Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture

5: Apple’s 1984

Apple’s 1984 From an emphasis on technology in the previous chapter, this chapter turns to the initial marketing of this new product, the personal computer. How did fledgling PC companies attempt to define a product that had never before existed? How did marketers engage and redirect the available visions of computing? Why would anybody buy one of these bizarre new devices? We will trace the changing promotional strategies of personal-computer manufacturers from the “invention” of the PC in the mid-1970s to its firm establishment as a mass-produced consumer item in the mid-1980s. We’ll zoom in on what was undoubtedly the single most influential personal computer advertisement: the award-winning “1984” ad, which introduced the Apple Macintosh computer to an audience of 96 million viewers1 during the 1984 Super Bowl. Apple II and VisiCalc Before we get to 1984, let’s look at the years between the Altair and the Mac. The commodification of computing in the form of the PC made information processing available for the first time to millions of potential consumers. Following the success of the Altair, a number of other small computer manufacturers started up, selling to the growing hobbyist market . Not until the Apple II, however, did a computer emerge that reached a broader consumer base. Apple Computer was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak . Jobs was a brilliant salesmen, Wozniak a talented engineer interested in designing PCs for users without the technical skills of the hobbyists . Their first product, the Apple I, was released later that year. A custom -built product in a wooden case, it sold only a few copies. 5 102 The Apple II was a much slicker package. In one molded-plastic box, it gave a beginner everything needed to begin computing. The Apple II was released in 1977. The following chart shows its subsequent diffusion:2 Year Total Users 1977 570 1978 8,170 1979 43,270 1980 121,370 1981 301,370 1982 580,370 1983 1,000,000 1984 2,000,000 Stan Veit, the founder of one of the first stores for personal computers in the wake of the Altair’s success, recalls, The Apple II changed the entire business. No longer did solder iron wielding techies hang out at our store—the Apples came completely built and ready to run. . . . The Apple users were much more oriented toward software and graphic applications. They were more interested in what a computer did than how it did it.3 What users were interested in doing, more than anything else, was to use a new kind of computer program: VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet. Written by Dan Bricklin and Robert Frankston, VisiCalc was a combination of calculator and ledger sheet, allowing financial planners to create complex documents composed of interlocking mathematical relationships . VisiCalc exploited the interactive properties of computing, allowing users to explore a range of financial scenarios by just changing just one or two variables. In the language of the computer industry, VisiCalc was the first “killer application,” a software program so compelling it inspired consumers to buy computers just to run it. (Subsequent killer apps include word processing , desktop publishing, and, more recently, email and web browsing .) Released in October 1979, VisiCalc sold 200,000 copies in two years.4 Only available for the Apple II, it caused an explosion in Apple II sales. As Veit recalls, “The Apple disk system was priced within everyone ’s price range, and soon there was a lot of very useful software for it, led by VisiCalc, the most important program. Businessmen would come into the store to buy ‘A VisiCalc Machine’ and that’s all they used it for.”5 Apple’s 1984 | 103 VisiCalc exploited the unique interactive qualities of computer software much as computer games do. Bricklin’s original model for the program , in fact, was a computer game. Computer industry journalist Robert X. Cringely writes, What Bricklin really wanted was . . . a kind of very advanced calculator with a heads-up display similar to the weapons system controls on an F14 fighter. Like Luke Skywalker jumping into the turret of the Millennium Falcon, Bricklin saw himself blasting out financials, locking onto profit and loss numbers that would appear suspended in space before him. It was to be a business tool cum video game, a Saturday Night Special for M.B.A.s, only the hardware...