The PC business was quite different at the beginning (mid 70s) when Woz and Jobs started Apple. Unlike today, you had to have good engineering - there were tens of different microprocessors (RCA, TI, Intel, AMD, Zilog, Motorola..), few standards, and no software other than some different crude OS's and compilers. Most PCs were built from scratch or kits. To succeed, Apple had to choose the right chips, do a complete design from scratch, choose to sell their product as a completed unit (something new to the industry), get software, etc.
On top of that, there was no tried and true way to market your product. There were a few magazines like Byte and probably less than 100 computer stores in the world. Businesses did not buy PCs, they bought mainframes, time sharing, or had no computers at all. Someone like Jobs had to make the right calls on who was their market (education, home users, small businesses), where to sell, how to advertise, etc etc.
Without this complimentary pair of innovators, Apple would have gone away like the other PC startups of their day: SWTPC, Altair, IMSAI, SOL.. Apple was not the first to market, but it had good engineering and good marketing and some good luck.
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There is wisdom in that statement.
On top of that, there was no tried and true way to market your product. There were a few magazines like Byte and probably less than 100 computer stores in the world. Businesses did not buy PCs, they bought mainframes, time sharing, or had no computers at all. Someone like Jobs had to make the right calls on who was their market (education, home users, small businesses), where to sell, how to advertise, etc etc.
Without this complimentary pair of innovators, Apple would have gone away like the other PC startups of their day: SWTPC, Altair, IMSAI, SOL.. Apple was not the first to market, but it had good engineering and good marketing and some good luck.
Woz didn’t have to learn a thing, Woz was born with all that engineering knowledge.