Steve Wozniak, often known simply as “Woz,” is a pioneering computer engineer and co-founder of Apple Inc. Alongside Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne, he launched the company in 1976 from a garage in Cupertino, California.
Born on August 11, 1950, in San Jose, California, Steve Wozniak was a self-taught engineer who became fascinated with electronics and invention from an early age. His early work in designing computers and circuit boards caught the attention of his friend Jobs.
Wozniak was the technical brain behind Apple’s early success, designing and building the Apple-1 computer by hand. The compact, affordable machine helped ignite the personal computing revolution, attracting hobbyists and computer enthusiasts.
Steve Wozniak’s most significant accomplishment at Apple came with the Apple II, one of the first mass-market home computers to offer color graphics and expandability. Its success not only established Apple as a major tech player but also helped shape the future of consumer computing.
Wozniak engineered both the hardware and much of the software, including the computer’s operating system and early games. After the computer’s launch, he created the Disk II, a revolutionary disk drive that expanded the machine’s usefulness (and made tons of money for Apple).
His minimalist, elegant designs emphasized efficiency and user-friendliness — values that would go on to define Apple’s products for decades.
Though Apple quickly grew into a major company, Wozniak remained grounded and focused on engineering. He famously eschewed corporate politics and business maneuvering, preferring to stay hands-on with technology.
In 1981, after surviving a serious plane crash, Wozniak took a leave of absence from Apple. The following year, he staged the Us Festival, a massive music and technology event in California. The festival featured some of the biggest bands of the time, but lost a ton of money.
Woz returned to Apple briefly but ultimately left the company in 1985, choosing not to participate in the increasingly complex and competitive business world Apple was entering. Even after his departure, he remained a shareholder and continued to support the company publicly.
After Apple, Wozniak pursued a wide range of interests, including education, philanthropy and technology advocacy. He returned to college under a pseudonym to complete his degree and later focused on supporting students and public schools in science and technology education.
Steve Wozniak went on to found several ventures, including CL 9 (short for “Cloud Nine”), which developed a universal remote control. He later worked with various startups, lending his name and knowledge to help young innovators. He also wrote a memoir, iWoz, detailing his life and his perspective on technology, creativity and the early days of Apple.
Known for his engineering brilliance and playful spirit, Wozniak is celebrated not only as a co-founder of one of the world’s most valuable tech companies but as a champion of creativity, education and engineering for its own sake. His legacy is defined by his belief that technology should be approachable, empowering and fun.
This philosophy helped shape the modern personal computing experience. And while Steve Jobs became the face of Apple, Steve Wozniak remains an iconic figure in tech histoy, a brilliant tinkerer who helped turn a garage startup into a technological powerhouse by making computers accessible and fun.
June 1, 1978: Apple launches the Disk II floppy drive, one of the company’s most important peripherals ever.
The best floppy drive available at the time, Disk II solves the Apple II computer’s most glaring weakness — a lack of storage. It also helps establish Apple’s flair for handsome profit margins.
It’s easy to get addicted to using Touch ID whenever you need to gain password-restricted access to anything. But not everyone is a big fan of Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (not the function, the keeb itself). Today’s MacBook Pro setup user found an odd but practical solution. They use a Keychron Q1 mechanical keyboard as a daily driver and Velcro a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID to the edge of the desk so they can reach the Touch ID button.
April 12, 1976: Apple’s third co-founder, a former Atari colleague of Steve Wozniak’s named Ron Wayne, cashes in his Apple shares for just $800.
Wayne, who owns a 10% stake in the company, throws in the towel after worrying that he doesn’t have the time or energy to properly invest in Apple. He later receives an extra $1,500 check to seal the deal. When he cashes it, he loses out on an investment that could have been worth billions.
“I was 40 and these kids were in their 20s,” Wayne told Cult of Mac decades later, referring to Wozniak and Steve Jobs. “They were whirlwinds — it was like having a tiger by the tail. If I had stayed with Apple I probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.”
April 11, 1976: Apple releases its first computer, the Apple-1.
Designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak, the computers are sold wholesale by “Steven” Jobs. To finance their manufacturing, Wozniak sells his HP-65 calculator for $500, while Jobs sells his Volkswagen van.
April 1, 1976: The Apple Computer Company is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The trio sets out to sell the $666 Apple-1 computer.
Apple will not officially become a corporation until January 3 the following year. By that time, Wayne is no longer a part of the business.
March 3, 1975: The Homebrew Computer Club, a hobbyist group that will help spark the personal computing revolution, holds its first meeting in Menlo Park, California.
It becomes a welcome forum for computer geeks at a time when few others care about the nascent technology. Regular attendee Steve Wozniak and his friend Steve Jobs will eventually show off the first Apple-1 unit at the club.
February 7, 1981: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is involved in a serious plane crash in California, resulting in his first lengthy leave of absence from the company.
At the time, Wozniak is flying a turbocharged, single-engine, six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC. In the plane with Woz is his fiancé, Candi Clark, her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. Fortunately, nobody dies in the crash, although Woz suffers minor head injuries.
February 6, 1985: Frustrated by Apple’s shifting priorities, co-founder Steve Wozniak leaves the company to pursue outside interests.
His departure — which comes the same year that Steve Jobs leaves Apple to form NeXT — represents yet another big change for the company. The move mostly stems from Woz’s dissatisfaction with how management treated the Apple II division. However, his desire to start a new company also plays a role.
January 28, 1978: Apple Computer occupies Bandley 1, its first custom-built office, giving the company a bespoke business center to house its growing operations in Cupertino, California.
A full 15 years before 1 Infinite Loop, and almost four decades before Apple Park’s stunning “spaceship” HQ landed, 10260 Bandley Drive in Cupertino becomes the first purpose-built, permanent headquarters for the newly founded company.
January 7, 1997: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak returns to the company to participate in an advisory role, reuniting with Steve Jobs onstage at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
Woz’s homecoming is revealed at the end of the Macworld conference. With Jobs’ recent return to Apple (thanks to the NeXT acquisition), it marks the first time the two co-founders have been at Apple together since 1983. It’s a great way to celebrate Apple’s 20th anniversary. Unfortunately, the reunion won’t last.
January 3, 1977: Apple Computer Co. is officially incorporated, with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak listed as co-founders. The Apple incorporation leaves out third founder Ron Wayne — who initially invested in the company — because he sold back his stake in Apple for $800.
The funding and expertise needed to turn Apple into a corporation is provided by a man named Mike Markkula, who becomes an important figure in the company’s history.
December 25, 1977: Steve Wozniak spends the holidays building a prototype of the Disk II, the Apple II computer’s revolutionary floppy disk drive.
“I worked all day, all night, through Christmas and New Year’s trying to get it done,” Wozniak would later recall in his autobiography, iWoz. “[Early Apple employee] Randy Wiggington, who was actually attending Homestead High, the school Steve and I had graduated from, helped me a lot on that project.”
Wiggington takes December 25 off. Woz does not.
December 8, 1975: San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur Paul Terrell opens the Byte Shop, one of the world’s first computer stores — and the first to sell an Apple computer.
Years before Apple would open its own retail outlets, the Byte Shop stocks the first 50 Apple-1 computers built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
November 23, 2010: An early Apple-1 computer, complete with its original packaging and a letter signed by Steve Jobs, sells for $210,000.
At the time, it ranks as the most expensive personal computer ever sold at auction. That makes sense, because it’s an incredibly rare find. The working Apple-1 is thought to be one of only approximately 50 still in existence.
October 22, 2008: During an Apple conference call, Steve Jobs reveals that a user downloaded the 200 millionth app from the App Store that very day.
The news comes less than five months after the launch of the App Store, and only a month after Apple surpassed 100 million app downloads.
September 3, 1982: The Us Festival, an extravagant music and technology event staged by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, kicks off in California. The festival costs $8 million to stage, and boasts appearances from some of the biggest musical acts of the day.
It’s a wild venture for Woz, who is on hiatus from Apple after surviving a serious plane crash in 1981.
July 8, 1997: Steve Jobs begins his path to becoming chief executive officer of Apple, after former CEO Gil Amelio departs the company following a massive quarterly loss. Also leaving Apple is Ellen Hancock, executive vice president of technology.
To run Apple’s day-to-day operations, CFO Fred Anderson takes over until a new CEO can be found. Jobs, meanwhile, moves from strategic adviser to take “a more expanded role with Apple’s board and executive management team,” according to CNN Money.
Cupertino’s turnaround has started!
June 26, 2008: A year after the first iPhone was released, Apple sends an email to developers calling for smartphone software to be distributed in the forthcoming App Store.
Coders around the world greet the news with excitement. They hurry to submit their iPhone apps and get in on the looming App Store gold rush. Many rake in small fortunes when the App Store goes live less than a month later.
The U.S. move toward banning the hugely popular TikTok video service is “hypocrisy.” That’s the opinion of Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple.
He sees no difference between a Chinese company tracking users and U.S. companies doing the same thing.
Steve Wozniak suffered a minor stroke but is now recovering at home.
The Woz is now 73 but not really retired from a career that included co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs in 1977.
A unique bit of Apple history just went up for auction: Apple Computer check “No. 2” signed by company co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Bidding for the $116.97 check is already up to more than $55,000.
A number of other rare Apple items are also up for sale, some signed by Jobs.
Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple along with Steve Jobs, warned that generative AI will make scams much easier to pull off.
Woz called for regulation to require AI-generated content to be labeled as such.
A new open letter signed by tech leaders urges a six-month pause on development of advanced artificial intelligence applications that may pose “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, other tech execs and many AI academics signed the letter. It urges caution concerning “emergent” AI more powerful than GPT-4. We’re not talking Siri here (at least not yet).
August 11, 1950: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is born. While Steve Jobs may be the most admired Apple figure, Woz might be the most well-loved by fans.
In addition to his most famous creation, the Apple II, Wozniak is also responsible for imbuing Apple’s products with his fun-loving personality.
Happy birthday, Woz!
A restored Apple-1 in good working order might see a winning bid of $485,000 in an upcoming auction. That’s not just because the antique computer is nearly all original and actually works. It’s also because Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak signed it.