Steve Wozniak's Journey to Creating Apple Computers

Steve Wozniak was the kind of person who liked to tell jokes and pull pranks at the schools he attended. During high school, he decided he wanted to become an engineer. He graduated with honors from Homestead High School, California in 1968. He tried to convince his family to send him to Colorado University for the engineering program, but his family encouraged him to go to a nearby community college in California instead. After going to the community college to register for classes, he found out that the calculus, physics, and chemistry classes he wanted to attend were all full. So Steve went back to his parents to tell them the news, and they agreed to send him to Colorado University for his first year of college. He was not a dedicated student, since he liked to pull pranks such as jamming residents' cable in the dorms. Regardless, he will land several engineering jobs which would eventually lead to the invention of the Apple Computer.

Steve wanted to continue at Colorado University, but he knew his parents could not afford it. He decided to go to DeAnza Community College for his sophomore year. During a nine-month leave after his sophomore year, he and his friend Allen Baum were looking for a computer store in Sunnyvale, California. Instead of finding Data General Nova, they ran into Telnet, Inc., a company that was developing a new computer. They both applied for jobs and started working at Telnet. Steve programmed, designed, and tested diagnostics on devices, such as printers. During his time there, he shared his ideas about computer projects with other workers. He acquired computer chips from these workers that he would not have been able to get otherwise. Telnet was not successful at selling its computer, ...

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...s urged Steve Wozniak to start a company with him. What would the company’s name be? Jobs once went to India and worked in an apple orchard, so he suggested “Apple” for the name. The both came to agree on the name, and on April fool’s Day, 1976, they officially formed the Apple Computer Company. Steve Wozniak was twenty-six years old, and Steve Jobs was twenty-one. They sold a Volkswagen van and a programmable calculator for $1350 because they needed the money to get the business going. They settled on the garage at Job’s parents’ house to produce the circuit boards.

Steve Wozniak continued working at H-P to save more money for the company. One day in May of 1976, Steve Jobs called him to tell him that they got their first order. Paul Terrell, the owner of the Byte shop, one of the first ever computer stores, wanted 100 Apple circuit boards for $500 each.