In 1982, Apple became the first computer company to reach annual sales of $1 billion. (Of course, they threw a big party to celebrate.) That year, the Research and Development budget again increased to $38 million and a revolutionary idea, AppleCare extended warranty, was introduced, which still frustrates customers today with one hour average time spent on hold for technical support. Apple also released its dot matrix printer(6) for $2,195. In 1983, Apple again tried to revive the Apple III by releasing an update, the III+. AppleWorks, which was a best-selling program, combined word processing, spreadsheets, and a database. A new low-cost dot matrix printer, the ImageWriter was introduced at $675. The Apple IIe was introduced at $1,395. John Sculley, a friend of Jobs, resigned from Pepsi one April morning and by evening, was working as president for Apple. A "Kids Can't Wait" program was announced that year which granted 10,000 Apple II's (including the one millionth to roll off the assembly line) to California schools. Apple entered the Fortune 500 in less than five years at position 411. The computer that could have been a revolution, Lisa, was introduced.
Lisa's advancements should have shocked the technological world. It was
the first computer to use a mouse, and a
GUI(7) which
included file folders, a clipboard, calculator, and a wastebasket. Lisa
was supposed to be a sexy business machine, but didn't really surprise the
few select members of the press at the secret sneak preview Jobs had set
up. Part of the reason she never conquered the world was the many delays
that caused an extremely ill-timed introduction ("The Wall Street Journal
had reported its existence more than a year before; Business Week had quoted
a stock analyst who called it 'the next quantum jump in technology'"
(Rose 13).), the high price, and the name "Lisa". Lisa sounded harmless
enough, but as Time magazine released it was the "little girl who'd been
born in the summer of 1978 to the woman Jobs had lived with a few months
before." (Rose 12) Few knew about Lisa and when they had Jobs denied his
participation by claiming that "twenty-eight percent of the male population
of the United States could be the father," (Rose 12) even though he was
paying child care. This controversy, the delays, and mismanagement of the
Lisa division scared customers away.