June 2nd, 2009
Apple's early days: Documents on display
If you are both history buff and Apple fan, you’re going to love the latest exhibit at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley (just a stone’s throw from the GooglePlex, for the geography buffs reading, too.)
The documents offer a peek back into the early days of the company, specifically the documents related to the 150,000 shares of common stock being offered to investors in 1977 and the business plan for the Macintosh unit from 1981.
A post on Apple Insider excerpts the documents, including the warning to investors that the company was new, without an established history to base forecasts, and was led by a “young and relatively inexperienced” management team. The business plan laid out details about the products, pricing and sales strategies. (see image)
The 1977 document, called the Preliminary Confidential Offering Memorandum, was donated to the museum by Mike Markkula, one of the company’s first investors. The 1981 business plan document was donated by Dan Kottke, the company’s first employee.
The documents can be downloaded from the Computer History Museum site.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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