Who is Steve Wozniak?

Steve Wozniak (born in 1950) was the inventor of the Apple computer and co-founded Apple Computer. As one of the wealthiest and most famous inventors in the United States, Wozniak has now abandoned the business world to spend time teaching children about computers.

Story

Stephen Gary Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California. Wozniak became interested in mathematics when he was in fourth grade. Wozniak enjoyed reading books. His favorite books are about Tom Swift, Jr., a young engineer who invented airplanes and rocket ships. In 5th grade, Wozniak built his own radio transmitter and receiver from a kit. At age 11, he built a machine called a "ticktacktoe" computer.

At Cupertino High School, Wozniak designed a binary subtraction calculator and won the best electronics project at a science fair. At Homestead High School, Wozniak showed remarkable talent and was sent by a teacher to Sylvania, a large electronics company, for computer programming. He won the best math student award at Homestead in 1966, attended seminars at Santa Clara University and scored 800 on the Mathastic Math competency test.

Wozniak studied at the University of Colorado for a year, but then because his parents could not afford out-of-state tuition, Wozniak returned to California to attend DeAnza Community College. Wozniak went to the University of California, at Berkeley. There, with the help of a high school friend named Steve Jobs, who later became his business partner at Apple Computer, he designed a "green little box", the device to carry out. showing illegal free phone calls. They sold them to students for $ 150.

The birth of Apple

Because of a lack of money, Wozniak went to apply for a job at Hewlett-Packard (HP), an electronics company in Palo Alto, California. Within a few months, Wozniak had become a real engineer. HP is suitable for Wozniak because of its advanced technology and relaxed atmosphere. The company allows employees to work on their own projects at night. As a result, Wozniak created some of the first graphic designs for computers and games. Steve Jobs, who worked at Atari, invited him to help design an extra for Breakout. For 4 days, the two of them designed and divided the $ 750 reward given by Atari.

Wozniak and Jobs attended the Homebrew computer club meetings where Silicon Valley engineers exchanged ideas and demonstrated their inventions. These meetings led Wozniak to design a low-cost personal computer. He wanted it to be easy to program, affordable, and fun. During this time, Wozniak also started the Dial-a-Joke service.

By working at night at HP, Wozniak has completed the design of his computer. When Jobs saw this computer, he thought it could be commercially successful and wanted to market it. Wozniak decided not to leave his job at HP but agreed to set up a computer company with Jobs. Apple Computer Company officially started on April 1, 1976. Thanks to luck and determination, a month later they received an order for 100 computers for a total of $ 50,000.

Apple II - A great success

Wozniak spent time at night improving Apple (still working for HP during the day), while Jobs figured out how to market it. Through contacts, Jobs recruited Mike Markkula, a retired marketing genius at the age of 33, to help run the company. After a short time, Wozniak's efforts paid off with the introduction of the much improved Apple II, aimed at casual users rather than experts. Finally, in October 1976, Wozniak decided to resign at HP.

Priced at just $ 1298, the Apple II is a huge success. By the end of the first year, the company had earned nearly $ 750,000 in revenue with a profit of $ 42,000.

After a broken marriage, Wozniak could only work hard at work. During this time, he developed a way to connect an Apple computer to the printer, thereby making it more useful. He also developed a floppy disk, a removable plastic disc, accompanied by information on it. These innovations significantly increase the ability of ordinary people to use Apple computers. By the end of 1978, Apple's sales had grown tenfold, making Apple one of the fastest growing companies in the United States.

Wozniak is very famous. He was frequently invited to lecture and interview with newspapers and television. While Apple II was still the world's best-selling computer at the time, the company decided to plan ahead by developing Apple III, a small business computer comparable to a personal computer. by IBM. Although it costs less than $ 3000, the computer is not selling because it has a hardware failure, resulting in poor reviews and not much software being developed for it.

Leaving Apple

In December 1980, Apple stock was released and sold out in minutes. Within a month, Wozniak was holding about $ 50 million. After remarriage, Wozniak decided to quit his job at Apple to return to college. Wozniak returned to Berkeley in 1981 to obtain a computer science degree with the pen name "Rocky Clark" and was officially awarded several years later (in 1986).

Return to Macintosh development

In 1982, Wozniak returned to Apple Computer's Apple II division. Wozniak began designing a new computer called Lisa, a cheaper version that later became known as the Macintosh. However, the development of the Macintosh led to more friction between Jobs and Wozniak.

The relationship between Jobs and Wozniak became increasingly tense. In February 1985, Wozniak decided to leave Apple forever.

Wozniak founded a new company, CL9, to develop an infrared remote control device that can control household appliances.

In 1989, Wozniak sold CL9. Since then, he spends most of his time raising money for charities in San Jose. Currently, Wozniak spends time teaching his children about the wonders of computers.