Editing Apple III (section)

==Reception==

{{Cquote|It was unfortunate the way things worked out, because we probably put $100 million in advertising, promotion, and research and development into a product that was 3 percent of our revenues. In that same time frame, think what we could have done to improve the Apple II, or how much could have been done by Apple to give us products in IBM's market.|author=[[Steve Wozniak]], 1985{{r|byte198501}}|float=right |width=30% |quotealign=right }}

"The Apple III is unlikely to approach the success of the Apple II", ''[[InfoWorld]]'' said in January 1981. Citing the III's high price, manufacturing delays, limited disk storage, and small software library, the magazine asked "why buy a $5000 computer with an emulator when most of the programs you need run directly on a $2500 computer".<ref name="barry19810119">{{Cite magazine |last=Barry |first=Tim |date=1981-01-19 |title=Apple Grapples with Problems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kz4EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP5&pg=PP6#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-04-12 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=6, 10}}</ref>

Despite devoting the majority of its [[R&D]] to the Apple III and so ignoring the II that for a while dealers had difficulty in obtaining the latter,<ref name="mcmullen19840221">{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/PC-Mag-1984-02-21| title=Apple Charts The Course For IBM | magazine=[[PC Magazine]] |volume=3|number=3|publisher=Ziff Davis|oclc=805084898|issn=0888-8507| date=February 21, 1984 | access-date=October 24, 2013 |author1=McMullen, Barbara E.  |author2=John F. | page=122}}</ref> the III's technical problems made marketing the computer difficult. Ed Smith, who after designing the [[APF Imagination Machine]] worked as a distributor's representative, described the III as "a complete disaster". He recalled that he "was responsible for going to every dealership, setting up the Apple III in their showroom, and then explaining to them the functions of the Apple III, which in many cases didn't really work".<ref name="edwards20170222">{{Cite web |url=http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/1230/ed-smith-interview |title=VC&G Anthology Interview: Ed Smith, Black Video Game and Computer Pioneer |last=Edwards |first=Benj |date=February 22, 2017 |website=Vintage Computing and Games |access-date=May 19, 2017 |archive-date=May 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519210523/http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/1230/ed-smith-interview |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Sales===
''BYTE'' reported in 1982 that Apple had sold only 10,000 of the original Apple III, compared to 350,000 Apple IIs sold by the end of 1981.<ref name="libes198205">{{Cite magazine |last=Libes |first=Sol |date=May 1982 |title=Bytelines |url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1982-05_OCR/page/n389/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=BYTE |pages=388–396}}</ref> Pohlman reported that Apple was only selling 500 units a month by late 1981, mostly as replacements. The company was able to eventually raise monthly sales to 5,000, but the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]]'s successful launch had encouraged software companies to develop for it instead, prompting Apple to shift focus to the Lisa and Macintosh.<ref name="bartimo19841210" /> The PC almost ended sales of the Apple III, the most closely comparable Apple computer model.<ref name="pollack19830327">{{Cite news |last=Pollack |first=Andrew |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/27/business/big-ibm-has-done-it-again.html |title=Big I.B.M. Has Done It Again |date=1983-03-27 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2020-03-16 |page=Section 3, Page 1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-date=May 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521110634/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/27/business/big-ibm-has-done-it-again.html |url-status=live }}</ref> By early 1984, sales were primarily to existing III owners, Apple itself—its 4,500 employees were equipped with some 3,000-4,500 units—and some small businesses.<ref name="maceiie19840409">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jC4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54 | title=Apple IIe Sales Surge as IIc is Readied | magazine=[[InfoWorld]] | volume=6 | number=15 | publisher=IDG | oclc=421861736 | issn=0199-6649 | location=United States | date=April 9, 1984 | access-date=February 4, 2015 | author=Mace, Scott | pages=54–55 | archive-date=April 14, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414054643/https://books.google.com/books?id=jC4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="shea19840123" /> Apple finally discontinued the Apple III series on April 24, 1984, four months after introducing the III Plus, after selling only up to 75,000 units and replacing 14,000 defective units.<ref name="coventry20131006" />

Jobs said the company lost "incalculable amounts" of money on the Apple III.<ref name="coventry20131006">{{cite web | url=http://lowendmac.com/2013/apple-iii-chaos-apples-first-failure/ | title=Apple III Chaos: Apple's First Failure | publisher=Low End Mac | date=October 6, 2013 | access-date=July 1, 2014 | author=LEM Staff | archive-date=May 20, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520141747/http://lowendmac.com/2013/apple-iii-chaos-apples-first-failure/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Wozniak estimated that Apple had spent $100 million on the III instead of improving the II and better competing against IBM.{{r|byte198501}} Pohlman claimed that there was a "stigma" at Apple associated with having contributed to the computer. Most employees who worked on the III reportedly left Apple.<ref name="bartimo19841210" />