.In the first year after the establishment of Apple, the sales of Apple I brought Apple not too much, but enough stable cash income, which prompted Woz to completely give up his job at Hewlett-Packard soon after, and work for Apple full-time. work, while also buying time for Woz to refine and build the next generation of a truly well-assembled personal computer, the Apple II. Wayne, who withdrew from Apple early, lost the opportunity to succeed with Apple and become a billionaire after Apple went public.However, Wayne still did his best to help Jobs and Woz in the period after he quit Apple.For example, the first logo pattern in Apple's history was designed and drawn by Wayne himself.It was a coat of arms with a ribbon wrapped around it, and in the center of the coat of arms was Newton reading a book under an apple tree.From the design of this pattern, it is not difficult to know that Wayne is a rational and rigorous Westerner with obvious gentleman brand and cultural background. Many years later, Apple has become a world-class large company.Curious reporters approached Wayne and asked him if he regretted quitting Apple.Wayne says: "I never felt the slightest bit of regret because I made the best decision based on the information I was given at the time."