Editing Apple III (section)

===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" />