Apple launched the first commercially successful personal computer, the Apple II, in 1977. Designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, the machine was introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire in April 1977.
Unlike many earlier hobbyist computers, the Apple II arrived as a finished product in a plastic case with a keyboard. It could connect to an ordinary television for display, and users could save programs and data on cassette tape before floppy-disk storage became available. Its color graphics were an important selling point.
The Apple II became especially useful after VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program for personal computers, appeared in 1979. That software helped demonstrate that a home computer could serve business and educational purposes, not merely run technical experiments or games.
The Apple II was not the first personal computer ever built. Earlier systems such as the Altair 8800 were commercially sold, and several machines competed with Apple. The Apple II’s distinction is its unusually broad consumer success and long production life.