June 1, 1978: Apple launches the Disk II floppy drive, one of many firm’s most vital peripherals ever.
The perfect floppy drive accessible on the time, Disk II solves the Apple II laptop’s most obvious weak spot — a scarcity of storage. It additionally helps set up Apple’s aptitude for good-looking revenue margins.
Apple Disk II launch
About six months after the Apple II launch in June 1977, the necessity for a greater storage choice grew to become apparent. In at this time’s world of cloud storage and 1-terabyte iPhones, it’s unusual to think about a time when cupboard space was severely scarce on Apple machines. That actually proved the case in 1977, nonetheless. At the moment, the one approach for customers to retailer and entry packages and knowledge was utilizing unfathomably gradual cassette tapes.
The floppy disk supplied a brand new resolution. IBM invented the 8-inch floppy within the early Seventies. Shugart Associates later shrank it to five 1/4 inches, a dimension extra acceptable for private computer systems. The 5 1/4-inch floppy disk debuted in 1976, making it cutting-edge expertise when it arrived on the Apple II.
A formidable feat of engineering
Apple’s first investor (and second CEO) Mike Markkula beneficial that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak construct a disk drive for the Apple II. His rationale? Offering a neater approach to retailer and entry packages would make the pc much more compelling to potential prospects. On the time, many individuals remained not sure why they wanted a pc of their residence.
As Wozniak recalled in his autobiography, iWoz: Pc Geek to Cult Icon, he needed to attend the Client Electronics Present in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, he was advised that solely Apple advertising folks had been attending.
“I requested Mike, if I completed the disk drive in time, might I am going to Vegas for the present?” Woz recalled. Markkula agreed.
Steve Wozniak and Randy Wiggington go into overdrive
This interchange passed off in late 1977, leaving Woz with an extremely tight, two-week window to get a prototype up and operating. To assist develop the required software program to get the Disk II working, Woz drafted Randy Wiggington, one among Apple’s very first staff. (Wiggington met Wozniak throughout the Homebrew Pc Membership days.)
Subsisting on takeout meals from McDonald’s, the pair obtained the primary Disk II working over the Christmas break. They labored on daily basis apart from December 25, which Wiggington took off. (Wozniak didn’t.)
Woz later described the Apple floppy drive because the best piece of engineering he ever engaged in. Wiggington loved the problem, too.
“That was so superior, a lot enjoyable,” Wiggington advised me once I interviewed him for my e-book The Apple Revolution. “It wasn’t about cash or fame, it was a nerdy accomplishment that we had been pleased with.”
They obtained to Las Vegas and, after a last-minute hiccup wherein they by chance wiped the demo disk whereas trying to create a backup, the CES debut labored completely.
Disk II turns into a giant hit for Apple
When it launched on today in June 1978, the Disk II grew to become an important success for Apple, boosting gross sales of the Apple II as Markkula had hoped. It arrived across the identical time as Apple DOS, Apple’s first official working system.
The Apple Disk II proved vital in two different methods as properly. First, it grew to become obscenely worthwhile for the corporate — and helped set up the high-profit-margin technique that continues to today. Utilizing solely $140 in elements, Apple manufactured a disk drive that bought for $495 throughout preorders. (It price $595 if purchased later.) Even at that value, although, the Disk II was essentially the most inexpensive floppy disk drive bought by any laptop firm on the time.
The second purpose the Disk II was vital is as a result of it marked the top of an period at Apple. Just like the Apple-1 and Apple II computer systems, this was a tool predominantly designed by Woz, with solely a staff of two chargeable for it. Afterward, Apple moved to a extra committee-driven strategy to its tech. Initially, this damage the corporate, ensuing within the disastrous Apple III.
Apple went on to supply six variants of the Disk II over the course of the Apple II’s lifetime: the Disk II, the Disk III, the DuoDisk, the Disk IIc, the UniDisk 5.25 and the Apple 5.25 Drive. Some model of a floppy disk drive continued to ship with Apple computer systems till the authentic iMac arrived in 1998.
Do you keep in mind the Disk II? Go away your feedback under.
