Apple Lisa: Steve Jobs’ costly flop that revolutionized personal computing and led to the Macintosh

Launched in January 1983, the Apple Lisa was the first mass-market personal computer operable through a graphical user interface (GUI). Lisa’s story starts in the spring of 1978, when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs learned he was about to become a father to a girl. His first daughter was named Lisa and it is widely believed that this was the inspiration behind the computer’s name - despite the company line that it was an acronym for “Local Integrated Software Architecture”.

Steve Jobs revolutionizes home computing

At the time, the Apple Lisa was revolutionary. apart from the graphical user interface the on-screen cursor was moved using a mouse — concepts that would later define personal computing.

But while the Apple Lisa was lauded for it’s innovative features, its high retail price ($10,000 - about $30,000 today), along with other technical handicaps, meant it was too expensive or simply not practical for the general consumer market. Poor sales (just 60,000 units were sold in two years) ultimately undermined its reputation.

Despite its exorbitant price and commercial , the Lisa laid the foundation for the company’s next desktop computer: the Macintosh.

1984: The Apple Mac is born

Jobs unveiled the Macintosh in January 1984, hailing it a revolutionary tool designed to bring computing into everyday life. It was introduced to the world in spectacular style, broadcast in a Ridley Scott-directed, 30-second commercial during a timeout in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII between the Redskins and the Raiders on 22 January 1984.

The 128K Mac was an all-in-one model with a black and white monitor,a drive for a 3½-floppy disk onto which 720 KB of information could be stored. It was painfully slow to use and featured few applications and was mainly used for word processing. But it was much cheaper than the Lisa - with an introductory retail price of at $2,495 (around $7,700 in 2025). Apple sold over half a million units of its Mac 128K before the model was discontinued in 1985 in favor of more powerful models such as the Mac Classic and SE.

As for Jobs’ daughter, today Lisa Brennan-Jobs is s successful writer and screenwriter, who has contributed pieces for numerous publications including The Southwest Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Harvard Advocate, Spiked, Vogue, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She detailed her childhood, upbringing and relationship with her father in her memoir Small Fry, which was published in 2018.

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