Apple's co-founders are known as the late Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, but in fact there were three. The third Apple co-founder, whom most people don't know, is Ronald Wayne, 92. Wayne, then middle-aged and working at the video game developer Atari, met Jobs when he was hired there as a new employee, and that connection led to Apple's co-founding. In April 1976, the place where the three gathered to found Apple was Wayne's home, and the person who drew Apple's first logo, depicting Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, was Wayne.
The three co-founders agreed that Jobs and Wozniak would each hold 45% equity, with Wayne holding the remaining 10%. If Jobs and Wozniak argued, the older Wayne would serve as mediator. However, it is known that Wayne left Apple just 12 days after its founding by selling his 10% equity for only $800 (about 1.17 million won). Wayne later worked at several corporations, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), then opened a shop selling rare stamps. As he moved away from Silicon Valley, he became "Apple's forgotten founder."
Marking Apple's 50th anniversary, Wayne said at an event hosted last Mar. by the Computer History Museum (CHM) in the United States, "The story that I sold Apple equity for $800 has been circulating for decades, but it's not true," adding, "I did not sell Apple equity." In a recent written interview with ChosunBiz, Wayne also said, "I have never sold 10% of Apple equity," and noted, "I have secured a substantial amount of supporting evidence and will officially present it through the appropriate authorities in the near future." This is the first time Wayne has been interviewed by Korean media. The following is a Q&A with Wayne.
─Tell us about founding Apple with Jobs and Wozniak in 1976.
"I first met Jobs at Atari. He was a 19-year-old entry-level engineer at the time. He used to walk around the office barefoot and had a peculiar magnetism. Perhaps sensing that I knew what he needed to know, he followed my lead from the start. One day, Jobs came to me and said he and Wozniak were going to start a company to make personal computers. Wozniak treasured his work greatly, and Jobs wanted me to persuade him that his circuit designs should belong to a company, not to an individual.
Wozniak had good reason to cherish his designs. His technical ability was extraordinary. He could realize circuit architectures that would take a team of engineers weeks to produce as if he were a musician improvising.
On the evening of Apr. 1, 1976, Jobs, then 21, brought Wozniak, then 26, to my house in California. I, then 42, spoke with Wozniak for about 30 minutes, and Wozniak agreed to company ownership of the circuit designs. Jobs leapt up and declared, 'Let's start a company.' I was the only adult in the room, and right there I drafted a three-page partnership agreement. That was the moment Apple was born."
─You drew Apple's first logo.
"Jobs asked me to make a logo, saying it was 'needed quickly.' Back then, everything at Apple had to move fast. I believe that logo is the finest illustration I have ever drawn. I rendered in pen and ink a detailed scene of Newton sitting under an apple tree, with light emanating from the apple—as if the apple were the source of the light. Around the border, I placed the company name 'Apple Computer Company' and a line from William Wordsworth's The Prelude: 'Newton… a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought… alone.' The idea was simple. Newton's apple changed the world, and our apple would change the world again.
The 'rainbow apple' logo that Jobs adopted in 1977 was simpler and better suited for production. The rainbow apple became one of the most recognized marks in the world, and today's monochrome apple is minimal, confident, elegant, and mature. I have no complaint about Apple's logo change. Apple has always been a company that understands design."
─What were Jobs and Wozniak like, as you remember them?
"Jobs was not an easy person to understand, but he was immensely captivating. He had a preternatural ability to sense what people wanted. At the same time, he could be quite ruthless. He did what he believed was necessary to achieve what he believed was important. Whether those two always aligned is something I have thought about a great deal in recent years.
Wozniak was almost the polar opposite of Jobs in temperament: generous, open, extraordinary yet humble. He treated complex technical problems almost like a game. I have immense respect for Wozniak. He has been generous in how he assesses what I contributed to Apple, and I am grateful for that."
─Why did you leave Apple after just 12 days?
"I want to speak candidly, yet carefully. There is far more to this story than the public has known so far, and I am not in a position to tell it all today.
Here is what I can say. First, even the notion that I 'left after 12 days' is not accurate. I was involved with Apple for much longer than 12 days. The circumstances of my departure also differ from how they have been portrayed. I did not leave because I lacked a vision of what Apple could become. I left because I was exposed to responsibilities that could lead to financial risk. Those responsibilities included my elderly mother, who lived with me at the time."
Right after its founding, Apple received an order from a computer retail store to build 50 Apple I computers, and Jobs, to fulfill the order, procured about $15,000 (about 2.2 million won) worth of parts on credit from suppliers. The plan was to pay for the parts with the proceeds from Apple I sales, but unlike the young and asset-less Jobs and Wozniak, Wayne, then in his 40s, reportedly feared that if the sales plan fell through, his house and bank accounts could be seized.
─Didn't you leave after selling your 10% equity for $800?
"Thank you for asking this question. The public understanding of this matter is entirely wrong. I did not sell 10% of Apple equity. When submitting amended paperwork to remove my name from the responsibility structure of the partnership, the clerk suggested it would be good to include an amount. The clerk proposed $800, and I accepted the suggestion. A short time later I received an envelope in the mail from Jobs, and inside was a check for $800. There was no letter, no explanation. Only the check.
That was not an equity sale. There was no discussion about selling equity, and no negotiation. There was also no document corresponding to the 'valid transfer of ownership' stipulated by the terms of the partnership agreement I drafted myself."
─Do you plan to take follow-up steps to have your ownership recognized? It's been 50 years.
"I am not in a position to say more than this right now, but I would ask that you watch this matter closely over the next few weeks. I have secured a substantial volume of evidence supporting what I have said, and I will officially present it through the appropriate authorities in the near future."
─Setting aside the truth of the equity sale, do you regret leaving Apple?
"I have always said I have lived a 'blessed life.' That remains true. However, I am no longer sure that the decision was entirely mine to make. What I can say is that the story of Wayne and Apple is not over yet."
─The Apple you founded marks its 50th anniversary this year. What do you think is the secret to Apple's rise as a global corporations?
"Apple succeeded because in 1976 Jobs saw what no one else in tech fully understood: that the person encountering the product matters more than the engineering inside it. Every decision Apple has made over the past 50 years traces back to that intuition. The iPod was not a better music player; it was a better way to experience music. The iPhone was not a better phone; it was a completely different way to relate to information. This is the legacy Jobs left, and it has endured even after his passing.
Another major strength of Apple is its willingness to make its existing products obsolete itself, before anyone else does. The iPhone made the iPod obsolete, and the iPad challenged the laptop. That instinct is what separates Apple from other corporations that try to defend their position."
─If Apple has weaknesses it should face squarely, what are they?
"The age of artificial intelligence (AI) is a true test of whether Apple without Jobs still has instinct. Apple's approach to AI is cautious: private, controlled, and integrated. Whether that is wisdom or hesitation will become clear over the next few years.
Another weakness is the gap between the full truth of how Apple actually came into being and what is known. Apple has not fully and accurately explained what I contributed to the company and how that contribution was treated. If you cannot face history honestly, you eventually lose the trust that history has built. Apple now has a chance to set that story straight. I hope Apple seizes that opportunity."