Inside Story Of Apple’s Original Logo
Apple’s original logo was only used for about a year. People seldom know the inside story about it.
When Steve Wozniak finished his first own computer at 1975, Steve Jobs realized the potential of this computer immediately.
First they tried to sell Wozniak’s design to HP (where Wozniak worked for) or Atari (where Jobs worked for), but both companies declined. So they decided to so it themselves. Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus for $1500 and Steve Wozniaks sold his programmable HP calculator for $250. That’s they original capital.
They still had to find someone help them to get the company start-up. Then Ronald Gerald Wayne attended the company. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Gerald Wayne signed the partnership contract on April 1st, 1976. Wayne was given a 10% stake in Apple. So he was the third co-founder of Apple Computer.
Wayne was 20 years older than Jobs and Wozniak. He worked as video game maker at Atari at daytime then, only worked for Apple at night time, He illustrated the first Apple logo, Apple I manual and their partnership agreement.
Apple’s Original logo which designed by Wayne, was a pen-and-ink drawing of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. With a portion of William Wordsworth poem running around the border:” Newton…A Mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of the thought…Alone”
But only two weeks later, Wayne relinquished his stock for $800. Because legally all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any of the other partners. He was afraid of be in financial truble.
Later that same year, venture capitalist Mike Markkula helped develop a business plan and convert the partnership to a corporation. By 1982 when Apple had a billion dollars in annual sales; Wayne’s stake could worth as much as US$1.5 billion. But as a cautious person, Wayne claimed that he didn’t regret selling the stock as he had made “the best decision available at that time.”
Steve Jobs always felt that Wayne’s logo was too cerebral, he wanted a much vivid one. In early 1977, Jobs hired Regis McKenna Advertising to define a new logo for Apple. That came the rain-bow Apple logo.
Copyright © 512memo.com All Rights Reserved
Leave a Reply