June 1, 1978: Apple launches the Disk II floppy drive, one of many firm’s most essential peripherals ever.
The very best floppy drive out there on the time, Disk II solves the Apple II laptop’s most obtrusive weak spot — an absence of storage. It additionally helps set up Apple’s aptitude for good-looking revenue margins.
Apple Disk II launch
The Apple II had been out there for round six months when the necessity for a greater storage possibility grew to become apparent. In at the moment’s world of cloud storage and 1-terabyte iPhones, it’s unusual to think about a time when cupboard space was at a extreme scarcity on Apple machines. That definitely proved the case in 1977, nonetheless. At the moment, the one approach for customers to retailer and entry packages and information was utilizing unfathomably sluggish cassette tapes.
The floppy disk supplied a brand new answer. 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 (later) second CEO Mike Markkula really useful that Steve Wozniak construct a disk drive for the Apple II. His rationale? Offering a better option to retailer and entry packages would make the pc way more compelling to potential prospects. On the time, many individuals remained not sure why they wanted a pc of their house.
As Apple co-founder Wozniak recalled in his autobiography, iWoz, he wished to attend the Shopper Electronics Present in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, he was informed that solely Apple advertising and marketing individuals have been attending.
“I asked Mike, if I finished the disk drive in time, could I go to Vegas for the show?” 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 working. To assist develop the required software program to get the Disk II working, Woz drafted Randy Wiggington, considered one of Apple’s very first workers. (Wiggington met Wozniak in the course of 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 every single day except for December 25, which Wiggington took off. (Wozniak didn’t.)
Woz later described the Apple floppy drive because the most interesting piece of engineering he ever engaged in. Wiggington loved the problem, too.
“That was so awesome, so much fun,” Wiggington informed me after I interviewed him for my e book The Apple Revolution. “It wasn’t about money or fame, it was a nerdy accomplishment that we were proud of.”
They obtained to Las Vegas and, after a last-minute hiccup during which they by chance wiped the demo disk whereas making an attempt to create a backup, the CES debut labored completely.
Disk II turns into an enormous hit for Apple
When it launched in June 1978, the Disk II grew to become an incredible success for Apple, boosting gross sales of the Apple II as Markkula had hoped. It arrived across the similar time as Apple DOS, Apple’s first official working system.
The Disk II proved important in two different methods as nicely. 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 value $595 if purchased later.) Even at that worth, although, the Disk II was the most-affordable floppy disk drive bought by any laptop firm on the time.
The second cause the Disk II was essential is as a result of it marked the tip 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 workforce of two liable for it. Afterward, Apple moved to a extra committee-driven method to its tech. Initially, this damage the corporate, ensuing within the disastrous Apple III.
Apple went on to provide 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 proper as much as the iMac G3 in 1998.
Do you keep in mind the Disk II? Depart your feedback under.