Comment by Jedd
4 years ago
In the space of three contiguous paragraphs, that phrase is used three times.
"... the model marked the start of the personal computer industry."
"Apple-1 was the start of the personal computer industry."
"The Apple-1 was the first Apple product to be sold. It marked the start of the personal computer industry."
200 units were built, 80 or so remain around today, and they were released in 1976. The Commodore PET was being designed in 1976, and released in 1977 - before the Apple II. There was, of course, a flurry of other activity around this time.
Are these grandiose claims reasonable?
No, as there are plenty other kit and assembled computers at the time. For example, the IBM 5100 Portable Computer came out in 1975.
https://www.old-computers.com
Sorry for veering off topic, but the 5100 has been the most elusive item I’ve wanted in my collection (probably not true, but the rarer items I want will I likely never obtain. They come up for sale occasionally, and tend to be even more expensive than rarer computers and almost never the APL version.
I mean, IIRC Apple was the first company to use the phrase "personal computer," so perhaps literally true? If not quite what you meant.
That's a good point. (I did not know that either.)
The KIM-1 was out before the Apple-1. Arguably much less of a computer but if all you're looking at is the dates then it was clearly first.