The Apple III

Apple III introduced September 1980

The Apple III was first introduced at the National Computer Conference in September of 1980. The Apple III , originally code named “Sara”, sported a brand new operating system with a built in disk controller and 4 peripheral slots. Since floppy disks were used all the time for loading and unloading information from the computer, this was very handy. The original price tag for the Apple III was $3,495 – the priciest product yet for Apple.

Some Apple III were shipped in the fall of 1980, but volume shipments began in the spring of 1981. By this time Apple employs 1,000 people. In December of 1983 the Apple III+ was introduced. Apple III was removed from the Apple product line-up in September of 1985 as the Macintosh was gaining in popularity and the Apple II still selling strong.