Remembering 1977 With The First (Apple I) Apple Ad!

by , 7:00 AM EST, February 7th, 2001

Our series on Apple advertisements from days of old has been enormously popular, and we are very excited about the responses that have been pouring in from Observers with their own Apple ads that they have kept through the years. We will be continuing this series of ads for as long as we get them, and we currently have many of them we are still sorting through. Today, we are very proud to present what we think was the first ever Apple advertisement. Sent in by Observer Jonathan Parker, this ad is from the venerable Byte Magazine and advertises what we now call the Apple I.

Priced at the ominous sounding US$666.66 (a price derived from a 200% markup of component costs and not to be confused with the Number of the Beast if we remember our Mac Bathroom Reader correctly), the Apple I represented the first personal computer (before the term was applied) that was actually useful. It was designed entirely by Steve Wozniak and sold by Steve Jobs and helped propel the two to form Apple Computer.

The Apple I came just as you see above, a circuit board sans any kind of casing. One was expected to make one's own case. It featured a massive 8K of RAM and would actually output to a (gasp!) CRT terminal! Revolutionary, it was quickly seized up in greater quantities than Messrs. Jobs and Wozniak could make in their garage, and boom! Apple Computer was born. We are leaving out a few steps along the way, but if you are interested in this period of Apple's past, make sure you read the Mac Bathroom Reader and Apple Confidential : The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc. Both books are extraordinarily interesting tomes of Apple knowledge written by Owen Linzmayer.

Thanks to Jonathan Parker for sending us this gem. If you have an old Apple or clone ad (including Apple ][ clones as well as Mac clone makers), scan them and send them to us for us to share with Macheads everywhere.

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Other Articles From This Series

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May 11th

Remembering 1993 With Newton Commercials (QuickTime)!
May 4th

Remembering 1990 With A Couch Made From 35 Macs!
April 30th

Remembering 1990, The IIfx, & The Power To Be Your Best
April 27th

Remembering The Apple I & The Two Steves (With Pics)
March 30th

Remembering 1990 With Apple Brochure For Mac Classic, Mac IIsi, & Mac LC (With Pics)
March 23rd

Remembering 1984 With Screen Shots Of The Original Mac!
March 16th

Remembering 1984 With Massive Newsweek Spread (With Pics)
March 9th

Remembering 1984 With An Original Mac Brochure
March 2nd

Remembering 1984 With Steve Jobs & The Entire Macintosh Development Team (With Pics)
February 23rd

Remembering 1984 With The Mac 128K, Apple ][c, & Education Ad (With Pics)
February 16th

Remembering 1984 With A Macintosh & Lisa Brochure (With Pics)
February 14th

Remembering 1984 With An Original Mac Magazine Article (With Pics)
February 9th

Remembering 1977 With The First (Apple I) Apple Ad!
February 7th

Remembering 1977 With Apple Ad Featuring Pre-Rainbow Logo (With Pic)
February 5th

Remembering 1980 & 1984 With Two Apple Ads (With Pics)
February 2nd

Mac Vs. PC: Remembering 1989 (With Pic)
January 30th