When Steve Jobs and his early staff created a business plan for the Macintosh in 1981, long before the company’s own retail stores, it included selling directly to “sponsors” such as Mary Kay, Avon, Amway, Fuller, Tupperware, Shaklee and various insurance companies. The sales channels were part of the company’s concept to sell to the home business segment, while other distributors covered the consumer home, education and office segments. The plans are contained in a 29-page document just donated to the San Jose-based Computer History Museum by Apple’s first president, Mark Markkula. The “Preliminary Macintosh Business Plan” is dated “12 July 1981″ and is obviously printed on a dot-matrix printer. It compares the various Apple computers to that point, including the Apple II/III, Mac and Lisa. It defines a series of market segments for sales focus, including managers and secretaries in business, scientific and industrial, the home and home business segment, and various education levels. For each segment, Apple identified specific distribution outlets, including Apple dealers, office supply stores and direct sales. Among the outlets for “consumer home” were Macy’s and Sears, and door-to-door sales companies for the “home business” segment. The Apple team forecast that 1982 –1985 Mac sales would total $2,254,000: office would contribute $1,190,000, education $577,000 and home sales $487,000. Download the early business plan for more details.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Whoa, the Preliminary Macintosh Business Plan was dated on my birthday (and year).
The Business plan shows the Mac being released in 1982, but as we all know the Mac was not released until 1984. (Remember the 1984 spot?)