Apple was the first computer of Steve Jobs (you know, the guy who made the iPhone, the eBook, etc.). Note that Steve Jobs was a kind of visionary but the guy who actually built the Apple was Steve Wozniak.
The Apple was popular because it was affordable and, for its time rather powerful. That was possible because Steve Wozniak (and others) figured out how to build a computer in the cheapest (and most clever way).
As many HN readers, I learned programming when I was very young, on an Apple 2.
Apple II: introduced on April 17, 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire. It went on sale on June 5.
TRS-80: introduced on August 3, 1977 at a press conference at the Warwick Hotel in New York and was available for sale.
Radio Shack/Tandy and Commodore were big companies. They were later joined by Atari, Texas Instruments and eventually IBM.
The other players in the personal computing market back then were self financed (MITS, IMSAI, Ohio Scientific, Processor Technology, Cromenco, Northstar, Southwest Technical Products Corporation, Altos and so many others).
Apple stood apart as a venture capital backed startup. We later got Compaq and others but by that time none of the self financed companies were around anymore.
Apple is remembered as the number one in personal computing until the IBM PC came along. In terms of revenue that is true, but in terms of units shipped the much cheaper TRS-80 and the Pet dominated the late 1970s.
Apple ][ from en.wikipedia.org
Models[edit]. See also: Timeline of computing. Early II-series models were usually designated "Apple ]["; later ...
Google does a bit worse for Apple //e, but the top item in “People also ask” is “What is Apple E”, with answer “The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The e in the name stands for enhanced, referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were formerly only available as upgrades or add-ons in earlier models.”, picked from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIe
The wikipedia article uses II for ][, // etc so look at those subsections.
I remember typing it this way myself on the early BBS scene. Personally my system was a Radio Shack TSR-80 Model III. (That is III not 3)