June 1, 1978: Apple launches the Disk II floppy drive, one of many firm’s most essential peripherals ever.
The very best floppy drive accessible on the time, Disk II solves the Apple II laptop’s most obtrusive weak point — an absence 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 possibility turned apparent. In in the present day’s world of cloud storage and 1-terabyte iPhones, it’s unusual to think about a time when space for storing was severely scarce on Apple machines. That actually proved the case in 1977, nonetheless. At the moment, the one method for customers to retailer and entry applications and knowledge was utilizing unfathomably gradual cassette tapes.
The floppy disk offered 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 applicable 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 powerful feat of engineering
Apple’s first investor (and second CEO) Mike Markkula really useful that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak construct a disk drive for the Apple II. His rationale? Offering a neater technique to retailer and entry applications would make the pc way more compelling to potential clients. On the time, many individuals remained uncertain why they wanted a pc of their house.
As Wozniak recalled in his autobiography, iWoz: Pc Geek to Cult Icon, he needed to attend the Client Electronics Present in Las Vegas. Nonetheless, he was informed that solely Apple advertising individuals had been attending.
“I requested Mike, if I completed the disk drive in time, may I am going to Vegas for the present?” Woz recalled. Markkula agreed.
Steve Wozniak and Randy Wiggington go into overdrive
This interchange came about in late 1977, leaving Woz with an extremely tight, two-week window to get a prototype up and operating. To assist develop the mandatory software program to get the Disk II working, Woz drafted Randy Wiggington, considered one of Apple’s very first workers. (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 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 superior, a lot enjoyable,” Wiggington informed me once I interviewed him for my guide The Apple Revolution. “It wasn’t about cash or fame, it was a nerdy accomplishment that we had been happy with.”
They obtained to Las Vegas and, after a last-minute hiccup during which they by accident 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 on today in June 1978, the Disk II turned an excellent 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 Apple Disk II proved important in two different methods as nicely. First, it turned obscenely worthwhile for the corporate — and helped set up the high-profit-margin technique that continues to today. Utilizing solely $140 in parts, Apple manufactured a disk drive that bought for $495 throughout preorders. (It value $595 if purchased later.) Even at that value, although, the Disk II was probably the most reasonably priced floppy disk drive bought by any laptop firm on the time.
The second motive the Disk II was essential 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 group 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 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 bear in mind the Disk II? Go away your feedback under.