Steve Wozniak

For the first time, a middle manager could sit at their desk and ask, what if repeatedly without calling accounting.

But here's what Apple didn't realize until later.

VisiCalc could only run on the Apple II.

And this wasn't because of some brilliant strategy.

It was completely accidental.

The Apple II just happened to be the only computer with everything VisiCalc needed.

Enough RAM to hold the spreadsheet, a proper keyboard, Wozniak's floppy disk could load it quickly, and a high resolution display to see the columns clearly.

All the other computers couldn't run it.

They were stuck with 4K of memory and no disk drives.

By the time they caught up

Apple had already captured a lot of the business market.

VisiCalc became the first killer app.

Software so compelling, it sold the hardware.

Before VisiCalc, when a manager asked, why do I need a $2,000 computer?

There was no good answer.

But VisiCalc gave them one.

It will save you 40 hours a month on financial planning.

Productivity would be unleashed.

Apple went from selling 1,000 units a month to selling 10,000.

Overnight, business people became 90% of their market.