friend of Wozniak's named Steve Jobs was strongly interested in the marketing possibilities of the new computer. Prior to forming Apple Computer in 1975, Jobs and Wozniak had worked together on an illegal business in which they sold "blue boxes" (Edelhart and Garr, 1984, p. 56). These boxes enabled people to make long-distance calls without being charged for them.
Steve Jobs had experimented with a number of alternative lifestyles before deciding to become a computer entrepreneur. He had practiced meditation for many years and had even traveled to India in search of his spiritual roots. With Wozniak's computer, however, Jobs was prepared to abandon his spiritual lifestyle in order to strive toward becoming a millionaire. In order to obtain the start-up capital that they needed to establish their new computer business, Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak sold his electronic calculator. In this way, the aspiring partners raised a total of $1,300 (Edelhart and Garr, 1984, p. 57). There are many questions regarding why Jobs and Wozniak chose the name "Apple" for their new business. Some have argued that the name was chosen to reflect the simplicity of the computer's design (Slater, 1987, p. 312). Others have claimed that the name was chosen in homage to the Beatles' Apple Records (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984, p. 212). The first product created by Jobs and Wozniak was known as the Apple I. Working out of Jobs' parents' garage, the two partners produced the first 50 Apple computers, which were sold to the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California. Altogether, about 200 Apple I's were sold locally in the San Francisco Bay area, as well as nationally through mail order (p. 213). In 1977, Jobs and Wozniak introduced an improved version of their computer which was called the Apple II. This model was an instant success, selling over 1,000 units in the first year (Edelhart and Garr, 1984, p. 57).
Although Jobs and Wozniak fo...