First IBM PC (1981)
August 12, 1981 marks the birth of the IBM PC, the computer that single-handedly brought personal computing to the business market. IBM's success pushed Apple and others to alter their focus, and most personal computer companies from the pre-IBM age have become historical footnotes. By 2006, even Apple Computer had followed IBM's lead and adopted Intel CPUs and made Macs that can boot Microsoft Windows.
The secret designs for the first PC were referred to as "Project Chess". The code name for the new computer was "Acorn". Twelve engineers, directed by William C. Lowe, collected in Boca Raton, Florida, to plan and build the "Acorn". On August 12, 1981, IBM brought out their new computer, re-named the IBM PC. The "PC" stood for "personal computer" making IBM responsible for popularizing the term "PC". Earlier surveys had concluded that there weren't enough applications to rationalize acceptance on a wide-spread basis and the task force was opposing the idea that things couldn't be done quickly in IBM. Lowe's group worked day-and-night to thrash out a design for hardware, software, manufacturing setup and sales strategy. It was so well-conceived that the underlying strategy remained unchanged throughout the product cycle.
The first IBM PC operated on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor. The PC came outfitted with 16 kilobytes of memory, expandable to 256k. The PC came with one or two 160k floppy disk drives and an optional color monitor. The price tag started at $1,565, which would be almost $4,000 today. What truly made the IBM PC different from preceding IBM computers was that it was the first one constructed from off the shelf parts (called open architecture) and marketed by outside distributors (Sears & Roebucks and Computerland). The Intel chip was selected since IBM had already obtained the rights to fabricate the Intel chips. IBM had used the Intel 8086 for use in its Displaywriter Intelligent Typewriter in exchange for giving Intel the rights to IBM's bubble memory technology.
Options included:
A printer that could print in two directions at 80 characters per second in 12 different character styles, and also check itself for malfunctions and supply an out-of-paper signal. A color/graphics monitor with 16 foreground and background colors and 256 characters for text applications. Its graphics were in four colors. The unit also ran self-diagnostic checks.
The reaction to the announcement was incredible. One dealer had 22 customers come in and place $1,000 deposits on the machines for which he could not even assure a delivery date. By the end of 1982, certified retail outfits were contracting to sell the new machine at the rate of one-a-day as sales actually hit a system-a-minute every business day. Newsweek magazine titled it "IBM's roaring success," and the New York Times said, "The speed and extent to which IBM has been successful has surprised many people, including IBM itself."
Less than four months after IBM presented the PC, Time Magazine actually named the computer it's "man of the year".
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