December 25, 1977: During the festive season, Steve Wozniak dedicates his time to creating a prototype for the Disk II, a groundbreaking floppy disk drive designed for the Apple II computer.
In his autobiography, *iWoz*, Wozniak reminisces about those long hours: “I labored day and night through Christmas and New Year’s to bring it all together.” He acknowledges significant help from Randy Wiggington, who was still a student at Homestead High School—the same institution from which both he and Steve Jobs had graduated.
While Wiggington took time off on December 25th, Wozniak pressed on with his work.
The Impact of Disk II: A Milestone Year for Steve Wozniak
The year 1977 marked an extraordinary chapter in Wozniak’s career—a culmination of creativity. January witnessed Apple’s official incorporation as Apple Computer Co., establishing both Wozniak and Jobs as co-founders of the burgeoning enterprise.
With financial backing secured, they unveiled their innovative product, the Apple II, at April’s West Coast Computer Faire—the inaugural personal computer expo in San Francisco. Launched two months later in June at $1,298 (a figure that translates to over $6,700 when adjusted for inflation by 2024), this computer swiftly captured market attention.
In its first fiscal year alone, the Apple II generated an impressive revenue of $770,000. Nonetheless, the significance of Disk II cannot be overstated—it solved critical storage limitations that plagued early computers. This device offered users a far superior option for saving and accessing information compared to the slower cassette tapes prevalent during that era.
The floppy disk was still considered cutting-edge technology back then. Initially invented by IBM in the early ’70s as an eight-inch disk format before being downsized to five-and-a-quarter inches by Shugart Associates in 1976.
A Race Against Time: Crafting Apple’s Floppy Drive
Mike Markkula—Apple’s first investor and later its second CEO—urged Wozniak to create a disk drive compatible with the Apple II. He believed such an accessory would significantly enhance market appeal—customers needed solid incentives beyond merely owning a personal computing device.
This urgency pushed Woz into overdrive during Christmas to finalize development ahead of January’s Consumer Electronics Show. While he focused on hardware design and engineering challenges with Disk II’s production process; Wiggington contributed crucial software elements necessary for full functionality.
Ultimately successful under pressure from tight schedules，the pair completed their project just in time! The drive hit shelves by June boasting exceptional profitability; despite component costs of only $140 per unit，it retailed at approximately $595—marking it as one of industry’s most cost-effective floppy drives available then.
A Financial Windfall Spurred By Innovation
The release date turned out opportune; buoyed partially thanks to sales spurred via success from Disk II products—which substantially contributed towards Apple’s revenues climbing impressively towards reaching around $7.9 million within just one fiscal year followed promptly thereafter taking this total further high up—to approximately $49 million—by next annual accounting period! That’s quite something spectacular achieved over holidays!