Steve Jobs receives a lot of credit for the incredible things he accomplished at Apple,
and rightfully so.
But not as many people give Steve Wozniak the credit he deserves for actually building
the computers that made Apple a viable company to begin with.
And that’s in large part due to his decision to give up his leadership position at Apple
in 1985.
So in this video, I’m going to explain why he left Apple, and the events that led to
that decision.
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Alright now I have to start off the video with a disclaimer.
Technically speaking, Wozniak never left Apple.
Since he remains an employee to this day.
He actually still receives a $50 paycheck every week.
But practically speaking, his presence and decision making power over the company was
given up in 1985.
And that was a big deal considering his influence over their products in the early days.
He was responsible for building the Apple I, the first computer that featured simple
plug-and-play connectivity with keyboards and television sets.
Wozniak didn’t even think about trying to make money off the computer, that idea came
from Steve Jobs.
The money they made from the Apple I led to the creation of the improved Apple II.
Which was also designed and engineered by Wozniak.
One of the greatest technical achievements of the Apple II was its eight expansion slots,
powered by just two chips.
Instead of the industry standard forty chips.
This allowed the computer to be smaller, cheaper, and more capable than its competition.
But Jobs didn’t like the idea.
He told Wozniak, “Make this computer with two slots.
All you need is a printer and a modem.”
Woz was stunned.
He knew that computer hobbyists like himself wanted as much expandability as possible.
So intentionally limiting the Apple’s II’s capabilities made no sense to him.
Woz responded by saying that if the Apple II didn’t ship with eight slots, he’d
walk away and take his computer with him.
Jobs eventually relented, and the Apple II went on to become one of the most successful
computers in history.
Boosting Apple’s annual sales from $775,000 to $118 million.
But this argument over the Apple II was a perfect representation of the two Steve’s
differing philosophies.
Wozniak believed in a totally open approach to technology, while Jobs believed in making
it as closed off as possible.
But don’t take it from me, here’s Wozniak explaining it himself.
He said, "That’s one of the big drives that Steve had, to keep things closed, and self-defined,
and not really expandable on the outside so much.
We started a company with the Apple II, and it was totally open, everything.
We published our schematics, our designs, the things people could look at and modify
and improve their way.
So I’m totally into that open source thinking.”
And I think that’s exactly why Wozniak eventually left his leadership position at Apple.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, as Apple’s products became more closed off,
Wozniak became more frustrated with the company’s direction.
For example, when they were creating the Apple III, Jobs again imposed arbitrary limitations
to the product that Wozniak opposed.
Jobs insisted that the computer have no fan or air vents, which required the use of an
aluminum base to dissipate heat.
But manufacturing the aluminum took time, requiring the design to be finalized before
the actual motherboard.
After the design was submitted, it turned out that the motherboard was too small to
fit all the necessary components.
This required an engineering workaround that wasn’t proven to be reliable.
But due to time constraints, the product shipped regardless of its questionable quality.
Wozniak looked back on the computer with discontent.
Saying, “There was way too short a time frame in manufacturing and development…
The case of the Apple III had long since been set in concrete, so they had a certain size
logic board to fit the circuits on...
Apple swapped out the boards.
The problem was, at this point there were other problems, things like chips that didn't
fit.
There were a million problems that you would normally take care of when you do your preproduction
and pilot run.
Basically, customers were shipped the pilot run.”
Wozniak ended up being proven right.
With the Apple III suffering from countless hardware issues, like overheating, dislodged
chips, melted disks, short circuits, and component failures.
In fact, one of official solutions from Apple to reseat dislodged chips, was to tilt the
front of their computers six inches off their desk, and simply drop it.
It was an embarrassing misstep for Apple, and severely damaged their brand reputation.
But Wozniak still felt like they could recover with their next big computer, the Macintosh.
He’d actually been leading the design and development of the product until 1981, when
he experienced a tragic airplane crash that left him with severe face and head injuries
along with temporary amnesia.
Due to the accident, Wozniak was absent from Apple for two years.
Coming back in 1983 to help with product development.
But by that time, Jobs had already taken over the Macintosh project and implemented some
of his signature touches.
Like a fanless cooling system and a completely closed design.
In fact, customers needed a special screwdriver to physically open the plastic case.
Something that made no sense to Wozniak.
Looking back, he said, “the original Macintosh ‘failed' under Jobs, it wasn’t until he
left that it became a success.”
And according to the sales numbers, that does appear to be true.
While Jobs was around, the Macintosh never generated enough revenue to keep Apple afloat.
By 1985, almost a year after the computer was released, the Apple II still accounted
for 85% of Apple’s sales.
Despite this, Jobs often failed to mention or include the Apple II team in events and
meetings.
Something that understandably frustrated Wozniak.
So in early 1985, he left Apple for good.
Saying that the company had been going in the wrong direction for the last five years,
that he missed the fun of the early days, and that Apple had become the bane of his
existence.
He enjoyed engineering, not management.
And he believed Apple was preventing him from being the person he wanted to be.
After leaving, Wozniak went on to create his own company called CL 9, where he developed
the first programmable universal remote control.
He also fulfilled his lifelong goal of becoming an educator, by teaching a computer class
for students from fifth to ninth grade.
It was worlds away from the path Steve Jobs took, but no less meaningful.
Alright so that is why Steve Wozniak left Apple, thanks for watching till the end, and
don’t forget to subscribe to help decide which topics I cover next.