Apple Computer launched the Apple IIgs in September 1986 as the next generation of its venerable Apple II line. Strictly speaking, the IIgs was not an Apple II. The original Apple II designed by Steve Wozniak in 1977 was based on an 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor. Subsequent revisions, including the Apple IIe and IIc, were then built around the 65C02, an enhanced, lower-power version of the 6502 produced by Western Design Center, which continues to manufacture the chips to this day.