Success of the Apple II
What made the Apple II a hit was not replacing cartridge game machines - others could do that.
What made it a hit in the first place, and distinguished it from the hundreds of other machines around at the time, was that it was the only machine that would run Visicalc, the first spreadsheet.
This was an utter game changer for accountants (who are the people who decide where the money is spent). They used to draw up accounts by hand - and redo the whole thing every time something changed, or was missed out, or was deleted.
If you showed an accountant Visicalc and then stood between him and the nearest computer store, you would have an accountant-shaped hole clear through you.
After that, a company that needed a computer would already have Apple IIs and experience with them.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
