December 13, 1980: Apple Hits One Billion in Sales

When most people think about Apple, they think first of either the Mac or the iPod. The failures such as: the Newton, the Lisa or Apple's foray into digital cameras are largely forgotten. Just as telling, one of Apple's biggest successes is also largely forgotten--the Apple II.

The Apple II is the machine people are thinking of when they opine that Apple once owned the personal computing market. That was a bit of a stretch, since the largest hunk of the market ever held by the Apple II was 15%, while Commodore once held an astonishing 40% (the Mac’s all-time high was 11%).

The large share and the incredible margins added up to one thing, a lot of cash coming into Apple's coffers. Apple achieved its first billion-dollar year on the strength of the Apple II this month in 1980.